Fire Alarms and Potato Salad

So, our fire alarm went off this morning at quarter to one...don't worry there was no fire. It was soooo bizarre and has left me thinking about it all day. It beeped three times, quite loudly, and then stopped. It scared the bejeebies out of me and Kenny! We both shot up out of bed immediately. Kenny was asking me what it was. I told him I thought it was the fire alarm. We walked around the house. There was no smoke and no fire. There was nothing out of the ordinary at all going on in the house. Shiloh was fine and was still sleeping in his room (LUCKILY! Not sure how he slept through that considering all of our fire alarms are connected to each other. So, when one goes, they all go). We tried for about 20 minutes before going back to bed to figure out what it was. We thought maybe it was the battery going out, but usually it makes a chirping noise and not the alarm sound when the batteries need to be replaced. I went back to bed, but I couldn't sleep for a while. I was kind of nervous that something was wrong. I was also thinking that it might go off again, and so I didn't want to be scared out of a deep sleep again. I finally fell asleep. Nothing happened. The alarm went right back to being the discreet little alarm it always was prior to that. I am glad there wasn't a fire or anything, believe me, but I am just bewildered as to what might have set it off. Maybe our fire alarms just thought that they needed to be noticed....

On to a happier note...potato salad...at least this is a happy note for this pregnant woman. I love it. It reminds me of spring and summer, mainly, because that is when my family ate it growing up. I have also been craving it these past few weeks, and I finally made some. YUMMY! Sometimes there is just nothing better than a big bowl of it, especially when I got to make it MY way (i.e. mayo not miracle whip, bread & butter and dill pickles, lots of eggs, etc. etc.)

I should have been posting lots of other things(like all of the fun pics from when my in laws were in town, coming soonish)besides the randomness of fire alarms and potato salad, but alas, this was what was on my mind toady, so I wrote it about it instead, even if it is kind of random.

Cruisin'

Since this is how I document things in my family, I had to write a blog post tonight. As of this afternoon, Shiloh decided that he wants to walk around. It started outside when he wanted to see some rocks and I wanted to go inside. He let go of my hand and started walking around on the gravel drive. I was in shock, but the good kind. :) Then he took a nap. Crawled for a bit, then finally he figured out that he knew how to stand up by himself without anyone or thing helping him stand. I knew he could do this because he has done it two or three times, but he kept forgetting that he knew how to do it. Well something about his nap helped that confidence in himself click and he was a walking/running machine the rest of the evening. He would just stand up and then start cruisin' around. I will have to get a video posted sometime soon. I am so excited/nervous for this new step, no pun intended, for Shiloh.

Call me crazy, but Shiloh learning to walk is a blessing. I know most of you are thinking in your heads, "Watch out! This is is when the real craziness hits!" or "walking only means that he is going to be into everything, and be able to run away from you." I have thought about all of these things, very, very hard. Believe me.

Remember how I am pregnant? I know I keep reminding everyone of this, but it plays a huge roll in just about everything in my life. I am starting to have a hard time holding Shiloh, picking him up, bending over to help him stand, etc. So, now that he can do it himself, I don't have to do it for him... This is why it is a huge blessing.

So, Yay Shiloh!!!!!!

Outside Again

This is Kenny Again

So I decided to get some pics of the Trees we planted and then take some more of tonight's adventures. Brittani had a Relief Society Dinner so Shiloh and I had a Boys night. We had tacos, Shiloh ate 1/2 the amount I ate, but he is not half my size. Hmmmm. He was hungry. Then we went for a walk down our wooded Trail. I decided to try the jogging stroller, which was an adventure because it is not very smooth or gradual, but we made it down. At the bottom we heard water trickling on our property so we searched out and found two water ponds with running water. I took a picture of one. Then we walked down the dirt road that connects to the back of our property and found a stream that crossed the road. I got Shiloh to put his feet in the water and tried to help him throw rocks in the stream, but he just wanted to hold on to his and watch me throw mine. Then we slowly cruised back up the trail and took a few more scenic pictures before bath time. Here are some of the pics.

New Fruit Trees




Going for a Cruise


Stream/pond on our Property




That's the Front of our Pad

View from the Back

View From the Front

Ummm....Apparently I didn't strap him in right on the way back.
There's our truck

(FYI This is Kenny)

I think this is my first time to post on our blog, but today I just cant help but say how very thankful I am for this beautiful Earth and for this beautiful day. Work was business as usual, but courtesy of daylight savings time we had plenty of sunlight and warmth to enjoy afterwords. Today we planted 6 fruit trees in our small orchard. We planted Two apple varieties, two cherry varieties, one plum, and one nectarine tree. We planted them in the front by the pear tree and another mystery fruit tree. Shiloh and Brittani were able to sit outside on a blanket and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and warm air and play with the dirt. Shiloh Got to hold his first worm, Mom was a little grossed out, but Us boys really enjoyed it.

This was my first digging project in our yard, and I was SOOOOOO pleased to find that there were no rocks in the soil. (well I did find 2 small rocks, but who is counting? ) The ground was soft and easy to dig. Then I was so excited about the digging that I dug a hole by the road and put up our house number post. Now people will be able to find our house without giving instructions like, "it is after the 35mph curve sign, before you go back up the big hill on the left side".

After eating dinner and putting Shiloh to bed we went outside and watched the end of the sunset, (Still wearing Shorts) The stars were so beautiful and the temperature was still above 70 degrees so we got out the telescope and looked at the stars and planets. I just have to say that I love the beautiful country out here. I love the smell, the sounds, the pace and calm, the beautiful trees, flowers, grasses, the bright stars. I love watching and listening to the beautiful birds, taking Shiloh to the fence to look at the cows and Geese, walking through the woods and hearing the trees blow in the wind, and just sitting out in the yard relaxing and listening to the sounds of nature. It gives me such a still, calm, peaceful feeling that helps me remember why we are here in this life. I am so grateful for God's beautiful creation. It is truly a wonderful creation to behold.

Kenny

Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away

For the past week or so, we have had the best Spring weather. There have been intermittent days of rain, but most of the days have been sunny and above 60 degrees. All of the trees and bushes and bulbs are starting to bloom. I love it. Shi and I had an outside day the other day. I actually took pictures. Pretty impressive, I know. I decided that, since I actually took pictures, it is definitely something worth blogging about.

I don't know if it is my Utah weather mentality, or if it is just how it is everywhere, but I am not so naive as to think that there couldn't be cold and miserable days ahead, but I am just going to enjoy this weather while I have it.

Shiloh refused to get off of the blanket and touch the grass or rocks. We are going to have to change that this summer :) He would, however, walk around with me and hold my hand. This is Shiloh's mad face. He was upset because his toy went on the grass. It was an inch from the blanket's edge and he refused to touch it. I also chose not to get it for him because it was pretty silly that he wouldn't get it. He got mad.

Below are some of the beautiful blossoms starting to come in our yard. It seriously doesn't look like March, but I will take it.

Hopefully this sunshine doesn't go away too soon. I do have to say that I don't mind the rainy days when they are followed by such bliss!

On the agenda for today? We are going to the park again. It was sooo fun, and the projected temperature for the day is 78 degrees. It is already 65. I am seriously so thankful for the sun!

A boy and his box

Shiloh has been OBSESSED with boxes and their many forms as of late. He loves climbing in and out of them. He loves sitting in them and having someone push him around. He loves bringing his blankies and stuffed animals in with him. He loves big boxes, especially if they are big enough to have daddy join him inside. All of these many boxes that he chooses to play in have provided countless hours of fun for him, and, not to mention, countless hours of time to clean/make dinner/get ready for day/just take a break for me.

Here are a couple of pics of Shiloh and daddy playing in a big box together. This was, by far, the best box experience for Shiloh. We kept that box around for several weeks. Unfortunately I got sick of it in the middle of my front room, so I sent it to recycling.

Here are a few picture of Shiloh in the ottoman/toy box. This is one of his regulars. He gets in and out of it at least 10 times per day.

I wish I had a picture of ALL of the different "boxes" he uses. He loves the laundry baskets. He plays in the magazine box all of the time. He even tries to fit in little rubber maid containers that he is too big for. It is quite entertaining to watch and so darn cute!

Backtrack to a week ago...Shiloh's hernia

They had to do three incisions. :( This is his poor tummy the morning after.

I haven't been very good at updating my blog with pics and life events lately. Sometimes it is just good to just write what you want not what you feel you should be. This feeling and action upon this feeling has lead me to a lot of catch up to do on the blog. About 4 or 5 weeks ago we noticed that Shiloh had a slight lump in his groin area. We may not have noticed except for the fact that Kenny has a hernia in the same area currently. We watched it for a couple of days, and were convinced that it was a hernia as well. This worried me. For any of you who know me, I am NOT someone who rushes to the doc about everything, but Kenny had been doing all sorts of research about what can be done for an inguinal hernia. The only thing that can be done is surgery, so we took him to the Pediatrician. The Pediatrician said it was for sure a hernia, and that with Shiloh being so young it was dangerous not to operate.

You see, with adults, you can wait for a period of time. Monitor the pain and firmness of the hernia and decide whether or not it is time to get surgery or to wait. Whit a child of 1 year old, he can't tells us if it hurts, if it is tight, if it bothers him. I could monitor the firmness, but not every second of every day.

The pediatrician referred us to a pediatric surgeon in Columbia (30 minutes away). We went to see him a few weeks later. He said that Shiloh definitely needed surgery, and, although it wasn't an emergency situation, it was something that we shouldn't wait too long for.

In case you didn't know, I am having another baby in June. I didn't want the surgery to be too close to that date. (i.e. nothing in May or after) Kenny's parents are coming to town next week ( March 17th-25th) I didn't want surgery to be in that week either. Of course the 3 dates that were given us to choose from were in May, the week that Kenny's parents are in town or that Friday (March 2nd). So we opted for the surgery date of March 2nd.

I am such a worry wart about everything in general, so you can imagine the amount of anxiety I was having about Shiloh being put to sleep and being cut open.

Well, surgery day came. We had to make Shiloh fast for 6 hours prior to the surgery. NOT easy with a 1 year old. He took it like a champ poor kid. We got to the hospital, they did all of the required paperwork, and then we waited for a bit. They took us back into a room. Luckily, Shiloh is a huge people person. He took to one of the nurses immediately. She was playing cars with him and he was happy to have her hold him. We talked about options for pain relief. They offered an epidural. I said no. If you know me and my story about the epidural during birth, then you know why I said no. If you don't, just know that it wasn't pleasant for me. They decided to things the conventional way (i.e. IV and local anesthetic)

When it came time to take Shiloh away, he was happy as a clam. Poor kid, didn't even know what about to happen. He just thought some nice friends were going to take him away to play. He didn't shed a single tear. Wish I could say the same for me. The minute he was out of ear shot, I cried like a baby. I could blame it on being pregnant, but it was just me. I was worried and sad and nervous for the recovery.

Surgery went really well. They said his hernia for his size was huge and it was good we got it taken care of. When they brought Shiloh from the recovery room to his little room to finish waking up, it was so heart wrenching! He was hooked up to tubes and needles. He looked beyond drunk. He kept crying, and his head kept flailing around. The poor guy couldn't keep it up. Eventually he was awake enough for us to take him home.

That night was fairly rough. Shiloh would cry whenever he twisted the wrong way or tried to use his abs at all. He did really well though, all things considered. He finally got to eat, which I think made him the happiest. Come on people! I have foodie on my hands! He was full and would still ask for more and get mad if we didn't give it to him. I think he was just testing to see if he really could eat whenever he wanted. He didn't want us to withhold food anymore. The only thing that seemed to comfort him was if daddy would hold him and walk him around. There was NO sitting aloud. He just kept pointing to things and Kenny just kept humoring him and walking to whatever he pointed to. Normally this would not have been tolerated for long, but when your kid has had as rough of a day as Shiloh had, you are pretty much willing to do WHATEVER it takes to keep them from crying and hurting. Kenny was a champ through it all.

Luckily that night he crashed for the whole night! It was a blessing for all of us. The next day he was a new kid. He was crawling and walking around. He would get a little grumpy when it was time for motrin, but other than that he was doing great.

Fast forward to a week later... He is back to himself and his incisions look great. The super glue has worn off and they just look little. There is no bruising anymore either. I am so glad that we don't have to worry about the hernia or the surgery. I am glad it is over with, and I am thankful for so many answered prayers last weekend. Hopefully we don't have to go through that again.

The weather forecast

This is the 5 day weather forecast for Tebbetts, MO. (where I live) Doesn't it look fantastic?!? I just hope it stays looking like this.

Pregnancy Update (sans picture...sorry) 26 weeks

Seriously? Is it already week 26? Where has the time gone? Well, wherever it has gone, I am not getting it back.

Well I still crave junk all of the time, but I am proud to say that I rarely give into the craving. I have been fairly healthy this time around, all things considered. I have only gained 7 pounds. (I just had to weigh myself to see where I was at, and let me tell you, trying to see the number on the scale under my pregnant belly is a challenge). I attribute that to chasing a 1 year old this time around, instead of being on and off bed rest.

I feel this little guy move all of the time! He moves so differently from the way Shiloh did. Shiloh squirmed, this one kicks and punches.

I am getting to the point where it is a little uncomfortable to sleep at night. I know it only gets worse from here, but I have started implementing a little bit of yoga in my life and it is helping a bit. Poor Kenny has to endure all of the tossing, turning, and pillows that come with this part of pregnancy, not to mention the 5 to 6 trips to the bathroom at night. Sorry babe! He probably gets the same amount of sleep as me.

Shi is getting quite frustrated with my belly. He thinks that he should just be able to move it out of the way so that he can have a decent reading seat again. My belly is getting pretty big, but in all, I feel like it is smaller at this point in pregnancy than it was last time.

I am mentally starting to gear up for the birth process, to the best of my abilities. Nothing can truly prepare you, except for the adrenaline that comes when it is time, but at least this time, I know what I want and I know slightly more about what to expect. I am also trying to mentally gear up for having two babies around instead of just one. I am sure there is nothing that I can do to prepare myself for it, but I am trying to anyway. I always feel this need to plan.

(Sorry about the no pic. I promise to post one soon. Just hasn't been in the cards the past little while)

At the park with strangers

So Shiloh and I joined a bunch of other moms and their children from our ward at the park today. It was windy, like it always here, but the sun was shining, and it was almost 70 degrees. Glorious weather for the 1st of March.

We packed our lunch, jackets, and a few other necessities. It felt good to get out of the house, although I was worried about Shiloh's mood, considering he hadn't taken a decent morning nap. He did really well.

When we all first got there, everyone was very nice. They all knew each other and were talking about things that I didn't know about. You know, health problems, so and so's husband was looking for a job and how did his interview go. I was trying to catch up. They kept cluing me in. Very inclusive bunch, but during this first episode, as my mind's eye stepped back from the situation, I felt like I was with strangers. Technically they were strangers. Some of whom, I hadn't even met at church yet.

All of the moms kept running off to help different children with various problems. I had some time to reflect on this whole "everybody I am with right now is a stranger" situation. I kind of felt alone at this moment, surrounded, and yet alone. As I was walking with Shiloh (he was loving holding on to my finger and walking around the pathways at the park) I started to think about each stranger. Each stranger had introduced themselves to me. Each stranger had talked to me and helped clue me into the conversation. Each stranger never once got catty or clique-ish.

I came to a conclusion about the situation: It was a good day to be with strangers. Nice, Kind, Loving strangers, who will still be strangers for a while, until they turn into friends or acquaintances or ward members, but it was good and I shouldn't allow myself to feel alone, when I was surrounded with kindness.

And so I reiterate, it was a good day to be at the park with strangers.