Hurdling Hadley

Going along with the Olympics again, Hadley decided to have a go at the hurdling competition involving our baby gate. Yes, she is a climber and now we are in big trouble because sky is the limit for her now. I think she wins a gold medal for this one, but you can watch and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Primary Olympics

In our ward, the quarterly activity was an Olympics for the kids which looked way cute. They were separated into classes for their teams and they had flags/banners and colors for each one. They had a bunch of different events or competitions and all of them applied to the theme of Aiming High and Coming closer to Christ by doing certain things. At the end, us parents got to come for the award ceremony where everyone got Gold Medals and they receive little goody bags for a job well done. I thought the Primary did a great job and here are some pictures from it.

1st Primary Olympics

Reading

I thought this was kind of fun. Hadley is obsessed with paper these days and usually when we go for a walk, she tries to sneak something in the stroller with her and the other day happened to be an Ensign magazine from our Church. I thought it was cute so I took a picture.

In the Studio

For those of you who don't know this, I am the co-owner/photographer of my own company called SticksPics Photography.  We have a studio set up that works in our spare room and I've been trying to learn new techniques to better my skills at taking studio shots and I am quite pleased with my practice sessions the passed couple of days and I wanted to share some with all of you.  Here is a slideshow that pretty much shows it all.  Taking pictures of kids really is an art form.  I loved how they turned out.  My studio is still set up for anyone who is interested in coming by and checking us out.  I would love to take more pictures and a little money doesn't hurt either.  Enjoy!

Tooth Woes

A little while back, I looked at Hadley's mouth a little closer only to find that her smile looked funny because part of her front bottom tooth was missing.  How she did it?  I have absolutely no idea!  I looked everywhere she was that day and no blood found anywhere.  All I know is that some how, some where, she hit her front bottom tooth just right to sheer off almost all of it.

I brought her in to see a family friend dentist who explained to me the possibilities of what need to happen and since she didn't cooperate for taking x-rays or even to be looked at, he refered us to a pediadontist they work with.  Well, I went to the pediadontist and got frustrated because of the wait, but also due to the fact that the tech didn't even want to attempt to take x-rays and then the short visit with the actual dentist where there was a brief glance and they said, "It has to come out.  You can schedule it at the front desk."  WHAT!!!  Honestly...just like that and it has to come out.  That's crazy!  What'll happen to her adjacent teeth as they deal with a gap in between them for the next 5 or so years?  Can't it just stay in there?  You didn't even take an x-ray, how do you know it's not just a fluke permanent tooth trying to come in super early?  Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed and the price tag for getting it pulled was not a pretty nor welcomed amount.  Flustered in not knowing what to do, I decided not to schedule the appointment just yet until I talked to oh say, my husband about everything.

Well, today finally ended that saga.  Hadley couldn't eat anything before the procedure so we tried tanking her up with her favorite foods during an extended late dinner last night consisting of parts of macaroni and cheese, hot dog and pizza with chocolate milk and water to chase it all down.  She went to sleep late so she could possibly sleep in to kill some time too and it seemed to work because she didn't wake up until about 8:30 and her appointment started at 10:30.  We watched her favorite movie, Monsters Inc and then I took her to Wal-Mart to pick out a new toy for afterwards.

I got there 15 minutes early to try to help calm her down and fill out the forms saying I know all of the possibilities and risks from the procedure all while juggling her up and down chairs, in and out of the hall and other various toy situations.  At about 11 or so, we were finally called back to weigh her in at a whopping 24 lbs and then discuss the forms I filled out since I had still questions to get answers for.  I expressed my concern about the gap in the teeth and what might be done to prevent the other teeth from growing crooked into that said space and avoiding braces later in life and they said that they put spacers in the gaps, but they aren't too pretty and they usually only do it if it's on the side of the mouth not the front since the teeth in the front of the mouth don't have the tendency to move like that apparently.  Secondly, I asked them to try to take an x-ray anyways while she is sedated to make sure it really and truly was not a permanent tooth and she said they would see if that were possible when the time came.  Lastly, is it truly necessary to do this instead of leaving it in there and after asking the doctor, she reassured me because it was sheered off and exposed, it was better to remove it all so that no bacteria or infection could get into the permanent tooth underneath.

So, we gave her the sedative with some much needed and appreciated water and she was good to go and we were sent back out to the waiting room to wait some more (I hadn't realized it would be another 45 minute wait).  Finally, around 12, we moved back to the actual room and they kind of left us in there.  TIme rolled on some more and I was getting frustrated because my antsy daughter was all over the place and it still wasn't getting done.  Finally, they approach me with the kicker that topped it all of.  It goes as follows.

"It seems that your daughter is not going to calm down at all through the sedatives so you have two options right now.  You can either get your money back and leave and go to a referred peridontist to make an appointment to then put your daughter to sleep through an IV and get it pulled that way OR you can choose to have her put in the papoose and have it done within 10 minutes."

In my mind, I thought, why haven't you just done the latter by now instead of wait so long.  I also was thinking, ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!  You want me to leave after waiting a couple hours now only to reschedule with a different person to go through this horror all again, I DON'T THINK SO!  SO you can guess, I told them to papoose her and get it over with after a minute or two of thinking about it.

After another 10 minutes of shuffling things around they had us move rooms again and by this time Hadley was screaming and bawling and frustrated too because she was both EXHAUSTED because it was passed her nap time AND STARVING because she still had NO food inside of her.  YEESH.  SO what's a mom to do...I turn into a basketcase who is no doubt exhausted from trying to deal with her and I bawl over the whole situation as I sit there trying to keep her attention and calm her down with another movie.  At this point, all I thought about was yelling at them for not gettting it over with and contemplated doing so if they came into the room again and wondered why my daughter was acting the way she was.

Finally at a little before 1 pm, a nurse came into the room, turned off the lights and asked to ly her down on top of the papoose board to get her comfy lying there while watching the movie.  She seems semi-okay with the position and then the doctor comes in and they start trying to strap her down and she looses it all while I loose it with crying again as I watch my daughter be so upset.  They get her tucked in and put the numb stuff on the tooth area and try to give her the laughing gas and I am asked to leave.

As I wait, I cry some more and update Jared that she is finally getting it done.  A couple minutes later, they are carrying my screaming daughter with a pool of blood in her mouth to me saying she's all set.  I try to absorb some blood with gauz, but she just takes it out and throws it.  I bring her to the car after fumbling through the diaper bag trying to remember where I put my keys and she continues to scream while buckling her in to leave.  The whole way home, I listen to her scream for her Daddy.  Once home, Daddy comes out to get her and I try to collect everything and regroup from this whole frustrating and emotional experience.

After getting her settled down a bit, we got some Jello in her and Tylenol and we watched a show before putting her down for a very late nap around 3 pm.  At which I felt so exhausted and just totally beat, that all I wanted to do was lye in bed and pass out from sheer exhaustion.  Thus ends my tails of the tooh woes.  Check out her smile when you see her next.  It reminds me of when I went through Elementary School with only one front tooth in almost all of my school pictures.

Bowling

One fun thing about Jared's work is that he has a group within it that is for social purposes and they have events throughout the year for little to no money.  This passed month involved cosmic bowling for free and the kids loved it!  We had a good time even though we were tuckered after helping our kids bowl for so many games.  I even did choose to restrain my daughter in her stroller halfway through our adventure which seemed to keep her happy with a movie and food.  Here's some pictures.

I was happy with my performance.

This was the lightest ball available for him to use.

Her portable restraint

He can put a spin on the ball whereas, I cannot.

5 Year Anniversary

Goofing Around As Usual

Where we met and he proposed.

One of our 5 or 6 versions of announcements minus the info.

Five Years Ago

Wow!  Five Years goes by fast when you're chasing kids :0)  It has been quite the ride with lots of changes, but I still love him just the same.  I still look forward to holding his hand through many more things just like he asked in the very beginning.  We held hands through our date to the movies that night, holding hands in church but not while I sang in the choir the next day.  Holding hands while going through the temple for the first time.  

Holding hands the day we were married in the Boston Temple.  Holding hands while having my first child at 20.  Holding hands through lots of other things.  And there is much more time in between now and holding my hand when I'm old and gray and can barely lift my own hand. 

 Thank you for being such an amazing, caring husband who always looks out for my benefit and well-being and works hard to help keep me at home raising our kids and supporting my hobbies.  I couldn't have asked for more from you.  I still remember how amazingly excited I was and surprised when you brought me to that stadium and asked me all those questions about holding my hand and then kneeling down and asking me for my hand in marriage then.  I was so excited.  Personally, I thought you were crazy because who would want to marry a girl looking like this earlier in the day, but I guess he knew there was something amazing behind all that clash (It was my laundry day).

I wore a fake ring before we got engaged and that is what is on my finger there.  Kinda corny, eh?  Before that was a CTR ring.

We didn't do anything too fancy this year, but a date is always appreciated.  Lunch and a Movie is the kind of date I will always look forward too.  It's more than curbside to go too :0P 

Here's to 5 years with one moldy apartment complete with eviction notice, one condo that was an amazing investment for us, 3 job changes, 4 cars, 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 photography company, 1 new home that we love having and a lifetime of memories.  Thanks for all you do and I love you!