Pool Daze

Today we took advantage of yet another free activity (gotta love em!) at one of the local pools. In fact if you have ever seen the movie "The Sandlot" this is the pool that the movie was shot at. This was Rachel and Benjamin's first time at a big pool and they both loved it! Rachel had a blast jumping off the side of the pool into the water. I also worked with her a little on learning to float on her back and do the doggy paddle. Let's just say she has a while until she will get those down. Oh and how do you like her new swimsuit? It has UVA protection built right into it. I love it and wish it came in my size.

I know that Benjamin just had surgery a few days ago so you are probably wondering why did we take him into the pool? Well as long as he has cotton in his ear, doesn't go under the water and his stitches don't get soaking wet everything is just fine. I think we found Benjamin's element...water! He loved the pool! He was shrieking like crazy, splashing, laughing, and kicking around like he was trying to swim.

*As a side note if you look in the background of this picture you can see Rachel, under the water. Right after I snapped this shot I guess she shot up out of the water gasping for air, then she started coughing and threw up in the pool. I grabbed her, and set her on the side where she continued to throw up. After telling the lifeguard, everyone had to get out of the pool so they could get things cleaned up. Someone told us they saw Rachel go under the water, so we figure she must have swallowed too much water which made her throw up. I felt awful! For one thing our daughter almost drowned, for another thing we ruined the fun for all of the other kids for a while. You would think an experience like that would scare a child enough to not want to go back in but it didn't. She still wanted to jump in and play in the water. At least she still likes the pool.

Surgery day

Today Benjamin and I went up to the hospital at 6 am for his surgeries. Marc stayed home with Rachel until she woke up then they both came and joined me in the waiting room. In the pre-op room they did the "20 questions" thing, then I dressed him in this cute little gown that had tigers on it, the Surgeons came in and marked him up, then a nurse came in and took him back to the O.R. I walked out into the hall and watched the nurse walk away with my little baby, then they turned the corner and went through the big doors. It was strange and sad at the same time but I held strong.

The tubal surgery started 7:30 and took 10 minutes, the eye surgery took a little longer. Both surgeons came out and said that Benjamin did a great job. The ENT gave us some drops to put in his ear and the Opthamologist gave us some antibiotic ointment to put on the stitches after the patch comes off. The opthamologist also probed his tear duct while he was in there and said that there was a little pop when it got to the end (so now that's cleared), he also said the mass he removed looks like a regular benign tumor but they will be sending it in just be safe.

At 8:30 the nurse came out and said we could go to the pediatric unit where they would bring him in for recovery. We got there before Benjamin but didn't have to wait long. We heard his little cry as a nurse carried him into us. The hardest part was seeing him cry and not being able to get him right away. Shortly after I had him though he settled down. We snuggled in a rocking chair while they checked his vitals. They ended up putting an IV in because his surgery was longer, but after he ate a couple oz from his bottle they discharged us and we were headed home.

Here he is with his little eye patch. The Opthamologist will remove it tomorrow morning (that is if Benjamin doesn't remove it before him). We gave him some Tylenol when we got home and he is currently sleeping. I guess today will be a lazy day for all of us :)

Here he is the next day with his pirate patch removed. The doctor said it looks good, & his eyes are "working" great. He has 5 stitches & some bruising, no we just have to put meds on it 2 times a day for 10 days.

Yesterday (and today) are probably 2 of the hardest days I've had a long time. Yesterday (Tuesday) my very, very good friend Chelsey, her wonderful husband Jeremy and their adorable daughter Kylee moved out of their apartment; their destination...Australia! We spent almost the entire day over at their apartment hanging out and helping where I could. In fact the only time I wasn't there was for an appointment in the morning, the kids' naps and to do their laundry for them at my house. Yet still it wasn't enough. When it came time to say goodbye we both bawled like little babies. Rachel loves her to pieces and I love her little girl like she were my own. We know we will see each other again (one day) and we will certainly stay in touch but it still sucks. She came into my life exactly when I needed her too and she has helped me and blessed my life beyond measure.

Marc's other Fathers Day "gift"

Benjamin decided that walking would be an okay thing this weekend while we were at Marc's parents. (funny thing, Rachel decided the same thing over conference weekend 2007). Today we tried to get a little video of it. It's not the best video of him walking, he usually does a lot better so we'll try again and when I get a better video I'll post it. Some of the pictures are a little blurry, but it's kind of hard getting a clear picture of a moving object. :)

Randomness...

So this post isn't about any one thing, just some fun and some not so fun things we have done the last few days. With all of this rain lately we have been forced to find entertainment indoors. Though I love the rain I would love it if it came at night, while we were asleep and I wish it were nice during the day so we could play outside. My kiddos love to be outside and would be out there all day if they could. They also love walks and because we couldn't go on a walk I decided to put Benjamin in the doll stroller and have Rachel push him on a walk around the house. They both loved it, but it's nothing like the real thing.

On Saturday morning Marc went to Sandy to take his Licensing exam so he can do therapy. It was a 4 hour test, he had to leave at 7 am which meant I was home with the kids for a big chunk of the day..nothing new. But instead of sitting around at home (which we had pretty much done all week because of the rain) I decided to take the temporary break from the rain and head to the Nature Center because they were offering some free activities. Well I never did find the free activities at the center but there were some really neat birdhouses we were able to look at. As we were walking past this one Rachel said "Mommy I want to hold his had and you can take my picture!" Rachel also had a blast SkIpPiNg around everywhere. But after enduring mosquitoes for 30 minutes I called it good and we headed home...just in time too, it was beginning to rain...again! Oh and Marc passed his test!! To pass you can't get lower than a 70% and he got 81%! Wahoo!!

On Friday we decided to finishing painting the backroom. I started this project when Rachel was like 9 months old. When I started the project I thought, it's going to look so great and be bright painted white! What I didn't factor in is that it's a vaulted ceiling over stairs...yep. So it basically sucked trying to get near the ceiling to paint, at least we had our Gorilla ladder, without that we wouldn't have gotten anywhere. At first we decided we wouldn't paint the ceiling but after a struggle of painting the highest part and getting lots of white along the ceiling, we decided it would be best to paint it...another day! We had pretty much had it for the day. I was right though, it is nice and bright :) We also painted the hall downstairs white which also brightened it up quite a bit.

Shrieking Eels

This is what happens in our house daily. It doesn't matter if they are eating, taking a bath, playing with toys, in the backyard, on a walk...well you get the idea. It's cute but the acoustics in our house are really, really good which makes it a little painful on the ears.

Ward Campout

We got back this morning from out wonderful ward camp out. I think we were the only family who actually pitched a tent this year while everyone else stayed in the lodge. (I think everyone was a afraid of the rain or something) On our way to set up the tent Rachel kept saying "Mommy, camping is so much fun!" as she held an armful of rocks. (My mom would be proud)

In fact the entire time we were up there she was either collecting rocks in her hat, hands, pockets, cups or throwing them into the river or mud puddles. Let's just say...it kept her busy! Before dinner was ready we hung out in the lodge and visited with several friends. Benjamin had a ball checking out the young ladies ;) This is Reagan, she us super cute and I totally approve!

When Bishop and his wife came they brought up a couple balls for the kids to play with. Rachel loved showing everyone how well she could kick, and man can she kick!

I'm not sure what this pout face is about, but she has it down to a 'T'. I love it! I had a great time visiting with some of the girls again. This is Kalynne (Reagan's mom), Amy and her daughter Sophie.

After a yummy dinner (Mexican...my favorite!) they gave everyone a Choco-Taco which Rachel just went to town on! She was so incredibly filthy from eating, playing in the mud and dirt that her face and hands were gray when I brought her up to the lodge to clean up before bed. (man who is her mother!?) Rachel learned how to blow the white puffs from dandelions while we were up there. As long as she doesn't do it in my yard I don't care.

She found this little hide out area on the side of the lodge where she spent a lot of time. Whenever she went back there she said "I'm going hiking!" There was this huge boulder there that I helped her climb. I don't think she liked that so much.

For the entertainment we had a group come play some Blue Grass music. It was great! At one point I found Rachel in her special little spot dancing away. It's a little long but sooooo cute!

Benjamin had a blast hanging out with Bishop and his wife when Marc and I danced the polka to one of the songs (yep, I said polka!) When we were done I went to get him back but he wouldn't come to me! Bishop helped Benjamin jump up and down and at one point even took him out to the dance floor.

Marc tried to get Rachel to dance with him but she wouldn't have it. I was going to stop filming but then I realized that the Bishop and Brother Arave were dancing so I kept on filming. It's hilarious!!!!!!!

After the dancing we headed to our campsite where Marc and Rachel proceeded to build a fire while I put Benjamin down for the night. The fire took a little while because everything was so wet from all of the rain we have had lately, but they did succeed.

Once we got the fire started we roasted bunny shaped marshmallows from Easter (it was all we had!), we even made a few s'mores out of them. Rachel loved them of course, it's sugar!

The night went really well. I think our little test run in the backyard was a smart idea. We knew what worked and what didn't. This time around we put Benjamin in the pack-n-play so he wouldn't roll around the tent in his sleep. Rachel went to sleep much faster, and freaked out less. And we got a killer deal on an air mattress that came with a battery powered pump. The kids slept well and so did we :) (well except for Marc's allergies) It did rain off and on through the night but thanks to the tarp we just bought we were dry. It did rain a little in the morning when we started to take the tent down but we just took a little break and had breakfast until it stopped. Over all we had a blast and we can't wait for our next camp out, maybe by the end of the summer we will be camping pros! :)

Surgery

Okay it's official. Benjamin is scheduled for surgery June 24 . We won't find out the exact time until the day before but it will most likely be between 5 am and 7:30 am. Because he is so young they want to do it first thing in the morning. The opthamologist was so wonderful to squeeze us in on this date. He usually books out 2 months ahead for surgery but after telling him that our insurance was changing some things he said he would do Benjamin's surgery in less than 2 weeks! I knew that this day was coming but now that it is so close I'm kind of scared! It's like reality just sank in, my little boy is going to have 2 surgery's before he is 1. The doctor said each procedure would take like 10 minutes, there would be a little swelling and bruising around his eye and that he would be using dissoluble stitching. But before the surgery can take place he has to has a physical with our pediatrician, see the ENT again, and have a pre-op physical with the opthamologist all next week...3 appointments in one week, man we are going to go broke! ;)

Dinosaur Delight

Today we decided to take a 'road trip' to redeem Marc's Cabelas gift card from Graduation and stop off at the Dinosaur museum. Cabelas was great, we got some awesome camping gear and now we are almost ready to go camping as a family...we still need an air mattress. The Dinosaur museum was awesome though, we loved every moment of it. I didn't know it was so huge, it just seemed to keep going! We went through all of the evolution stages of the earth and the animals on it. There was a ton of hands on stuff for everyone to enjoy. I don't remember what these creatures were called but they are supposedly some of the first creatures that lived in the water. There was so much to take in above and below you. One of the very first parts you walk through is a dark room surrounded by 'stars', it felt like you were walking through space!

I love Benjamin's expression in this photo.

They had a little cave for the kids to crawl into and through.

Here is Rachel and Benjamin with only part of her favorite dinosaur, Brachiosaurus. It is obviously too large to get the entire thing in the picture. Marc and I were amazed at how big the Supersaurus was. It literally went from one end of the room to the other (and this was a huge room!)

In one area they had some puzzles you could put together, chalk rubbings, and a build your own dinosaur. Rachel really wanted to do that but the other kids didn't let her have a turn :( (maybe next time)

One area we spent a lot of time in was this room where they had set up water, sand, trees and little dinosaurs you could play with. All of the kids had a blast in that area building dams, rivers, drowning dinosaurs, etc. Rachel played the entire time with this Dinosaur. Can you guess what it is? Yep a Brachiosaurus At one point another little boy wanted to play with it and she said "NO!" Here she is on top of a Protoceratops (yes we know a lot about dinosaurs in our house)

Here she is on the scale comparing your weight to different dinosaurs. She was closest in weight to a very small raptor, that I can't remember the name of.
As we moved on through the exhibits they had the more modern animals and we almost got eaten by this shark! Just kidding! Isn't that thing huge? Marc said around this point that he wouldn't want to be caught near one of these...and I said I wouldn't want to be caught near any animals in the building!

When I thought we were done we weren't. Just before you exited there was a room where the kids could go and dig in the sand for bones like paleontologists. Rachel loved it!

Benjamin was more than exhausted at this point...can you tell?

But before we could go home Rachel had the opportunity to do a cast of a Raptor claw.

She was so excited! (excuse the shirt...I know it's way to big for her but she insists on wearing it!)

And of course they both fell asleep with in minutes of being in the car. I love this shot because if you look closely her sunglasses are not even on her face all the way. What an exhausting day for an up and coming paleontologist!