Isla May and Juniper Rose: Birth Story

This was the longest and hardest pregnancy I have had, and the fact that a baby finally coming and joining their family is termed "delivery" only fits my sentiments too well. As it does every time! Ha. But, this time even more so.

We found out we were having twins towards the end of January and in the middle of that horrible flu that it seems every person and their dog caught. My feeling more sick than in other pregnancies now made sense, and to say Karey and I felt overwhelmed with everything at the time is an understatement. But, it also MADE MY LIFE that I was going to get five kids out of four pregnancies. And, it still does :D

The doctor that I wanted to deliver with, Dr. Chalmers, shares his practice with another doctor, Dr. Walker. I delivered my last two babies with a midwife in a birthing suite and HAVE LOVED that experience because I HATE the hospital and the papers and how many people you have to talk to and how they basically just tell you what to do the entire time and that if you want anything to go different than their plans, you better have the character to back yourself up. Anyways, so when we found out we were having twins, I did want to deliver them in the hospital, but I was pretty dang sad I was giving up that great experience of delivering with my midwife again and how much less hectic and stressful and natural it all is. My midwife recommended Dr. Chalmers because he is basically the only doctor in my area who will deliver your baby breach instead of sending you into C-section. Dr. Walker on the other hand (who in character is a lovely and kind lady) doesn't feel comfortable with delivering breach because of the risk (I don't understand what risk, but I know there is some).Dr. Chalmers is also just more open minded and listens to you and what you want and doesn't act like every little thing you want is making their his life hard as an OBGYN.All of this is a long way of saying, I wanted Dr. Chalmers to do my delivery. I trusted him more to do what was best for my babies AND me. The doctors switch off every other week. So I was hoping my entire pregnancy to make it to my week 37 which is when Dr. Chalmers was on call. If I didn't go by week 37 he would induce me, still during his on week, once I hit week 38. Week 36 passed and then week 37 started too and I found he was going out of town IN THE MIDDLE of his on call week. So he would only be on call for about three days during my week 37.

So, my midwife swept me when I was 37.2 days in. Nothing happened. I walked and walked. Nothing happened. I called my doctor and got an extra appointment on Wednesday and he swept me again. He said "I bet you a nickle I'll see you in labor and delivery before 5 (I was 80% effaced and dilated to a five), and nothing happened. I went back in on Thursday morning at 8 at 37.5 days, and he swept me AGAIN. At this point I'm pretty darn sick of people sticking their hands up me, but it pales in comparison to the delivery. He said to walk around for a couple of hours and go back in so he can check me, because if I have moved to a 6 and have semi regular contractions, labor and delivery will keep me(since I have twins and live 30 minutes away). My other babies come incredibly fast and once labor starts, it starts and there is no stopping it. So it was funny to Karey and I that we were walking around a park trying to get my contractions to become more regular and strong. That had NEVER been a problem. But these girls sure wanted to chill in there as long as they could. My contractions would come and were semi-regular so we went back in. He said I was almost at a 6, so to go over to labor and delivery and he would break my water. HALLELUJAH. I had asked him to do that the day before but I wasn't dilated enough for it to be a "medical" reason for him to break my water. Karey and I went over and I put the not fun hospital robe on and they hooked me up to all the machines I dislike and gave me the good old i.v. that I hate, and then a few hours later Chalmers came and broke my water. My contractions had been about every four minutes up to that point and were just mildly uncomfortable. Within fifteen minutes of my water breaking they were coming on much stronger, but still not transition contractions. My midwife got there (she was acting as my doula) and started putting hot towels on my stomach and squeezing my feet (which for some reason feels awesome). I was breathing and relaxing through them pretty dang well. And then I felt transition hit. I was opening up pretty quickly, as usual. And the contractions that make your body feel like its a heat generator were now there. I was sweating like crazy through each one. And they were long, hard, "good" "progressive" contractions. The ones when you start thinking, "Should I get the epidural? Then I could just enjoy this." I delivered my first with an epidural and I knew what I liked and didn't like about it. The two after her were natural and I knew what I did and didn't like about that too. And the only thing any woman doesn't like about natural birth is the pain. HAHA! I told Karey and my midwife that I wanted the epidural and they looked at each other and me curiously. My midwife asked, "Do you want us to try to talk you out of it? Because I seriously don't think you even have time to get one." "NO. I don't want you to talk me out of it. I just want you to go get the guy." Well,she did, even though she didn't want to. For the epidural you have to sit up and hang your legs over the side of the bed and slump forward. Positions can do INSANE things to your birth progress or delay when in labor. Well as soon as I got in position my contractions got insanely intense and my body started trying to push. It feels like when you are heaving and about to throw up, except on the other end and your about to birth a human. There is no stopping it once you are opened up. I was trying to hold her in so badly because I just wanted that freaking epidural that I had decided on, regaurdless of the fact that she was going to come out any second. My midwife started saying to the epi guy, "She's pushing. She's pushing. You see her pushing!" karey was like "she's pushing!" I was like "are you done yet?! He said "I have to re-do it I hit a blood vessel." I was like holy freaking MOTHERRRRR ( in my mind).I was trying as hard as I could to hold my pushing back but when you're open YOU'RE OPEN and the baby is coming. THANK GOODNESS the needle had come out of my back because I shot back and the epi guy caught me, and with a couple of throat tearing good screams baby A (Isla) SHOT OUT and Karey caught her. There was no doctor in the room, and up to that point I had been pretty quiet through my contractions. Then fifty million people ran in, and Dr. Chalmers ran in a few minutes later. Isla was BEATUFIL. She looked perfect. But I still had one more baby to deliver. AND, the epi guy had never taped the tube into my back and so it had slipped out when I shot back on top of him. So, no epidural for me.Chalmers checked me and said Baby B (Juniper) had flipped breach. Surprise surprise (not.). Isla was born at 2:56 and Juniper was delivered breach at 3:06. He reached up and grabbed her by the feet and pulled her down and broke her water and I pushed her out in about four pushes. It's kind of different delivering the head last. Either way, there is NO BETTER FEELING than finally pushing the baby out and the contractions and pressure stopping. Two beautiful babies. Isla May at 6.2 pounds and Juniper Rose at 6.12 pounds. AND I didn't have a c-section!!!! Which I would have, had I delivered them after 5:00 that day. Ha ha.

This part feels weird to write about because it is just so weird to write facts about something so traumatic at the time it is happening. But, in the end it is just facts and I am just happy for, say what? Yes. HOSPITALS and people that take care of you when things go wrong.
I started bleeding too much and my contractions WERE KILLER. They had put me on pitocin without telling me hoping it would slow my bleeding. I had major clots building up inside of my uterus, which was making it so the uterus couldn't contract back down to size and stop the bleeding. It's horrible to have non stop labor contractions and no baby coming out, just blood. They had to call Chalmers back (he has to leave at 5 to catch a flight). All of a sudden I'm freezing and they are stacking hot blankets all of my body and around my head and I have an oxygen mask. They give me more pitocin which does nothing, then they give me a shot in my inner thigh to make me contract more which doesn't work, then they stick a bunch of pills up in me, and those don't do anything. The goal of all the medications is to get my contractions strong enough to push out the clots and harden the uterus. But the clots weren't coming. So Chalmers reached up in me and cleaned it all out. I am pretty sure I traumatized every other woman on that floor with first my couple of delivery screams and then even more so with how badly I was yelling. Karey said the biggest clot he pulled out was like the size of a cantaloupe. But, there were plenty of other smaller ones he got out, too. Then Chalmers came to me and said " We don't let people bleed to death anymore. So if that doesn't get you to stop bleeding we will need to take you into the O.R. and open you up and clean you out, and possible do a hysterectomy." Then he turns to Karey and says "Were you guys planning on having anymore kids?" In my head I'm like "No" but I still couldn't stop crying. But I had been crying the whole time. My bleeding slowed! In the end they said a normal person loses about 500 SOMETHING of blood in delivery and that they start to get worried if they lose 1000 Something. I lost 2,700 of that something. And, in other words, they told me I lost 2.5 liters of blood when for my body type you have on average 4.5 liters of blood. So I lost a lot.

They wanted to see if my blood would start to build up over night, but my red blood cell count wouldn't go up and either would my blood pressure. So early Friday morning they gave me two bags of blood (GO BLOOD DONORS!!!) and it helped me feel much better. I was at the hospital for two days and two night, which I still don't consider bad at all. My two baby girls are beautifully healthy!And my parents are here helping for two weeks while my blood volume builds back up which they said takes about two weeks.

I am SO grateful for everyone that helped at the hospital. SO grateful to my midwife for staying there through the WHOLE thing.And for Chalmers keeping me alive and not giving me a c-section!!!!! He's the best. And I'm thankful for the the best huband ever, Karey, for shedding a few tears during the whole ordeal just to remind me that he DOES have feelings and loves me like crazy!!!! HA HA. I will add some pictures later.

My struggle and the Stand Up and Shine Challenge #1

So, I have been struggling people. Physically mentally and mostly just those two, ha. I think back to last year before October hit, and I was FLYING HIGH. Dahlia was old enough that she was gaining some independence. Aida was now in Kindergarten, Cypress was also gaining more independence and was doing better health-wise.I was getting my body back! I was feeling better health-wise. I felt like my mind and creativity was coming back to me. I felt like my old self was coming back to me, new and improved. And I also knew, I wanted one more kid. Karey and I both. And that was so intimidating to me because everything was flowing if you know what I mean. The kind of flow that just makes you straight up content every day (almost). The kind of content where you sit back and are like, "My family is the bomb. I'm the bomb. Life is the bomb." And then the truth bomb hits. This family isn't complete, no matter how bad I wanted it to be because of its flow and the feelings of being done I had, and how I just wanted it to stay easy, and get easier and easier. But, when I thought of my family in the future, with teenagers, I still wanted more.

When Karey and I were engaged, we said we wanted six kids. After our first-born, that dropped to five. After our second, we said 3-4. Once our third was born, it was like, "Hey, this is nice. We could be done!.....?" Having a family is not this big smiling picture frame that just stays happy and energetic and fun all the time. It is work ALL THE TIME. Work that is not about you, unless you're looking for some imperfections to perfect. And for someone who considers herself a realist (which others consider a pessimist), it sure is exhausting to be expecting reality all the time, which usually isn't what you want or what you planned it to be. But, what having a family IS, is worth it. It fills in all the cracks of life. It creates cracks too, but they are MINOR compared to life without family. Family is life. You can't even be born without a family. Whether they or you are a part of eachothers' life, every single living human has a family tree. Families create society. They create communities. They create CULTURES. They create citizens, nations. Together, we all make up the world. How can something so large and so vital, be thought to be so easy? The funny thing is there are some people that think it will just be fun and easy (like I did). And, there are the ones who recognize it for what it is. A life that no longer is about you. Instead, it is about everyone around you. But what they don't see is everything it fills in an empty soul. Loving people to the extent that you would give yourself up is something too intense to explain.And too beautiful to explain. It creates humility, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, understanding and SO many more characteristics that, quite frankly, I think are dying out of society. Yes, they are there in small things and in small ways, but what about in deep ways? In the ways that matter when everything is stripped away from you and you really have to see yourself for who you are and who you have let yourself become deep inside? Scary stuff, that is. BUT, back to the point. Families are worth the exhaustion. Back before the boom in technology and  mass production, family was  the pride of people's lives. That has faded now. But it doesn't change the families undying necessity in the plot of  our lives and the building of societies. So, when I thought about how at the moment, I really was too anxious to want another kid, but how in the future, I wanted one more. I knew I just had to jump in, or stay content with my decision of three kids. I didn't want to do the latter (see note*) So, beginning of October is when the flow turned into a brick wall and the content feeling was straight up gone. I had never had morning sickness as bad as this time around, and I could barely function throughout the day. I told myself I just needed to make it to middle of November, because usually I start to feel good around twelve weeks. Well that passed and I still wasn't back to functioning status. My husband was overworked from doing EVERYTHING including his work while I laid on the couch wondering if I was actually maybe just dying. Thanksgiving passed, which we skipped because everyone was sick, I had thrown up and peed my pants, and felt horrible and not very thankful (WHAT?!selfish. I know.)Christmas came and passed and I was just glad that I made it through it. The house was a mess and it was probably the least Christmas-y Christmas my kids will have experienced in their lives, so good thing they're too young to remember anyways.Then the first week of January came. The NEW YEAR, bringing with it promises of sunshine and happiness and hopefully feeling better. And I did start to feel better for a week, until the whole family got hit with the flu. Fast forward two weeks later and we're all just barely recouping AND we finally have our ultrasound! Well, a day before the ultra-sound right when I was seeing the light after one of the most horrible flues ever, I got a horrible horrible sinus infection (and could only take acetametaphin! That's like taking water pills!!). At that ultra-sound, we found out we were having twins. Woooooooo. That's about as far as my excitement went at the time. I was so exhausted from being exhausted all fall, and then so exhausted and emotionally shot from sick kids and sick me and sick husband for the last two weeks, and exhausted from the left side of my face and head throbbing unceasingly, I honestly couldn't even REGISTER twins. If I pictured myself watching myself in a out-of-body type of experience I could kind of disconnect enough to be like "What?!Twins?!" and that was all. Fast forward to now, and everyone has been healthy for a total of like 5 days now. I'm still exhausted but maybe seeing the light at the end of this horrible flu season that I would kill if I could! And we've got about two months before these two little angels come and join us. And  now that I've gotten a bit more sleep and am emotionally a bit more stable I can feel excited! Or at least I can see the time coming where I feel really excited. But I definitely have a lot of energy work to do on myself mentally and emotionally before these two sweet babes come. What I can say is I in no way regret choosing to have one more and getting two! It makes me emotional thinking about how in the end I will get what I always wanted, a big family! And I will have put in the work for it. And that makes me feel good about myself. Does that mean I'll be the best kindest awesomest mom ever? No. But I don't care, I'm just going to do my best. And one thing you learn quickly is, yes, you teach your kids, but they are already a grown soul inside of that small body. They know who they are, and who they'll be come, all you can do is teach them right from wrong and give them someone who loves them the entire way through life! And that is beautiful.

So, to help me have more energy and fix myself a bit mentally and emotionally, I chose to do this Stand Up and Shine challenge. I follow Ashley Lemieux on Instagram and love her force for good. She has helped so so many people through The Shine Project (an organization she created that I love) and she also has been going through a major loss right now that no one would ever want to experience, the loss of her two children. That hits home hard for me. I'm not the girl that naturally wanted to be a mom and being a mom didn't and still doesn't come natural, but I would never ever in my life wish it away. It's too precious.Anyways, she is suffering but trying hard to push through and still be strong and still be productive and still shine and still find joy in life regardless of her pains. I want to do that too. The Day 1 challenge is "yes, you can!" or "yes, I can!" Everyone has their things that they feel like they can't do. And currently for me, I am having a hard time feeling like I have enough energy to think I can do anything. Literally. But I want to make this more emotional and mental for myself. So, I have been having a hard time feeling like I have enough energy to feel or act happy. I've been having a hard time feeling like I have enough energy to put POSITIVE energy back into my kids. I've been having a hard time feeling like I have enough mental energy to just be hopeful or optimistic about the future. When you are so shot physically, it  takes your mental and emotional state right along with it. But, I CAN BE HOPEFUL and I CAN be optimistic about the future. It's my choice. What my brain doesn't want to let me realize is how draining  it is to be down and not hopeful and pessimistic. I don't know if it drains me more quickly than if I were to be hopeful, because I've never tried it before. So here is to testing.So, this is my "i can" statement.

Yes. I can be a hopeful optimistic person.
Yes, I can make it through hard things, even if I don't want to go through them.

* This post is completely personal, meaning personal to my life. I don't think having one or five kids is better. I just have always wanted more, and was having a hard time committing to it because I was feeling content, as stated. What I DO think, is that having one kid is better than having none. Kids are the best!

The Rainbabies by Laura Krauss Melmed

For the times in the car that letting your kids read a book would be great, but they can't read yet. Or the times at home when they want you to read to them, but you're cooking dinner. For the times when you don't want them to watch t.v. but you need them to be distracted just for a bit. Play them a book!

The Rainbabies by Laura Krauss Melmed

Ten Worthwhile Children's Books

1. Seven Little Bunnies by Julie Stiegemeyer

I thought this was going to be a "jumping on the bed" book but I was completely wrong and was so glad I was because I'm so sick of that rhyme! We all loved  this book.


2. Daddy Hugs by Nanci Tafuri

We checked out some books for Father's Day, and this was one of them. There are quite a few Father's Day books on this list because, well, my girls are obsessed with My Man. We loved this one because of the art and the girls loved seeing all of the different animals.



3. If My Dad Were An Animal by Jedda Robaard

I loved the art in this one. It was all so peaceful and cute. The girls also loved all of the animals in this one, and afterwards we talked about what animal we thought My Man was. We decided a fox, until he came home and reminded me that he has told me multiple times that if he were an animal it'd be a bear. I think both would fit him well for different reasons!



4. Bedtime Without Arthur by Jessica Meserve

This was just a really cute book, and the girls loved it, and so did I.



5. Mr. Squirrel and the Moon by Sebastian Meschenmoser

I honestly was pretty suprised the girls liked this book, just because I didn't like the art that much. But, they did and the story was good! Maybe your kids will like it too :)



6. I love My Daddy by Sebastian Braun

I feel like the cover picture is misleading for how great the art is. At least I liked it! And the girls, like I said before, love anything to do with dad.This book had a great portrayal of how kids see their dads.



7. Bears and a Birthday by Shirley Parenteau

Apparently this is one of many "Bears and __________" books. Which is great news! We loved this one. It has cute cute bears and talks about cake. Ummmm. Yes, please.



8. Bye,Bye, Butterflies! by Andrew Larsen

I wasn't fond of the art style in this book (can you tell the pictures are big time for me? ha!), but I had just been talking to my oldest about how caterpillars become butterflies, and this describes that process pretty well and makes it exciting for the kids. Both girls loved this one.



9. Cricket Song by Anne Hunter

This has such a peaceful and beautiful tone to it. The girls love that, and so do I. Read this one!



10. Listen to Our World by Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson

I loved the creativity of the art in this book, and like the one above it was very peaceful and beautiful, along with a beautiful message!

Healthy Snacks For Kids

My girls would rather snack all day than eat a real meal, so we try to keep the snacks healthy (plus, they just honestly and luckily don't like eating much junk). Here are some of the regulars at my house and hopefully you can find something new to let your kiddos snack on that they like. Let me know what you are feeding your kids so I can get some ideas too!

sauteed mushrooms
fruit! Any kind, all day long.
corn quesadillas with tomato slices and dash of salt and pepper
plain yogurt with cinnamon and honey and apples
cucumbers with salt and pepper
sauteed crook neck squash with coconut oil/butter and salt and pepper
tuna+mayo+chopped celery+mustard+salt+pepper on top of crackers. Sometimes this IS lunch.
rice+beans+lettuce+tomato+plain yogurt/sour cream and eat it with chips!
apple tea (apple cider vinegar (w/ the "mother")+water+honey to taste!)
Toast(preferably sourdough) with butter and apricot jam or honey
toast+sliced tomato on top+salt and pepper
homemade guacamole+chips
Grilled cheese+thin slices of tart apple
banana chocolate shakes (frozen bananas+milk+cocoa powder
licuado (1 banana+ 1 tsp vanilla+ 1 raw egg+dash of cinnamon+milk+a few ice cubes+sugar to taste)
green smoothies
Cooked meat chunks (any meat cooked however your kids like it. Cut into small pieces)
any veggies with ranch
Turnips
Radishes (my girls east turnips and radishes like apples)


What are the healthy snacks that you guys do in your home???

Tonsillectomy on Children: Would Your Kid Benefit From It?

My second little girl got her tonsils removed, and she is only two! Apparently there are special cases where children can get them out younger, but generally they say the youngest is age two. I feel like it had been a long time coming just because I always had a feeling she would need them out since she was little. She has always had very poor drainage in her nose and her ears, and for some reason when she gets sick a nasty cough stays around for months on end. Honestly, had that been the only problem I probably would have either held off a lot longer or just never done it. But, one day I heard her breathing while she was napping, and it scared me. She was kind of propped up on the couch and her head had kind of fallen sideways and I heard her struggling to breathe. She was wheezing pretty badly, and she couldn't get any deep breaths. After a few minutes of that kind of shallow breathing, she would stop breathing, and then her body would jolt awake, and she'd quickly fall back asleep again, and it would happen repeatedly. After observing her (I'm not the only one who observes my children before freaking out, I know it!) I went to go move her head and lay her down so that she would be able to breathe better. I thought it was just the positioning of her head that was causing her breathing to be like that. I went and laid her down and straightened out her neck, but she kept breathing the same. No matter the position I put her head in, she couldn't breathe well or deeply and kept stop breathing and then waking up and falling back to sleep. I don't know if she had been doing this since forever (I don't think so), or if her tonsils had just gotten bigger since growing more. Either way, I wanted to get it checked out quickly because it freaked me out. My dad has sleep apnea, so I thought it could be that, but also, a lot of her cousins have gotten their tonsils removed for breathing problems and I actually have huge tonsils too, so I thought right away that it was tonsils. I contacted an ear nose and throat doctor and made an appointment. They said her tonsils were pretty big and that her adenoids(at the lower back of the nasal passage) were probably large as well. He said that if we removed the tonsils he would check out the adenoids and if they were pretty large too, he'd take them out. He also said that her breathing would definitely improve and that the duration of her sickness would probably go down. So, after thinking about it (for not that long), we decided to go ahead and do it. They scheduled her for a month out, which was so stressful trying to keep her healthy until the surgery date because she gets sick so easily and often! But, Heavenly Father blessed us and she made it to the surgery date without getting sick :)

When we got there, they had us give her a nasty mix of some medicine and weird juice that would make her loopy, so she wouldn't notice us not going back with her to the surgery room (so sad!) and so that they could put in her i.v. without her freaking out. I wanted to cry the whole time, and she was just so dang cute the entire time I wanted to huge and cuddle the living daylights out of her. The surgery only took about thirty minutes and then they had her stay back in a room for a little while she woke up.

I had the other two girls with me and I was going to go drop one of them off at a cousin's house for the day while My Man rode with my girly girl back to her recoup room (which was in a different building) in the ambulance. I am SO glad that he went with her instead of me, because he said that when he went back there after she had come to, she was screaming her little guts out hitting everyone and pulling all the cords and there were a bunch of nurses around her trying to calm her down and have her not rip anything out. She was absolutely terrified, and so My Man went and grabbed her right up and within a few minutes she had fallen asleep in his lap. All the nurses were pretty happy about that. Had it been me that went back there, I would have started crying and not been able to calm her down. Ha! What a tough mom I am, I know.

I met My Man and her at her recoup hospital room, and she started crying when she saw me and then I got all teary eyed and tried really hard not to cry because all the nurses were there and would have thought I was a lameeeee-o.  But I cried a little anyways and held her with all those tubes and she fell asleep. After her medicine started wearing off, she was really thirsty and chugged a ton of juice. Then she threw it up which was pretty traumatic for her. Then she chugged some more---then threw it up which was doubl-y traumatic for her. Then they gave her some nausea medicine through her i.v. and she started perking right up. She drank a ton of water, ate a lot of mashed potatoes and chicken noodle soup at the lunch time and took a few good naps. By the afternoon (the surgery had taken place at like 6:30 in the morning) she was riding a little car all around the hospital hallways and wanting to just play in their toy room. Once the doctor came and checked on her and saw how she was doing, he sent us home at about 3:30! I was pretty happy about that and she was too because she wanted dad :)

The next week and a half of nights was insane and pretty much torture. She would wake up screaming and screaming and was inconsolable. She would just scream herself back to sleep. My Man and I would switch off shifts with her. But between her and my youngest baby's feedings, I was dying. And My Man was too because most of the time he would end up taking my shift because all she wanted was "Daddy!!!" One day she'll love me, one day.

They had me alternating her on ibuprofen and acetaminophen. At the beginning I was giving her some every 2-3 hours depending on which medicine it was (ibuprofen needs to be spaced further apart). After about three days of that I got a feeling she wasn't sleeping good and was going cuckoo ( I kid you not. She was extremely bipolar) because of the constant doses of ibuprofen. So, I stopped it and she got way more normal very quickly. She had also started complaining about her head hurting which I know was her body wanting more ibuprofen and getting hooked on that. So I was anxious to start spreading out the doses, lowering them, and then taking her off of it (that all happened in like a two day span). Her head stopped hurting when I stopped giving her ibuprofen.

Most of this time she ate otter ice pops, and frozen gogurts. I made sure to have some homemade chicken broth on hand for her to actually get some nourishment and salty satisfaction into her appetite, because believe it or not, it's not that fun to eat sugar all day (no way? Yes, way.). the day after she came home she drank a whole cup of it through a straw, but she didn't do that again for the rest of her recoup ha. Her body needed it though! She hated ice cream and I actually had read that most people that get their tonsils out find no solace in ice cream or shakes because it leaves a thick dairy coat in their throat that makes them cough. So, stick with sorbet if you are going to do an ice-cream type treat. She didn't eat yogurt either other than the frozen gogurts, and the only reason I think she ate those was because so little of it comes off at a time. She LOVED to eat pudding though. Chocolate vanilla swirl and tapioca. For about the last week, that was the only food she could feel fine eating.She also always wanted to try eating eggs in the mornings, and some days it worked out fine and some days it just hurt too bad. We also had bought a whole bunch of different types of juices and let her drink whatever she wanted whenever she wanted, because the most important thing is that they stay hydrated and that their throat doesn't get too dry because then it hurts more. We bought coconut water which was amazing. Both of my girls love it, and I felt better about her drinking that than all that awful juice (sidenote: I hate juice.).

Pain scale and day scale:
Days 1-2 went pretty good and the pain wasn't too bad.
Days 3-5 she was going cuckoo but her pain wasn't that bad
Days 5-7 she acted okay but the pain intensified. It was probably it's worst on day seven which stressed me out because I had been telling myself "just get to day seven. It will be better by then." I talked to my sister-in-law whose son had gotten his out at about age five and she said days 7-11 were the absolute worst for him. That was hard to hear, but I just told myself I could do it. The great thing about it all was that I knew exactly what was wrong. Her throat was healing. It wasn't some mystery illness where I'm normally like, "Should I take her in? Is that normal? What's wrong with her?! Is she slowly dying!?"That was my only solace in these couple of weeks.
days 7-11: She got much much better! In fact, on day 8 I was planning on another awful day, but it was better and just got better each day after. Now, she is totally herself and completely fine! I can already tell she breathes better while sleeping. She can breathe in deeply without waking up, and she no longer wheezes! We have yet to see about her cough not lasting as long when she gets sick, but I have a feeling it won't. For me, I definitely think it was worth it.

If you know that getting your child's tonsils out would be beneficial, I would recommend doing it as young as you can for them, because compared to all of the teenager's and adult's stories of recovery, hers was A CINCH. Children heal so much more quickly and don't have to go to work or school. 

Sunday Shows

First, you should read my anti-Netflix post here. Then, come back and read the shows I let my kids watch off of it on Sundays ;D ! Ha ha. Sundays are great---and hard with little kids. Especially in the southern area because of the heat. We try to keep Sunday a special day by not doing all the things we would do every other day of the week, like grocery shopping or eating out or working out or jumping on the trampoline, etc etc. One of the things we try not to do in our home is watch shows that we watch the whole rest of the week, and we reduce the tv a lot. We'll maybe watch it once on a Sunday, whereas during the normal week it gets turned on about two to three times a day (kid-less cleaning and meal prep anyone?). But, with little kids, that really brings down the amount of options of what we have to do with them. No going outside because of the heat is the killer, but during the summer that becomes an EVERY day thing. So sad because my girls live outside. Anyways, I just thought I'd let you know what shows are Sunday appropriate in our home.

The Prince of Egypt
Joseph: King of Dreams
Any Planet Earth series that teaches about Mother Earth or animals
Fantasia (old and new version)

There aren't many. But, these are the ones I feel fine with watching during a hard time of the day. The girls do a good job of realizing these are the only ones we watch on Sunday because they relate to Christ. The first two are scriptural based movies. And the earth series we like to watch and emphasize that Christ organized the beautiful earth and everything on it, and Fantasia really actually doesn't have to do with Christ, but most of it is classical music and we love the illustrations. I like having classical music on Sundays, because I honestly can only handle so much "church" music.

Do you guys watch tv on Sunday at all? If you do, what is allowed?

The Backyard Chicken series: Part 5-Outside Time

"Ahhhh, the great outdoors." I've heard this phrase a lot. Not sure if it is a quote, or a phrase, or maybe I just made it up all together? Who knows. All I know is that this small phrase is so so true for us humans, and even more so for the cute little chickies. When you first buy the chicks, as stated before in a few of my other posts (read part 1, 2, 3, or 4) they need to be inside with you. For the first week, they love it because it is warm and comfy. But, it is easy to tell that soon enough, they want to be outside where they are meant to be. They will start laying and the floor and stretching out their legs and wings. This is the best sign it is time to start doing "Outside Time", and they love it!

Outside time was great for the chickies and for the girls because it made sure that we got out at least once that day. The girls loved getting to go outside and NOT chase the chicks haha. They always want to chase the chicks which is a recipe for disaster---I know this from experience. My little cute chick was smashed when I was little from the excited running feet of a little kid. Not Fun! For the little kid or the chick. So our rule is always that when we are doing Outside Time you are not allowed to chase the chicks to try to catch them. If you want to hold them, you have to sit down and wait for them to climb up onto your lap, which they always eventually do. They love climbing all over the big protectors that feed them and keep them safe :)

They need to be able to go outside to not just stretch out, but practice what they are supposed to be learning. I.E. scratching. If you don't see your chicks scratching at all within a week or so, just show them how to do it with your finger. At first, they are so small it is hard for them to do in the grass and dirt, but they will still try. They will start learning how to use their wings to get from place to place, and they will start learning how to sense danger! Your chicks aren't going to die or not function correctly when you move them outside if you don't do outside time. Everything is innate---but I promise you that they will be better chickens and fulfill the measure of their creation if you let them enjoy their life and do the things they love: eating and being outside!

Favorite Five Children's Books

We really love to read. We go through bouts of it though, we'll read a lot, then take a little break, then read a lot, then take a little break. Usually, it just depends on if we end up making it to story time that week and if I have enough energy to go get books after story time. But, not gonna lie, there are a lot of books that I just don't enjoy at all, as do my girls. And then, there are also the ones that we love love love! Here is our current top five!---because yes, favorite are that rare. Check them out if you haven't.

1. I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak-I love reading this with my young ones! Around 12-24 months old. My sister gave me this one after I had my first girl, and I loved it so much, because it so well described my deep love for her :)







2. Just Me in the Tub by Mercer Mayer(little critter series)-Honestly I have never really liked the illustrations in this book series (maybe that's because I don't really like critters???) but I do like the stories! Mostly because my girls love love love them. Not just, "Just Me in the Tub" either. We have four of the books right now, because someone gave them to us. And I bought one for the girls for Christmas :)






3. The Jellybeans and the Big Book Bonanza by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans- This book series is pretty cute. The illustrations are fun. And, my girls love seeing the jellybeans. Side note: Might want to keep some jellybeans handy for when you read these ones---they always want some when the story is over!







4. The Rainbabies by Laura Krauss Melmed-I truly love this book. And, until just recently I had forgotten all about it! I got this from one of those book-buy-a-thon things in elementary school I think. I loved reading it when I was little because I loved the story and the images. It is such a peaceful, loving and soothing story. Even for kids. We went back to my parents house for Christmas this last year, and I found it there again! I read and it my girls, and they loved it. And I loved it.....so, I probably loved it more then them. And, I bet you will too!




5. The Troll and the Oliver by Adam Stower-We just found this one last week! But, it has definitely become a favorite. It's not scary at all, but since it has a troll in it that wants to eat "the Oliver", my little girl walked around the house the entire day saying "scary" in a deep rumbly voice and it was hilarious. We partially love this just because my nephew's name is Oliver, and it reminded us a lot of him! It is definitely a cute and fun story, and has a recipe at the end to make fuzzy scary yummy monster cupcakes! (we've yet to make them...)

The Backyard Chicken Series: Part 4-Housing the Hens+The Big Suprise

If you are behind on this series, check out parts 1, 2 and 3.

Did you like the "housing the hens"? Becuase I did. Housing your little hens for the first month or so can be a little complicated depending on where you live and what you have available. We live in a 4-plex currently (soon to change maybe...?), but our landlord is awesome and so it wasn't a big deal to him that we needed to have the chicks inside our home for about a month or so. We have used multiple boxes to give them the needed space as they have grown---and they sure do grow FAST. Still as cute as from the beginning though.

The larger box on the left is the one they lived in for about a week or two. They were still so small and so it worked fine. Great memories of them passing out in that little box, necks stretched out, legs straight out backs, wings out, laying right flat on their tummies! Nature is so so beautiful and brings so much happiness when it is happy itself.

You might think this is messy, but this is after just a day :) We clean it daily.

This is what we moved them into when they started to get some feathers in. They were already so much bigger! Plus, they were sick of being in the light, even if it was the dark infrared one. They really loved this one the best I think, because they felt like they had two rooms as options ha ha. The warm room with the light on, and the cooler room with the light off. They loved sleeping in the room with the light off of them ( No wondering why).

This is the last box they lived in. They were in here for about a week, and currently still sleep in it at night because it is still pretty close to freezing sometimes at night. They haven't fully got their head feathers in so I don't want them being outside yet (because I'm overprotective). Now, with them being inside at night, we also don't have the light on anymore so they will be getting used to the cooler night temperatures.This box was a bit bigger than the other two combined. Most importantly we were able to tape the flaps up because the chicks were starting to fly out of the box. As you can see, even with the flaps up we needed to put lids on top (plastic bin lids and cooling racks from the kitchen so the heat would still go in and not melt the lids) because they started to even fly out of those high walls! They definitely get itchy to be outside.

(update:they are sleeping outside now! such big chickies)

Side note: Some people may say, oh you don't have to get this nice light or that nice coop or this and that or grab them nicely or give them good food or keep them that warm. And it's true. You don't have to do anything special or nice or considerate for them. God made them durable animals, and they can survive pretty rough stuff. But, if you  do treat them nice and be considerate, and develop a respect for them and for their fulfilling 100% of their measure of creation, they will love you. And nothing is more beautiful than a part of mother nature loving you, because it makes you feel complete.

Okay, now the business is done, time for the big surprise.
We bought straight run chickens, which means there is 90% possibility they are females and a 10% chance they are not. After we noticed our lovely little yYang (Barred Rock chicken) bossing all the other little chicks around and getting on top of anything high that it could, we have concluded that she is actually a he! WE HAVE A ROOSTER! We originally didn't want one because we obviously wouldn't be allowed to keep him. But, now that we MIGHT be moving to somewhere new...we might get to keep that little buddy :) Time will tell. But we sure love him and all his protectiveness over his little women hens.