Lots of pics

Jonah's 4th Birthday







Trip to Kauai





First Bikes

a tale of band-aids

The other night the kids and I decided to venture into the unknown. We decided to make carb-free protein based pizza. I know, that sounds so delicious, you're hoping I post the recipe. Well, I let the kids make their own individual pizzas in hope of tricking them into eating it. (I won't lie) The kids LOVE olives. I'm not really sure why, maybe because they can eat them off of their fingers. (ick) I had opened a can of olives, and drained them, but I left the lid on the olives while I got everything else ready. Jonah grabbed it and tried to pull it open with his little finger. What we got was a sad little sliced finger. I took him to the bathroom, and we had to hold pressure on it for at least 7 minutes to get it to stop bleeding. I cleaned it and put on a batman bandaid and we went back to work.
About 3 minutes later Jonah said "I see if it's better now." I told him that bandaids have to stay on for longer than that before the cuts get better. A few minutes later he says "I go check it now," and he ran into the bathroom. I followed, and he had the bandaid off by the time I got in there and it was bleeding again. We repeated the above and put a new superhero bandaid on. In the course of 3 hours, we went through an entire box of 50 bandaids.



Finally, we were down to the ugly fabric bandaids. Jonah was not impressed. He kept telling me that those were "ug-gee". I put a fabric bandaid on...and it was the same drill, except quicker because he wanted a "cooler" bandaid. I came into the bathroom to find him letting the blood drip into the sink.

I said "Jonah, if you take another bandaid off, I'm not going to give you another one. This is it."

Logan came in and tapped me on my arm and said "Mom, if I had a little boy that was hurt, I'd help him."

*sigh*

I explained that I was helping Jonah but he had used all of the bandaids.

Poor little tender Logan. He's such a sweet little kid!




We've had some problems with a bully at school. I talked to Logan about all of the incidences that have happened. I asked him why he didn't tell his teacher. He said "Well, Dakota is always in trouble. I didn't want him to get into any more trouble."

It made me so sad. He's such a kind child. I've talked to the teacher and talked to Logan about what he needs to do if he is being bullied again. As someone who was bullied, it's so horrible. I'm really hoping that this solves the problem.

2010 in Review

slow and steady

Ok, so I know, I've promised and promised pics. The first step toward that has happened today. I finally downloaded all the photos onto the computer. There was 749...so it may take me a few days to come up with a year in review, but it's coming.

New blog

So I have had gastric bypass surgery, but I decided that I want to focus a seperate blog on that an not dwell on that here. I'm going to post updates on my kids and family here.

My new blog is www.theskinnymonkey.blogspot.com

Yikes

So Santa has visited our house, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care and all of that...and I am awake, because sadly night is when I'm awake. I've got plenty of time to sit here and worry.

I have been approved for surgery. I have a surgery date. December 29. I just keep thinking what is going to happen to my little guys if something happens to me. I have a very knowledgeable surgeon who has been doing gastric bypass surgeries for nearly 30 years. I have researched my options. I know the risks and complications that can come from surgery. I have thought and prayed about my decision and have felt good about it. Now...I'm worried. I'm worried about my little boys.

Earlier this week, I had an ultrasound and and upper GI study (with barium)....to prepare for surgery. Did I mention that they were both awful?
Ok, I get that I'm fat...but seriously the girl doing the ultrasound pressed so hard into my guts to get a good picture, that I seriously have huge bruises all accross my belly. That, sadly, is nothing compared to having to drink barium. I couldn't eat at all before the test, and so I already had a bunch of acid in my throat from my acid reflux. Then, the hand me a drink that is about 10 times more fizzy than 7-up, but it was an awful lemon lime flavor. They tell me it will make me feel like I have to burp, but do not burp. Then they hand me this cup and tell me to drink three big swallows. It was seriously the consistency of pudding. I gagged but didn't vomit.
and the glass of nastiness down. Then they tell me to lay on a table, and roll around to coat my belly with this chalk garbage. I was already feeling nauseated, but then they said we're going to have you lay down and sip through a straw while we're taking x-rays. Um. ok. Well, it didn't quite work like that. I attempted to do what they asked and the barium inside of me decided to head on back up. I was able to keep it down and they finished the test but it was awful.

Also, I'm a little worried about the cost of the surgery. I was told initially that I was going to have to pay $500 for the cost of my patient education and supplies. This isn't covered by insurance and I have to pay it on December 27. It's been 6 months of trying to get approved for the surgery. During this time, we've managed to save nearly enough to cover these expenses.

I got a letter from the surgeon yesterday that informed me that I will actually have to pay nearly $2000 prior to surgery. This pays a deposit on the surgeon, co surgeon and pays a deposit to LDS hospital. I will also be taking 7 days off of work unpaid,assuming I am approved after that for my short term disability.

My short term disability will not be decided until AFTER I have surgery, which makes me SO nervous.

Tonight Robert and my Dad, Brandon and David put their hands on my head and gave me a blessing. I feel better. I know it's a good idea, but I'm still nervous about the unknown.

I worked my last night taking telephone calls for delta...well at least for 6-8 weeks. I work tomorrow and the next day, but I'm helping with the new hire classes and so I get to work an earlier shift and I won't be answering any calls....until Mid-January to February :)

APPROVED!

It's funny how a couple of weeks can bring clarity to a situation. I have waited and waited for the new shift bid. I kept feeling like, life could return to normal once I got a different shift. Then we bid for our shifts...and I got pretty much the same grave yard shift with thursday friday off. I was devastated.
Then I've struggled with getting approved by my insurances for gastric bypass surgery.
Now, a couple of weeks later, I have started bay assisting/helping new hire classes and they change my shift to have me do that.
Not to mention, today I was approved for gastric bypass surgery.

I can't really believe that I'm to this point. I call tomorrow to schedule a surgery date. I'm waiting to find out about a leave of absence from work. So far, everything seems to be working out.