Whaaaat?

The first thing I thought after talking to my husband this morning was, "I can do anything you can do better, I can do anything better than you!"
I am completely loosing my mind. Yesterday the hospitalist came in and said she was going to discharge Hugo and that I could follow up with the ENT in a couple days. I told her I was not comfortable leaving without him seeing Hugo and giving him his ok. (I really had to throw a fit about it) so in a couple hours he came in and said they put your discharge orders in but I wanted to see you before you left. I told him I thought Hugo was doing worse than the day before, he took one look and said you can absolutely not leave, I want another CT scan right away, and then we went to surgery right away.
He did great and is feeling like his old self this morning. Well while this was all going on, Shawn and Jack have been quarantined at home, sick. Well I went home to take a quick shower before Hugo's surgery and gave some love to Jack. I immediately thought he is burning up and also not moving his neck. I called the Dr and asked him if it could be contagious. He reassured me it is not. Well during Hugo's surgery Shawn, my parents, me and Jack were all down at the hospital and Jack cried the entire time. We decided to let grandma and g-pa take him to the ER, you know, since we were already here. I figured it was a bad ear infection or something like that and it would be best to get it looked at. Well he does had a bad ear infection and a temp of 103 that they were having a hard time beating, and after a lot of bloodwork and a CT scan it is confirmed that Jack does in fact have the exact same thing as Hugo, in the exact same spot, only worse. He is going to have surgery today and he will be put into the ICU following surgery because his abscess is causing so much swelling it is obstructing his airway.
We are very confident in his Dr., especially after Hugo's success. I am making Shawn go see a Dr. today also just to be safe.
I don't know why or even how this is all happening. I haven't eaten well or slept well since last Wednesday, and my emotions are all over the place I am just really greatful my wonderful MIL has Lacy and my parents and brother have Roxy, who is doing great. Thanks for the prayers. Keep em coming.

This whole thing reminded me of my brother and me. When we were babies we had our adenoids out the same day, had tubes in ears the same day, and when we were teenagers we had our turbinates scraped the same day and the day I had my tonsils out he had his deviated septum fixed. Crazy stuff.

Miracles do happen.

So glad we felt inspired to take Hugo to the hospital after Urgent Care telling us nothing was wrong. We caught it early and after 4 days of IV antibiotics he is going to be able to go home with oral antibiotics and no surgery. Thanks for the many prayers and well wishes. It's gonna be a Merry Christmas after all.

No fun

I have a bazillion things to do to get ready for Christmas and I'm missing Lacy, Jack, Roxy and Shawn but there is no where I would rather be than here next to my buddy Hugo

He has been complaining of a sore neck and ear the last couple days so Shawn took him to Urgent Care last night around dinner. I wasn't really happy with what they found (or didn't find I should say) We put him to bed and he was back up around 12:30 not feeling well. Then again at 3, not able to move his neck or head really and he was just burning up, even with IBProufen and Tylenol. So I woke Shawn up to let him know we were on our way to the hospital.

After lots of blood work, tests and a CT Scan they have found out that he has a Retropharyngeal abscess in the back of his throat, behind his right tonsil. The muscles all around the spine and neck are swollen, and his right tonsil is really big! We are super lucky we went to the hospital because we caught it early. We talked to a surgeon today and will meet with him again in the morning. He wants him to get a good 24 hours of medication and then probably surgery tomorrow. We will see what happens in the morning. The dr says it is pretty serious and he will be in the hospital for 5 to 6 days at least. We are hoping and praying for the best. My dad and Shawn gave him a blessing. He is really acting like he is in a lot of pain. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We will keep you updated.

Here is a link to what he has, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retropharyngeal_abscess . Don't know how accurate wikepedia is, but its pretty much exactly as the surgeon described it.

3 months already!?

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for such a perfect little angel.

She is my gift.

Happy 3 months pretty girl!

HOARDERS: Purse edition.

After an embarrassing moment out with a friend, where I couldn't find my wallet, I decided it was time to reach into pandora's box and empty out my purse. This bag is evil... rather than ever looking what was in there, it was just added to. It became a serious problem.

Hi I'm Jenny, and I have a problem.

This is the evil bag that became a black hole for all things purse-like (and some really random stuff too!)

The contents of the bag were as follows: (no joke!)

*Pile of change

*my wallet
*my phone

*3 smaller bags (2 of them empty?)

*4 (Yes 4... why?!) finger nail clippers

*2 chapsticks

*a small tube of Aquaphor

*3 arm&hammer garbage bags (should have filled the bags)

*a bottle of baby lotion

*Random notes, papers, receipts

*2 bags of peanut m&ms

*bag of m&m cookies

*a Down East Basic catalog

*yellow notepad

*2 sets of keys

*Pen

*Watch

*Silly putty

*12V AC/DC adapter (Random!!!)

*6 diapers of varying sizes

*Wipes

*Garage door opener

*Formula

*Bottle

*Vintage compact mirror

*Gum

*Playdoh

*2 burp rags

*Kitty Cat baby pjs

*Pink baby leggings

*3 pairs of socks and 2 random socks with no match

*A ghost

*2 pacifiers

*A ziploc bag of legos

*3 hot wheels cars

*A pile of McDonalds napkins

*and last 8 headbands!!! Why 8?!

My wallet was in a pouch on the inside corner of the bag I never knew exsisted. I'm sure Jack put it there, he is often found rummaging through my bag. He may have put lots of stuff in there.

You don't have to worry about me, though. I cleaned it out, threw a lot away and put things back in their respective places. Its all good and my bag is now much lighter! I know literally have a lot less weight on my shoulders.

p.s. I owe you 2 treats now, Megan. I LOVE YOU!

Where's Alan?

Halloween

I LOVE HALLOWEEN. This year we went all out. I let the kids pick out their costumes (via pinterest) and for the first time in 5 years, we did a complete homemade Halloween. Yay for us. Shawn and I even got into it! Although the only picture we got was one taken by the lovely Lacy, which in turn means super blurry. I had to post the proof though, for those who were not blessed by our presence sometime this last weekend. We were dressed up as Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons. Roxy was my mini work out partner with boom box and all. And while the 3 of us had a pretty rockin theme going on, I let the other kids do whatever they wanted.

Lacy came into the bedroom one day and found me cruisin around on pinterest. We ended up looking at halloween costumes and she found this one . She said she wanted this, but rather than the face on her shirt, she wanted to make her own mask. So we did... It turned out pretty adorable if you ask me! Plus she was the only owl she saw all weekend, which she loved.


As for the boys... my kids have been watching the Cat in the Hat movie, the one with Mike Meyers, nonstop all month. Hugo knew he wanted to be thing 2 and Jack just went along for the ride. Last minute he changed his mind and wanted to be thing one. We got asked a bazillion what the Chocolate Thunder was about.. just to clarify...

Aren't they precious!? They played the part perfectly too (unfortunately!)

Oh dear

I love my husband, I adore my kids, but its day's like today I just want to go out (or stay in) with one of my girlfriends and cry over a stupid chick-flick.

Night school is hard. I have to keep reminding myself, dreams take time. I takes a long time to reach the stars but once we get there, I know it will be beautiful!

Lucky me

Last night as we were laying in bed, I was almost asleep when Shawn rolls over and kisses me. He then says, I don't want you to ever fall asleep with out knowing how much I absolutely love you. He makes me happier than any girl deserves. I sure won with this one!

Roxy's blessing

Roxy was blessed yesterday by her daddy. It was such a special day with our family. He gave her a beautiful blessing. She is lucky to have such a wonderful, righteous daddy. My mom made her blessing dress from a pillowcase that my Gran Butler hand tatted. It turned out lovely. She also wore these beautiful slippers and sweet pearl bracelets that her aunt Clarissa hand made for her. She is a lucky little girl to have so many people that love her. She is such a blessing with her sweet calm spirit. I adore her!

These are the sweet slippers. All I did was add the button.

This is her beautiful dress.
She looks thrilled, lol.
Just the girls.
Can't expect too great a picture after making the kids sit through church and then try and sit for a picture while all their cousins are over running around. Still, we are pretty cute! (oh and haha, Shawn and Hugo both have their eyes closed. classic.)
Just had to throw this in. Jack is such a character.

Trying to be creative.

Although we have had a couple cool weeks, mostly we have been dying with this crazy heat. Not being able to spend too much time outside, I have to get creative to try and entertain my boys while Lacy is at school and Roxy is napping. Naptime seems to be the hardest because we are stuck at home and the boys quickly get restless.

What started out as Dr.Seuss reading time, turned into making a winding road with all the books. Gathering all the cars and then having a race!

Boys are so simple and fun. For now at least. Heaven help me when I have two teenage boys a year and a half apart. What will I do?

Random phone pictures

I feel like I have been running around like crazy, nonstop, for a whole year. Who has the time for anything anymore? I don't update much, so for make-up, here are some super random pictures that came off my phone. Not in any particular order, all unedited.

We are alive!

We always say Roxy has her boxing gloves on or her punchers up. She loves to have her hands right by her face. So cute!
For fall break the kids, my mom and I went to Kingman to visit Chantal and help her unpack a bit. It was crazy having all the kids and no husband but all in all it was a great trip and all the kids did really well. (as did mom!) This was the only picture I took, as we were getting some stretches out at McDonalds after taking a wrong turn and a major de-tour. Always and adventure!
For another fall break day, we went on an adventure that started with lunch in Fountain Hills. We took a picnic to the park, which was by the way, an awesome park and sat down right in time for the fountain to go off. The kids loved it!
Bullseye, a tie and a squirt gun. He is ready!
I snapped this because we were all cracking up that she looked like a superhero getting ready to fly away and save the day!
Last week when it was cool out we spent a lot of time at the park. Roxy even got a turn (her first turn) in the swing.
She doesn't even complain when mommy plays dress up in Wal-Mart. She is so good!
We were sitting out back one cool Sunday night and I looked at Lacy and thought that I have the most gorgeous little girl. She gets stopped EVERYWHERE we go, people telling her how beautiful she is, especially her red hair. I am so lucky, and (horrible to say) jealous of her striking beauty. I thought she looked "glamorous" here. What a character!

1 month already?

Can you believe my perfect little princess is already a month old? I took this picture yesterday which was actually her one month. She is so perfect. She is calm, sleeps and eats well and puts up with a lot from her brothers and sister without complaining. I just adore her!!!

Jack Jack

Jack is such a character right now. There are a few things I must write down so I don't forget.

He insists on running everywhere and at the end of every run, he jumps. It is the funniest thing. He doesn't stop with out a little hop.

Speaking of jumping, he also jumps off everything. Like from the top of the table and lands on both feet into a run. I am still amazed he hasn't broken any legs. We gotta keep an eye on this one.

He talks up a storm... my favorite it the way he says Yaacy, Gogo, Rockies (roxy), and muscles. I know, muscles is random, he says it with kind of a nasely voice and it is so cute.

Anytime he says no, he says NO WAY... and his yes is always a YEA SURE. Where do they come up with this stuff?

My most favorite though is when he says "I lub you". If you say it back, he will say it again in his angry voice. If you keep going, he gets raspier and louder I LUBBBBB YOU. He isn't really angry, just silly, but it is hilarious!

He also loves to give kisses, he loves to suprise you and every now and again he will say I LUB YOU and come to give you a kiss and instead you get a wet raspberry right on the lips.

He loves to play fight. Which I don't know why Hugo hasn't learned yet that his younger brother is much stronger than him. Hugo will start with a laughing HEE YAW and after about 5 punches Jack is still going and laughing and Hugo is screaming in pain. What do you expect though Hugo, when you throw the first punch?

Jack is also such a sweetheart. Every owweee can be instantly healed with a kiss. Really, I know kids that love kisses on their owweee's but Jack actually stops his tears or whines when you kiss it better. Plus he always says Thank you.

He can be such a stinker and he makes me crazy... but it is these things that keep me laughing through the day. I know I've missed some... I will have to edit again when I have more time.

Roxy Marie

Roxy Marie Brown

I have been such a bad blogger lately but seeing as this is my only form of journaling I currently have, I really need to write a few details before they all slip my mind.

We went into the hospital on Friday the 19th at about 1 in the afternoon. I had a plan to be induced at 3 but I wasn't feeling so well. After we got the kids squared away and a yummy lunch, we headed on down. They got me all ready and hooked up pretty fast. We all took our guesses, and away we went.

It took a while before she decided to make her entrance. Once I got my epidural I tried to get some rest but about every 30 minutes some crazy alarms would go off in my room because I guess my blood pressure kept on dropping too low which made her heart rate drop. I had to be given some bp medicine through the iv.. no fun! I was getting so anxious and nervous, it was so scary. I could not rest at all, I kept throwing up and I guess on top of it all, she kept on turning the wrong way. Finally after hours and hours of being a 5, I turned uncomfortably on my left side, with a giant kidney bean looking ball helping out, she turned and bam! I was a ten and ready to push! Only 4 rounds of pushes later, she came out looking sideways. I guess she was still turned to the side, but she came out easily! It was 2:34 in the morning, she weighed 8pounds 7ounces and was 22 inches long.

She is super long and super skinny now. She has actually lost a lot of weight, which is no good. We are having to give her lots of formula to try and fatten her up and we have to go in for regular weight checks now until she gets back up to birth weight. Other than that though, she is a perfect little baby. She sleeps pretty well, is content most of the day. She loves to be held, she doesn't get too bothered by the crazy commotion of her 3 siblings. She is aware, and just such a joy.

Having 4 is still overwhelming, we are still getting used to it all. I have yet to leave the house for more than a couple hours... just give me a couple more weeks.

some random pictures, in a random order... these are all from Shawns and my camera phone... so don't expect professional...

Chantal snapped this of me right before we left.
We thought this sign was funny in front of Jimmy John's. We were hoping for such once we got there (a fast delivery, that is)
Some cuddle time with Lacy at the hospital
A blurry but cute picture of Hugo's first visit.
A random shot of Roxy's first bath. Clearly, she loved it!
The kids all beg, all day long to hold Roxy. Jack loves to have her on his lap this way and he cracks up when she kicks him. So sweet!
She sleeps with her mouth wide open, just like mommy.
Her most recent picture. She makes the cutest faces!

Lacy's first time holding her. She is SO EXCITED to have a sister!!!

Hugo's first day EVER!

Hugo had his first day of school EVER! He was so excited, he actually cried when we left the "meet the teacher" open house because he wanted to stay. When we got there on his first official day, he ran in so fast he almost forgot to say goodbye. He was adorable, he said he loved his first day!! He asks to go every morning, I think he doesn't like that Lacy gets to go to school every day but he only goes twice a week. It's ok buddy, slow down!His teacher sent out some adorable pictures of the class, this was the only one where he was semi looking at the camera. What a stud!
While I'm on the subject of Hugo, I have to tell you a funny story about him. The other night I was really needing some ice, so I grabbed my buddy and we went for a quick run. On the way home it was pretty silent in the car for a couple minutes when all of the sudden, Hugo burst out,

"HEY MOMMY, YOU READY TO ROCK AND ROLL?"

I laughed first, then said "sure, why not."

"Alright, here is your guitar"

... then I promptly get hit in the back of the head with one of his sandals...

"Now give me some good rock and roll music"

so I turn on the radio and some super popular "pop" song was on, he was disgusted...

"THAT'S NOT ROCK AND ROLL!"

so I flip through the stations until some other song he is pleased with comes on... don't remember what it was, it was on 103.9 though...

"Perfect, now rock out on your guitar"...

He is such a riot. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff. The funniest part to me was that he was so particular about the music. He found the Iron Man theme song on Shawn's ipod one day and it has since then become his favorite song. Black Sabbath???? Who's child are you?He is so hardcore...

So...

So I cut bangs a few weeks ago. Big change for me, I felt like it. What do you think?

School's out for summer!

Lacy just finished kindergarten. I can not even begin to tell you how smart she is and how proud of her I am. She did so good, she is reading like crazy and most of all she had a wonderful, beautiful teacher who will be missed. I am excited for summer and all the crazy things we need to get accomplished. Excited for little Roxy to join us, excited to move, excited for 1st grade and another in preschool. Wow, wish us luck. As for now, here are a couple pictures I took on Lacy's last day.

Lacy and Ms. Wilburn

Lacy, Finny, Madison, Charlie and Grace

Doing their final performance. It was so cute. All except for the fact that the riser Lacy was standing on collapsed. Everyone was fine, they ended up putting her section up on the stage. They were all a little shook up, but did great anyway!

Anthony, Lacy, Ms. Wilburn and Roman. So sad to walk away on that last day!