Visitors

After realizing I have a multitude of pictures to share, I made collages so I could make the point in a smaller space.  We were so blessed to have my friend Katie come visit us from Gilbert.  Katie and I became great friends when we were both counselors for Academy for Girls at BYU.  We have been meaning to get together since we both moved to AZ a couple years ago.  But, the best plans can always fall to the wayside if we let them.  So, I felt very lucky that she came all the way to Tucson to play with us.  Our Ruby and Madeline are only 2 days apart, and they enjoyed playing with each other.  Betsy and Elizabeth (yes, they share the same name, it is a great one after all), also played together.  And Mitchell and Cannon found their own way to be happy.  It was so fun to reunite, remember, and renew our friendship.  Katie is one of those fabulous women that are amazing to everyone they meet.  She has such a great eye for beauty, she always brings a gift when she comes, and she puts me to shame in almost every way.  But, even though she is so much better than me in every possible manner, I love her dearly, and she inspires me to be better.  And, now, I hope we can keep in touch with each other a little better than we have in the past.

Here's our backyard visitor this weekend. Bj and the kids enjoyed trapping this little lizard in our backyard.  They loved catching him and petting him.  Elizabeth loved looking at him, but when he ran over her feet she was certainly offended.  Me thinks she's not quite ready to be friends with wildlife yet.  Madeline was very concerned about putting the lizard back into the desert, she didn't want to keep him from his home.  But, Mitchell, he was looking for a bottle to keep him in.  

We also had our family, the Avey's come for Sat./Sun.  The kids absolutely adore each other.  McKay(3) loves spending time with Madeline, and Madeline loves being looked up to.  They just might be kindred spirits, because I saw a lot of similarities with them this trip.  Mostly, though our kids just loved holding little Luc.  Babies always bring out the best in people, and our kids really loved seeing this new spirit.  Mitchell thought Luc was pretty cool until Luc spit up on Mitch, at that point he was ready to throw the baby off his chest.  Note to self...train Mitchell on how to hold and protect a baby.  We had a blast with the Avey's and we are always sad to see them go.  Elizabeth has been asking  for McKay and Kimball all day, and I am so glad she loves her cousins.

Update on Liz:  She is doing better physically.  Emotionally?  Still traumatized.  And, let's just be honest, so am I.  These trips to get her blood drawn are draining me.  I think I am going to have to take some antidepressants by the end of this ordeal.  Okay, I'm doing better than all that, but this just makes me very grateful for the general health of my children.  We are more blessed than I usually recognize.  Even though I didn't really enjoy the way I was reminded to cherish my little ones more. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to stop the usual craziness and take small opportunities to give them a hug, kiss, big spinning hug, a kind word, or just a squench to show them how much I love them.

Permanently Scarred

Today we had to take sweet Elizabeth in for additional labs (meaning 5 vials of blood).  After our experience at the hospital, I was nervous, and so were my in-laws.  So, my fabulous mother-in-law went with Elizabeth and me to the lab.  The first thing Elizabeth said when we got there was "are they going to poke me?"  I didn't answer her.  Maybe she would forget about it.  After waiting for 1 hr. (with no one in front of us), the lab tech called us back.  Elizabeth immediately started sobbing.  She knew what was coming.  She started screaming, "I want to go home."  I don't know if anything breaks a mother's heart more than a heartbroken child, but here I was having my heart broken again.  How can I do this to my baby?  Stupid snake!  So, there we are, wrestling with my 3 yr. old, me with my legs wrapped around her, and Nana Laura covering her eyes, and trying to distract her.  It was awful, but at least they hit the vein the first time (unlike at the hospital).  Tender mercies.

Now at home, she is pretending with anyone who will pretend with her, that she is a Dr. and she is going to poke them.  Of course, she would really like the recipient of the "poke" to cry mercilessly after the needle.  She is a funny kid.  Now I have found out I went to the wrong lab, and they won't get the results in time for Occupation Therapy.  Arghh.  Should they have labs 100 feet apart?  Seriously! Now, I am feeling like an awful mother.  But, this is all a learning experience, I just wish I was learning it with my own troubles instead of with my sweet baby.

I am not a fan of this experience. Last night, my sweet Lizard (Elizabeth) woke up with nightmares.  She was screaming, and terrified and it took her two hours to get back to sleep. I don't know if she was dreaming about that rotten snake, or if she is terrified of all the Docs, nurses, and needles.  Poor little kid.   I wish it was all over, but we still have more blood work ahead of us (because venom stays in the body longer than anti-venom).  Occupational therapy starts tomorrow, and I really hope they just give me stuff to do, so I am not driving 45 minutes away each time she needs to do work.  

We are also so blessed.  Our ward has really wanted to do something for us. With my parents flying into town to take care of us, we weren't really "in need."  So, now they are gone, I feel so blessed, and somewhat guilty my friends are bringing dinner to my family.  I know I could make dinner, but it is still a blessing to have that taken care of.  I am coming off the adrenaline now, and those sleepless nights are catching up with me.  So, I really am blessed that my ward is good to us.  I have been touched and amazed at the rally of support we have seen.  

Rattlesnakes!

First Day at the Hospital

Yep, the snake bit her.  We think he struck her a number of times.

Elizabeth felt better with the band-aid on.  

This is on Thursday, things should be getting better...but they didn't.

Elizabeth finally relaxed after Mom got back from taking a shower on Thursday morning.

Look how swollen my little baby is.

Here's Elizabeth dressing up in all the fun toys she got from the hospital.  Notice how swollen that little hand is.

Elizabeth enjoyed this little sock doll aunt Pam made for her.  She named it Betty Boo Boo, and had a lot of fun poking her and putting band-aids on her.

Playing with Nana Laura, she is starting to do better at this point.

This is today.  She is starting to have some movement in her hand
This is about 10 minutes before we left the hospital.  She was so excited!

This is the best her hand has looked in days.

Short version:  Long one may come later

Wednesday: Family get together....miniature golf, golf ball in bush in backyard, rattlesnakes attack.

1 priesthood blessing

1 ambulance ride

1 ER

1 life flight ride

1 vomiting episode

too many needles and three bags of anti-venom

1 sleepless night

countless prayers by us and for us

Thursday: dr.'s think it should improve today.  it doesn't.  

allergic reactions 

2 more vomiting episodes.

lots of visitors

can't they find the vein?

how many times does she have to have her blood tested?

she is getting worse more slowly

elizabeth lashes out at everyone but dad

sleepless night

continued swelling until she looks like a body builder

Friday

slight improvement

finds joy with nana and papa

there is a light at the end of the tunnel

we slept tonight

Saturday

vast improvement

we might come home today

we are coming home today

prayers are answered

a super hyper, excited, loveable baby

Additional Help

Okay, the name thing is still not working for me.  I moderately like every name.   But, I want to say "Yes, that's it."  So, here are a list of words I like.  Tell me how you feel, what you think, or how to change them to make it perfect.  Okay, or at least good enough to move on.  Here they are:

become (maybe becoming designs...bj doesn't love it)

bloom

clarity

cherish

clean

delight

discover

enduring

fresh

haven

nourish

nurture

spark

sprout

sparkle

now, all you brilliant friends and family, work your magic.  I can't wait.

I have been spending my whole day drawing up new designs, thinking outside the "block" and it has been pretty fun.  I have no idea where I am going to get the time to make all these quilts, but I will have to pick the ideas I like best and see if they translate well to fabric.  Let's hope they do.  

Quilt Pictures

I know this quilt pic is crooked, I rotated and saved, but it didn't translate here.  And I am too lazy to do it again.

Here are some of my quilts.  As requested by sweet Mindy.  I definitely love making baby quilts  more than anything else.  It is also evident I like a little sweet and I like a little spicy.  So, here it is:

Let's Hear It!

After much consideration, I have temporarily decided to go ahead with the quilt thing.  I am sure I am bound to alter my decision at any point.  But I digress.....Here is where I need your assistance.  I need a name.  Yes, a name.  I would prefer to not just have it be "sarah's quilts."  I would like it actually to be ________ designs, that way I am open to change the business if and when it grows.  I am looking for a name that says....modern, sweet, soft, funky, spunky, homey, etc....  I have thought of Pumpkin Pie designs, because I call my kids pumpkin pie, and that seems sweet to me.  But the idea of designing the logos in all fall colors makes me shy away from that idea.  Then I thought of peach pie designs, but don't know if I love it.  So, please, all you smart friends and family out there, help me come up with a name.  It doesn't have to be a fruit/vegetable, but it definitely could be.  So, what's it going to be?   Oh, and if I adore your name, maybe I'll make a quilt for you someday (or maybe I already did, and you owe me ....ha ha ha).  I can't wait for all the bountiful ideas to pour in and flood my mailbox.  I'm waiting.

Fun Dates with the Girls.

After a fairly frustrating experience with my fabulous daughter, I realized she may be in need of some quality time with her mother.  We were very lucky to have a friend in our neighborhood who invited Elizabeth and Mitchell over for a playdate on Friday.  Now, an opportunity was open and ready for us to spend an afternoon together.  We had discussed what might be an exciting and fun "date."  Madeline's idea?  To go get an electric toothbrush.  Yes, it is true, my sweet Madeline has been desiring an electric toothbrush since she went to the dentists office a few weeks ago.  Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to fulfill all her dreams and wishes.  We went on our date to Wal-Mart (my least favorite place to shop, but the cheapest).  We discovered her dream electric toothbrush, which was green, and had no princesses on it, she is big now, after all.    I pulled her over to the bike display, hoping she would become impressed with the bigger bikes, maybe she would really discover she wanted to become a professional biker after all.  Nope, she thought they were nice, but she was ready to go look for some jewelry.  We skipped our way over to the jewelry and she

 pleaded for a disney princess locket/choker necklace.  I am not in the habit of purchasing all the bountiful things my little ones ask for, but as I pondered on this decision, I realized I was prepared to spend much more to take her to a movie, so I guess a $5 necklace wouldn't be too crazy.

At this point, I was done.  Yes, whatever business we needed to accomplish at Walmart had to be finished, and quickly.  I have a very short attention span shopping, and I have an even shorter one at Wal-Mart.   Now  I am wondering, what I am supposed to do for the rest of our date.  I have realized I am a seriously boring mother, but I will prevail. 

 

I see Kohl's across the parking lot, and I realize they have some fun stuff there.  This could work.   So, we go across the parking lot and hop in the store.  What did we find there?  Makeup.  It is true, I forgot they had makeup there, we could try it on, smear it all over our faces, and really go crazy.  So, that is what we did.  We tried all the fragrances in lotion and perfume form.  We tried on lipsticks, glosses, eyeshadow, blush, powders, and mascara.  Truthfully, we had a fabulous time.  I finally realized that, yes, we are bonding, we are enjoying this day together. Madeline was feeling like a grownup and I was feeling like we were actually making some headway.  We had so much fun together, and I was glad that we took the opportunity to bond to one another.

Finally, came the dinner.  When I asked her where she wanted to go, she said "somewhere fancy, and quiet."  Seriously, she must be my daughter, but I can't afford to take her fancy and quiet.  So, we go to Chili's.  She ponders about maybe getting a salad, because she loves salads, but in the end, the little girl in her couldn't help herself.  She had to have macaroni and cheese, with fries on the side.  I got a salad.  Here's the best part, (or maybe the worst), after we started eating I realized that my chicken was raw, pink in the  middle, not fit for consumption.  Great, I had already eaten half the salad (but luckily not the chicken, since I only eat it because I know it is good for me).  So, I inform the waiter of the issue, and he looks horrified.  Poor guy, he could see his tip going out the window.  The manager was sent directly over, offered a replacement which, of course, I refused because now I was ready to never eat again.  But, offered to comp the entire order.  Yeah, so I just went out to eat, but didn't have to pay for a thing.  Happy day for me.  I know, I am slightly a freak, but I got two bonus'.  I didn't have to pay to eat, and I wasn't hungry after that.  Weightloss and money gain.  

We have had a better week this week, and I am attributing it to the fact that I spent some fun time with my Madeline.  Hopefully, as I continue to take some time alone with her, we can avoid the pitfalls that can often come to us.  I also dream that she will grow to know how special she is and that the frustrations that come so easy to her now, will in time be easier for her to control.  There is no guarantee that these moments will make an impression on her, but they made an impression on me.

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