Best Buddy around..

Buddy got his second hair cut last week! It devastates me to cut his amazing curls but he looks so cute with a boy hair cut. I took a few pictures after his hair cut as we were playing with the iPad. You can tell at the end he was getting into the picture taking! :)

Crazy, Crazy, Craaaaaazy...

It has to be said. Sunday's are the most stressful day of the week. Our church is at 1pm but we have to leave around 12:15pm because it is a drive to get there and we try to get a good seat. We've recently discovered if we try to coral the kids in an actually bench it goes a lot better but it seems like everyone in the ward is jockeying for the bench seats so you have to leave extra early if you want one. It's like that perfect shirt you've had your eye on at your favorite store that has just gone on sale and you have to beat everyone else to that shirt if you want it. Being in a military ward is unlike normal wards. There are always families moving in and PCSing out. Some months you have a million families crammed into your small chapel and other times it is virtually empty. Most of the time our ward has been consistently full so getting a good seat is pretty hard. 

 Needless to say leaving early for church to get the good seats creates a few problems.  One of them being the twins nap. They have napped at 11am every morning since they were about 4 months old. This nap is vital to how the rest of the day is going to go.  I don't know if people really appreciate how hard it is to raise two two year olds. You have heard of the terrible two's... mine is basically double the trouble with that.  Every sunday we get the twins out of bed in the morning and try to put them back down by 10:30am so they have enough time to whine about being back in their bed and actually are able to fall asleep by the time we wake them back up close to noon.  Then it is a mad... and I mean mad dash to get them dressed, fed, and out the door.  I'm rounding up three sets of little shoes, trying to brush three sets of little teeth, getting my church bag, making sure the diaper bag is fully stocked and trying to get out the door on time.  Needless to say a few weeks ago I was having an "off day" and found myself sitting at church with two completely different shoes.  One was black and one was brown. I had no idea until I was sitting in one of the coveted benches. The shoes don't even have the same feel to them so this goes to show you how intense getting out the door can be if I couldn't even feel that I had two different shoes on. 

Once at church if we get the coveted bench towards the front door (yes we have a preference as to which bench exactly) I feel a little better but if it happens to be completely full and we are reduced to the chairs set up in the back then I know it is going to be a loooooooooooong day.  This is what happened yesterday.  Keri sat down with the girls in the chairs but of course Buddy has zero interest in sitting in a chair.  In a bench he can basically stand the whole time if he wants but getting him to sit in a chair is mission impossible. He just likes to run and run and um run. Getting him to sit for any length of time requires a good sippy cup and a tasty treat.  He started to run away so I pulled out the big guns (aka m&m's) and that stopped him dead in his tracks for a few minutes.  After those were done he had no interest in staying put.  He went to run and I grabbed him and of course screaming ensued. I had to rush him to the hall and of course he was happy as a clam to run down the hall. The problem with Buddy is for whatever reason he doesn't like Keri.  I mean obviously he doesn't not like Keri... but he prefers mom.  In fact if we are at a store and Keri goes to push the cart he is in.. he will scream and push Keri's hand away.  If I try to hand Buddy off to Keri in a hallway Buddy will scream. I have no idea what this is about but it just means especially on Sunday's I get put on Buddy detail. 

Well I feel like things were going okay. He was running up and down. Climbing the stairs to the water fountain for the fifth time and then Keri comes out with the girls. Super. There is nothing like three crazy kids running down the hallway to make you feel super embarrassed and like you are failing as a mom.  Cambree has actually gotten pretty good but when the twins are acting up she feels free to join them. We decided to trap the twins into a classroom and Keri stayed while I took Cambree back into sacrament meeting for a few minutes of silence.  After sacrament it is time for primary/ nursery for the twins.  I teach a primary class in junior primary so I get to witness Cambree sitting with her Sunbeams class. She has two of her best friends in that class with her so getting them to sit and be good isn't exactly easy. Yesterday of course she decided to be "on one" so she wasn't happy to be sitting in Sharing Time. She finally had to come sit with my class. Then she realized she was missing this silly draw string back she likes to carry everywhere with her and of course drama ensued. Then she insists she has to use the bathroom which is really just code for I don't want to sit in here anymore.  It just seems to be never ending during church. The twins have been doing a lot better adjusting to nursery but by the time church is over and I'm grabbing all three by myself because I have no idea where my husband I am exhausted. Not to mention stressed out and just frustrated.  

I think what I need to remember is that I have three kids that are around the same age.  When I say around the same age I mean I have two the exact same age with my only two years older.  I find it easy to beat myself up about my kids.  I don't know if I am flat out failing as a mother to teach them how to behave better or if it is just that they are all super young still. With Buddy I truly have no idea how to get him to stop running away from me.  He refuses to hold my hand to walk anywhere. Is this a boy thing? Both of my girls have always held my hand to walk places.  Buddy is my easiest kid unless we step outside the door and then he hits the pavement at a good speed and if you try to stop him he will scream and throw himself on the floor.  I have no idea how to deal with this or get him to stop it.  Before I had kids I don't recall one person telling me how hard it was going to be to parent them.  To teach them. To get them to listen.  I thought the hard part about having kids was the sleepless nights. The early mornings. I had no idea the hard part was the every day raising of them.  Teaching them. Trying to get through to them.  Trying to be patient with them.  Now I am just searching for a way to make Sunday's more enjoyable and less of a nightmare. Here is the every mother out there right now sipping a diet coke and trying to come up with her own game plan.  I think mine is more of a battle strategy. Good luck mothers out there.  I wish us all luck! 

Best friends!!

I have had my share of amazing best friends growing up.  Life is not the same without that one person in your life that knows you the best and loves you unconditionally. I feel so blessed that Cambree has found her own best friend. Cambree met Allegra not long after we first moved here when they were both 3 years old. We are in the same ward as Allegra's family but as luck would have it the girls ended up in the same dance class too. From that dance class they blossomed into the bestest of friends. Cambree calls Allegra her sister and they get along as if they were truly sisters. I have never seen Cambree be nicer, sweeter, and yes even share her toys with anyone the way she does Allegra. It truly makes me sad to think about our pending move and of Cambree having to say goodbye to her amazing friend. I decided to put together some pictures in tribute of this cute friendship. 

This was taken after dance class one day.. best friends in leotards are priceless! 

At Cambree's 4th birthday party

Being fashionable at Allegra's house.. what best friends don't have matching sunglasses 

Just being goofy girls

Does it get more precious than this??

My FAVORITE picture of the girls... they were on their way to dance

Princesses in the castle

Two girls.. one horse..

This picture captures how truly perfect they are for each other. I found them wearing these hats..

The sweetest girl..

Cambree has only been four for a few months but already she seems like a big girl.  Sure, there is the whining and the constant crying. The fighting with Ashley over everything. But there are also sweet moments. Telling her daddy to "be reverent" when he is getting upset with her. Soothing Ashley when she cries with a song. Then there was the other night.  Keri was in Cambree's room upset about something.  Often I like to tune Keri out because he seems to get upset over everything. Something small can be made out to be something big.  Well I heard him getting upset so I decided to go into her room. He was sitting down with one of the drawers that goes on Cambree's bed.  He told me it hadn't been pushed in and someone had stepped in it and it broke.  Immediately that sounded like something one of the twins would do.  Would you believe Cambree didn't waste any time telling us she broke it? I was so proud of her. I know kids go into a "lying stage" where they will lie instead of confessing and getting in trouble. Luckily for me Cambree hasn't hit that stage and I was so proud of her for stepping up and telling the truth even though Keri was clearly upset.  Well Keri & I got into a small fight and Cambree was right there and she told us "mommy.. daddy...both of you be nice." That diffused the situation right away. My favorite part of this story happened an hour later at bedtime.  Cam was tucked in bed and I asked her to say the prayer.  She said the sweetest prayer ever. She said she was sorry for breaking the drawer and to help mommy and daddy to listen to each other.  It truly touched me that my little four year old could be so sweet and so wise.  She truly is a special girl and I am so lucky she is mine. 

And we were off to D.C...

I have a lot of pictures I need to upload but for now I will simply tell you the story of our adventures in Washington D.C.  As we all know by now Keri has a heart condition and in order to figure out how severe the heart valve is Keri needed to have a cardiac MRI. It seemed like something simple however as it turns out nothing is simple with our family.  Apparently none of the major hospitals in North Carolina (like Duke, Wake, UNC) could do this cardiac MRI so we were told we were off to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC to get this done! Walter Reed is one of the major military hospitals. When soldiers get wounded while deployed they get sent there to help in their recovery. I was pretty excited to see it. It has some pretty great history but that is for another blog by someone with a lot more knowledge than me on the subject. 

As it turned out Keri and I had been wanting to take a trip to D.C. and now that he had to be sent to Walter Reed we thought it was perfect. We could mix a little business with pleasure.  The MRI was going to take two hours and Shannon said she would go with us so I could go to the hospital with Keri during the test. We left early on Monday Feb 11th and arrived around dinner time in Bethesda, Maryland.  The military was putting us up in a Mariott the first night and Keri found one a few miles away from the hospital.  We had some chinese take out and called it a night. The next day we were up bright and early for the MRI.  Let me just tell you Walter Reed is HUGE! We walked for days to find the right part of the hospital where they do the MRI'S. Luckily they had some candy out at the desk because I had worked up an appetite with all that walking! Keri was taken back after about an hour and I nestled into a comfortable seat to wait and of course to gawk at all the men in uniform walking by. Keri got done with his test and we headed back to the hotel. Since we were staying a few days we decided it would be cheaper to stay on Andrews AFB instead of staying in the Mariott. We arrived and man was I impressed with Andrews AFB. Andrew's claim to fame (in my mind) is that it houses Air Force One in one of their hangars. Pretty cool! We checked into TLF and headed back into D.C. Now for someone reason when I told Cambree we were going to Washington D.C. she kept talking about seeing a train.  I had NO IDEA what she was talking about until she said Chuggington.  Chuggington is a show on Disney JR about a train.  Now the train part made sense by I wasn't sure why she thought she would see Chuggington in D.C. She informed me Chuggington lived there. (Duh!) On the drive in she was so excited to see this train. Obviously I was feeling bad because I knew she wasn't going to see this train so as we came close to the city I happen to see a train go by. Thinking quick I told her "Cambree, it is Chuggington." She was SOOOOO excited. She was like it really IS Chuggington.  I was feeling very proud of myself when she asked "Where is Koko??" (Another train from that blasted show!) 

Well we parked the car and headed towards the Washington Monument. I had been to D.C. once when I was a kid.  I only have a few memories of it so I was glad to be back.  We walked around and saw everything in the National Mall. Buddy was soooo happy to run all the way from the monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Coincidentally we were at the Lincoln Memorial on Abraham Lincoln's birthday. After our looooooong afternoon of walking we retired to our TLF room. The next day we decided the white house and the capitol were top on our list of things to see.  We parked our car and walked foooooooooooorevvvvvvvvvver to the White House. On the way we passed a huge group of Asian tourists. They were all smiling at the twins and one stopped and actually took their picture.  Once we got to the white house it happened again. I turned around and an Asian couple TOOK TURNS taking pictures with Cambree.  I smile when I think about them going home to their families and my kids being a part of their vacation to America. We didn't stay long at the white house (Keri turned cranky for whatever reason) and we decided to hop back in the car for the capitol.  Keri dropped Shan and I off and we wandered around the capitol without the kids. After that we were all freezing and tired so we went back to Andrew's.  That night Shan and I drove in the SNOW to meet up with an old friend Michael Priem.  Our families were stationed together in West Point a thousand years ago.  We had a good dinner and had fun chatting! The next morning we got up, Shan and I went shopping at the BX (I think Cambree owns the entire Osh Kosh B'gosh line this year! It is SO cute!) and we headed home.  All in all it was a fun trip! I was glad to check one more thing off our list of places to go visit.  Next up, New York!!!  In the meantime we will wait for the results of the cardiac MRI!  

More sickness than holiday cheer!

While the holiday's are officially over now the memories I have of them this year are sick kids! I find it completely crazy to think we were never sick in England. Like ever! Now all of a sudden my kids are sick all the time. I cannot keep them healthy! I don't know if it has something to do with the three of them being so little and so close in age. I truly can't figure out how to keep them healthy. 

We decided to have Thanksgiving with my sister at her house this year and on the drive up Ashley (who rarely gets sick) looked awful. I was pretty sure she had her first ever pink eye. Her nose wouldn't stop running. She kept whimpering softly in her seat on the drive up.  I told Keri once we got to Shannon's house we needed to drop Cam and Buddy off and go right to an Insta Care with Ashley so that is exactly what we did.  Turns out Ashley had pink eye and strep. Fabulous. The doctor said Ashy's tonsils looked awful! Well OF COURSE it didn't take long for Buddy to start to look awful... then of course Cam. This was all within a night.  Cambree had the WORST cough. She is prone to bronchitis so I knew that is what she had.  Buddy started to get the pink gross eyes and looked awful. I made the mistake of sleeping with Buddy and Cambree that night to keep an eye on them so of course I got sick.  That weekend of Thanksgiving Cambree had trouble breathing. We were minutes away from rushing her to the ER in the middle of the night because she couldn't get breaths in. She kept gasping for air. I tried to calm her down and finally got her to take some deep breaths. I was so scared to go to bed after that. Our anniversary was the day after Thanksgiving and my amazing sister babysat the sicklings so Keri and I could go out and celebrate our five loooooooooong years of marriage. Well by the time we got home from Thanksgiving Buddy looked like death. We actually had to take Cambree to the ER because she was had trouble breathing again. The ER docs said she had *surprise* bronchitis. It was Buddy I was worried about however. I have never EVER seen him that sick. Under his eyes were black and blue and his eyes were all pink. We got the kids into the doctor and the doctor took one look at Buddy and said this is one very sick kid.  She immediately gave him a shot of penecillian and an oral prescription for an antibotic. She said the infection is what was causing Buddy's eyes to buldge out and turn black and blue. It also turns out the ER doctors failed to mention Cambree's ear infection. She went home with a prescription for Prednisone to try and get rid of that pesky bronchitis and an antibotic. It took a good week for the kids to start to feel better. 

Next came Christmas. This year we were able to fly home to Utah for Christmas! We were all so excited! (Well most of us lol.) Cambree kept counting down the days til we got on the plane. At first she was scared and kept insisting she was driving in mommy's van to Grandma's house but as it got closer she decided she could fly.  Well a few days before we were due to fly Cambree started throwing up. OF COURSE. She had no other symptoms of the flu however.... she was just running high fever's and throwing up. Well I had no idea how we were suppose to take her on the plane throwing up. Luckily one of my friends had some children's phenegren she gave us! *Shew*  We made the plane ride okay.  Taking three kids that are 3 and under isn't fun! The twins weren't 2 yet so we were able to fly with them for free... the catch of course being they had to sit on our laps! Cambree had a small melt down on the plane but the twins were pretty great! Well we got to Grandma's house and Cambree started throwing up again so we had to take her to our favorite place..the ER. Turns out she had her first ever Urinary Tract Infection. Well a few days after that grandma got sick... then I got sick.... then *surprise* Ashley got sick.  She kept throwing up all day long. She refused to eat or drink and didn't have any wet diapers.... can you guess where we ended up? The ER. We actually had the same nurse as with Cambree. (I swear I saw more of this nurse than I did my actual friends!)  Ashy ended up having to be hooked up to an IV to get some fluids. Wouldn't you know once we got the IV in and the board under her arm to keep her arm still... she threw up all over.  It was a quick wardrobe change and the IV had to be redone.  We were probably there for 4 hours... we had this amazing guy that kept checking on us and even brought us drinks.  KK was the one who was with me so we kicked back and watched tv while Ashy got her fluids. It was actually pretty relaxing which is sad. The day after the ER trip Ashy started to do much better so I'm super glad we got her in!  Well the rest of the trip went pretty well. We had a great time. We took the kids to see Santa. KK and I took Cam Cam to see "The Rise of the Guardians" which I LOVED.  KK and I went into gateway to do some shopping and went to see "The Forgotten Carols"... when we got home around 11pm Mom had the idea to go to Macy's  for some late night shopping. We didn't get out of Macy's til around 1am.  That was a fun memory of Christmas. I got to see so many of my amazing friends that I miss my dearly as well as a few relatives! Shaun, Keri, and I got to go see Les Mes. Well by the time we were due to leave Kelly was sick as well as my day so the night before we were leaving guess who was sick again? Cambree!!! (I swear they have no immune system!)  The plane ride was downright awful. The worst trip home anyone could ever have.  The kids starting crying from the second we got the airport.  I don't think Ashley stopped screaming til we got home.  She stayed up the entire time screaming her little baby lungs off.  I have never been more frazzled in my whole life.  A few days after we got home Cambree ended back up in the ER.  We had been alternating tylonel with motrin all night and around 5am she was as hot as I have ever felt anyone.  We gave her motrin and Keri took her to the ER and when she got there her temperature was still 102.  They had a hard time getting her fever down.  Ashley got sick next with the horribly high fever.  The only one who didn't get sick... the one person who USUALLY gets sick..... didn't.  That is a small blessing. Through all of this Buddy was the only one who didn't get sick.  I'm holding my breath however.

Well by New Years Eve everyone was FINALLY feeling better!!!!!!!!! *Hallelujia*  My only New Years resolution this year is to try to find a way to keep my kids healthy!!!!! I have no idea how to do it but I'm going to try. This mommy can't keep having sick kids.  Buddy actually goes back to the ENT in a few weeks and he already told us we had to take the "next steps" with Buddy which is getting his tonsils out.  I will do anything to keep Buddy healthy.  He was sick the entire year of 2012.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that 2013 is a fun HEALTHY year!!!!! (Cross your fingers with me!)

The other shoe dropped..

Since I'm fairly certain no one actually reads this I am keeping this more as a journal to remember events, celebrations, and of course bad news that can change your life. We seem to be getting a lot of bad news lately and then we got some more.  About three weeks ago Keri was told my his cardiologist that upon review of his CT scan that the radiologist found something. His lymph nodes down in his chest by his ribs was abnormal. Typically when something like this shows up it is either just a benign mass or it is cancer. This is definitely not the kind additional news you want to hear after you've already found out you have a heart condition.  Well the next struggle for him has been trying to get an appointment with the Pulmonologist so we can confirm if this is nothing to worry about or if this is cancerous. Now I'm not the type to think doom and gloom. When I hear news I automatically assume it will be fine.  My dad actually had a scare a few years ago. They thought he had lymphoma. They did a biopsy right away and it was fine. Not cancer.  Now the problem we were running into was the doctors office wasn't being too helpful in scheduling this appointment so Keri could see the Pulmonologist. They were telling him they needed HIM to send over the CT scan and the reports.  He emailed them over and they said they couldn't open the format he sent it in. It has just been super frustrating to deal with. Now two weeks after trying to make an appointment he FINALLY got one but not until Dec 4th. I don't know how you tell someone you have possible cancer but then make them wait so long to find out.  The medical world can definitely be very frustrating to deal with. In this case it seems negligent as we could be potentially dealing with something deadly. It's not the sort of thing you take two weeks on to just make an appointment. 

Now we just have to wait to find out. The waiting is the worst. Luckily we have Thanksgiving at my sisters in a few days to look forward to and of course the trip to Utah for Christmas! Although thinking of taking Buddy on a plane for six hours strikes fear into my heart. He lives to run and being coped up in a seat in a plnne thousands of feet in the air is going to be torture for him and the rest of us.  In other news, due to Keri's medical problems we will definitely be getting medically retired from the military.  I have such mixed feelings about this. I truly thought we would be in the military the full 20 years. Keri already has 8 years in. I thought we'd be back overseas in a few years hating life. (Okay not hating per say..) I truly have found an amazing place in North Carolina. It isn't so much the actual location but the people. I have found and developed some amazing friendships. Cambree has some amazing friends to include a best friend who is more like a sister. This will be very sad to walk away from. The humidity on the other hand will not. It is crazy how quick the course you thought you were walking can change. The only thing that is comforting is that no matter where we go in life I have three of the most incredible children and a fabulous husband. In the end I guess that is all that truly matters.