Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Doctor Visits, No More Training Wheels and Yard Fun

Brigham had his Kindergarten doctor visit, and he was Mr. Excited on the way there. However, on the way home, he was shooting me some pretty intense glares in the rearview mirror. He had 5 shots, each one getting progressively more painful. The last one made him whimper, but he didn't scream or anything. I was so proud of him. I felt so bad! I could tell he was a little bugged at me for building up this doctor's visit into something wonderful and fun. Oh well.Brigham loves posing....can you tell?
The doctor was really nice. I hope Brigham will trust me next time we have to go to the doctor!

Thanksgiving Point "Sheep Festival" with the kids...
Nelly on a big horse. She is in heaven here!
Big boy.
On the wagon ride.
Watching the sheep get sheared. They were soooo into it.
Cutest lil' baby horse.

Posing Nelly:

One of the WORST experiences ever: Chanel needed dental work...on every tooth. Maybe it had something to do with the chocolate milk bottles we gave her from age 1 to 2? Every night? Multiple times a day? hmmmm....it makes me wonder what I was thinking!! Well, we realized that the only way to do dental work on a spunky 2 year old is to SEDATE HER!
So, Chanel went to bed the night before her appointment at about 8 pm. In the morning, I woke her up early and got her dressed and we left. We arrived at 8:15 am at the Riverwoods Surgical Center in Provo. When we checked in, we were informed by the sweet receptionist that our appointment was pushed back 2 hours due to a delay (the first surgeon of the day decided to make his 30 minute appointment a little longer. Plus, the anethetist was over an hour late).
I knew that this wasn't going to be a good day. I asked the receptionist if I should just reschedule, and she wouldn't really give me an answer. So, I decided we should just kill a couple of hours around Provo. We went to Barnes & Noble to read and play, after it opened (we waited for about 15 minutes in the parking lot).
Keep in mind, that on the day of surgery, the patient is NOT able to eat or drink ANYTHING. So, Chanel was BEGGING me for food. I was so sad for her! I couldn't even give her water to drink. Jonathan had Brigham at his work (I thought he only would be watching him for a couple of hours).
We got back to the surgical center at about 10:15, to learn that there was still quite a delay. I told the receptionist that this was not a good thing, and that the owners of the center should be made aware of what had happened. I asked for their phone number, and sat down with my little hungry girl. She kept asking me for a cupcake. I was starting to tear up a little, knowing how uncomfortable Chanel was, and due to the anxious anticipation of the actual sedation and stuff.
Finally, at about 12, we were called back into another waiting area, where we found cute Joey Caldwell, the mom of Jonathan's good high school friend, Stephanie. Joey was so sweet and kind, and had a movie playing for waiting kids. Some of the anethesiologist crew came to get Chanel at about 12:30, and she went screaming and kicking in their arms back into the operating room.
I started to cry. The whole morning had been a big nightmare.
I went back to the waiting room, and sat down, alone, to cry. Right at that moment, the manager came to talk to me about my experience at his center. Really? Did it have to be at that moment? He tried to console me, and talked me through the whole day, and why they had the issues they did...and gave me a PF Changs gift card and Movie tickets. Then, I was alone again, waiting for my girl.
Fortunately, all went well while she was put under. She came out of the sedation like a freak, but I'm so grateful that day is over, and we made it through. Only another mom would understand how horrible this day was.


On to a brighter topic: our unfinished yard is now being finished!!!!! Yeah! My amazing parents brought their equipment down. My cute dad searched his whole mountain to find the best rocks, collected them, and trasported them to us. He found over 100 rocks. I can't believe the time he spent, planning, finding, working... I feel really lucky to have such supportive parents!!! They came down, taking time Thursday through Saturday (meaning: dad did not go into his office on those days!), brought in gravel, dirt, tools, and 2 of their ranch employees to help. Awesome.
Don't I look hot??? Ha ha.
Dad and Jonathan, moving dirt around.
Crystal, my sweet neighbor, who always is happy and helpful! We love her and her sweet family. Her hubby, Jason, is doing our cement, basement door, and sprinklers. How did we get so lucky???
We have had many neighbors come over, just to see how we're doing on the yard. Many have come and grabbed a shovel to help. We are amazed at these people!!! Our neighbors are the BEST!!!
Basement is almost ready here.
Trampoline hole!
Jonathan building yet another rock wall.

Here's some exciting news: Brigham rides on 2 wheels! It took ONE try. Seriously. Jonathan held onto his back, but let go after one ride. We were laughing so hard, in amazement! We hadn't even tried to teach him how to ride a bike, and hadn't even had him practice. Jonathan was a proud daddy.
Happy boy couldn't take that smile off his face. He would call out to neighbors, "hey, it's Brigham here: on 2 wheels!!"

At the park, we let B ride around more on his bike. Charlie got in on the action.
The biggest rainbow ever.

Toad found near our house....
We feel blessed that our family is not struggling with major health concerns right now, and our children are growing up happy and healthy. To catch you up on our family: yard is still not done, we have soooo many rocks, it's insane. Oh, Jonathan finally received a calling in our ward! He's the gospel doctrine teacher. He will be great at this. He loves to teach and study. I'm still on the enrichment committee and a girls camp assistant director.
We're running the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back this Friday and Saturday! I'm more than excited about it! I finally worked up to a 10 mile run! I can't believe I'm actually talking about ME! I really think that elite runners want us all to stay fat, so they don't tell us that after the first 1 1/2 miles, running becomes easier.
Our team is Legstrong Armstrong, made up of all my cousins, hubby, and sister! My cute cousins will be the best cheerleaders ever. I can't wait! My wonderful mom offered to watch our kids. I hope we will be able to repay them for all the things they do for us.
THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO HAVE HELPED US MOVE, WORK ON THE YARD, AND WHO HAVE TAKEN CARE OF OUR KIDS WHEN WE NEEDED YOU!!! We love you!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate pictures of me! Your yard is going to look great when your done and we are the lucky ones to have you as our neighbor not the other way around

SARAH said...

Wow, you've been a busy lady!!
Can't wait to catch up with you in a few weeks!