Through the eyes of a child

Update: Ashlyn is feeling much better. We went back to the doctor last Friday and found that her ear infection had now moved from her right ear into her left ear. The doc asked me how many times a day I was giving her the antibiotic and I said, "Once a day like it says" she asked me if I was sure it was once a day and not twice a day. I told her, yep it's once a day (and I'm thinking, that's what Dr. Coombs told me to give her) Then she said that usually it was twice a day that is prescribed and to go home and look at the bottle and call her back and let her know so she could call in some more if we needed to. So I left, ran home and pulled the bottle from the fridge and to my horror...it said "give one teaspoon twice a day for ten days" Ok so I'm "Mother of the Year"--Oh wait, that was neglectful, but I don't have enough kids to be nominated for that title, plus it was already handed out for the year. Oh so close! So I must be a crappy mom for a minute! Anyway, I filled the cute little pink syringe and squirt it in Ashlyn's mouth and I called back embarrassed and told the receptionist that I was a crappy mom and had read the bottle wrong. For some reason she didn't find it as funny as I did. ;) So needless to say, we have made a 180 and Ashlyn has been given her antibiotics faithfully ever since. She is feeling much better and isn't as whiny as before...thank goodness! I pray my future children don't whine!

So backing up to a time before the illness set in...which I think was from Nursery because that place is a petri dish of germs. When Ashlyn isn't listening or is being naughty I have been using the techniques taught by Supernanny (yes I have her book too) where I get down on her level and look her in the eyes and tell her that she is being naughty and if she does it again, she will be in time out. Well, the time out chair has become more of a circus act than punishment. She lays across it, stands on it, slides to the very edge of it, falls off it, you get the point.

So my friend Anna told me that she had the same problem with Gavin and that she now has him put his nose on the wall. So I've started to do that. Well I have to admit that it is one of the funniest things I've ever seen because she will start out with her nose touching the wall and then she sticks her nose up in the air and rests her chin on the wall as to say to me..."Mom...my nose isn't on the wall" Cleaver. The other day I told her that if she played with the water dispenser again, she would have to put her nose on the wall, so she walks over, pushes aside the garbage can and puts herself into time out. Cole and I just looked at eachother and laughed and I grabbed the camera. However, once she felt that she had served enough time, she went right over to the water and pushed the button and turned and laughed. HELLO! You don't get to store up time outs!

Today, we spent some time outside playing on her swing, looking at Grandpa's garden, pulling leaves off of the tree, blowing bubbles, and looking for those stupid Box Elder Bugs! I hate those things! If they are Box Elder--shouldn't they stay in Box Elder County????

She was so funny because I would "blow" the bubbles; I have a bubble gun that is battery operated...best invention ever, I don't get light headed! The bubbles were landing on the grass and she started to get down on her knees and pop the bubbles with her mouth--gross, but she thought it was hysterical.

Anyway, I started to think about what the world must look like to her. As I watched her face, it was so fun to see her get excited about the simple things. It made me realize that I need to slow down and enjoy these moments with her. I need to spend time exploring things that interest her and that I take for granted that I have around me. We had so much fun just playing outside and she is at such a fun stage. So here's to more memories and a goal for living in the moment. :)

And HE found joy...

So I have to share Cole's "Mom Moment" from last night. I was at Young Womens and since we are trying to get the girls to not have their cell phones, I had to put mine on silent. Not to mention that I was also in charge of the activity and had 18 girls to show how to decorate paint cans. As I was taking the girls home at about 9:15, I looked at my phone and noticed I had 3 missed calls and a text message. I looked to see who had called and it was Cole. I called him back and asked him if he needed something and he was not very happy. I listened to him for a minute and realized this wasn't the time I should be chatting with him about his night, so I told him I would talk to him when I got home.

When I returned home I was greeted ever so lovingly with--"Why the hell didn't you answer your phone" as I calmly explained to him the rules of Young Women he said, "Well tonight was horrible and I needed your help. I was giving Ashlyn a bath and she pooped in the tub (remind you, she has been sick) so I pulled her out of the tub so I could clean it up and she pooped on the damn rug!" He was very animated and at this point I am trying REALLY HARD not to laugh. He continued, "Then I grabbed her and put her back in the tub because I was about to throw up so I was hovering over the toilet saying, 'Please don't throw up, please don't throw up' and Ashlyn was looking at me and couldn't figure out what was going on. (I was thinking-Of course she was-Mom doesn't do that) I tried to call you so you could come home and help me" Which he really means--Clean it up for me.

So I told him..."Oh so you had a mom moment! Congratulations! Welcome to my week! :)" He told me that since I'm a mom I should keep my phone on at Young Womens in case of an emergency. I told him that this really doesn't constitute an emergency and if it was THAT bad he could have called his mom or my mom since they are only about 7 minutes away. He also told me that he can't handle bodily fluids and that it makes him sick. I asked him if he knew of anyone who enjoyed dealing with bodily fluids. It's not like I've seen many ads on TV or in the Newspaper: NOTICE: Got a sick kid? Poop and Throw Up Galore? Call me-I enjoy cleaning it up! Anyway, it was hilarious, I can picture a grown man with his arms wrapped around the toilet as his baby sits in a dirty bath tub staring at him with wide eyes thinking "Where on earth is my mother?"

Then tonight Ashlyn has a stinky diaper and he calls me in and says, "I can't handle this anymore, you need to change her." I said, "Excuse me? I don't think so, you need to buck up and get over it. I'm sorry, but you don't just get to quit contributing after 19 months of having a baby! Welcome to parenthood!" So...he changed the diaper. :)

So in reference to my earlier post, I couldn't help but think--"And HE found joy..."

And they shall find joy?

Well what a week we've had at our house! I have been told, "and ye shall find joy" I'm trying to figure out how I can find joy in poop. That's right, we've hit a couple of milestones. Our first visit to the ER, first ear infection, and first bout with diarrhea.
WARNING: This blog contains normal mommy talk of poop and vomit. Sensitive readers should use caution.
Sunday night, I was outside enjoying the nice evening chatting with my friend when I hear a frantic scream "JJJJUULLLIIIEEEE!!!!" I quickly returned to the house to find Ashlyn crying and Cole holding a baby with throw up all over her. Yummy. So we jumped into action. Cole took Ashlyn to the bath tub, I took over the de-throw up duty of her bed. The next morning(Monday), she threw up again all over our bed. Lovely! So off came the goose down comforter and feather bed, sheets, blankets, etc. She had a fever and wouldn't eat or drink anything, so I'll called the Doctor and the doctor said, No more monkeys jumping....oh wrong story. :) Anyway, we went to Dr. Coombs and he said it's an ear infection in her right ear AND the stomach flu. So he put her on antibiotics and off we went. Well Cole was getting her ready for bed and she looked horrible. I took her temperature and it was 103.8. I called Lisa Sharp who is Dr. Coombs nurse and lives in my ward, thank goodness, she is an angel! She told us to take her up to Primary's and have her looked at. Cole gave her a blessing and I gave her tylenol. By the time we got there her fever had gone down to 101.5 and they were busy! So we waited 2 hours and they looked at her said she does have a bad ear infection and they gave her some motrin and we had to wait for that to kick in and see if her fever broke. They also gave her a popsicle but she wanted nothing to do with it, so Cole and I ate it. Her fever broke, they decided not to put her on IV and we paid a pretty price for 1 popsicle, 1 dose of motrin, and 2 parents worries put to ease.

Yesterday she seemed to have returned to her normal playful self as long as we kept up on the Tylenol and Motrin. By the way, for those new parents who don't know. Motrin is better for fevers than Tylenol. HELLO!! WHY WASN'T THAT IN THE HANDBOOK?

Then last night it started again. I returned home from my midnight rendezvous at the local Wal-Mart with my friend Emma, it's sad when the night crew knows you. I like to relate it to Norm and Cheers. I walked into the house and was greeted with a not so friendly smell. I asked Cole, who knew it was stinky but went to bed anyway, (duh Dad) what it was. He said, "I smelled something but couldn't see anything in the dark. You're welcome to turn on the light and look." Ahh thanks. Remind me to pay you back at Christmas. So I turned on the light and sniffed with the Mom Nose and found that we had encountered the horror of all parents....a blow out. So long story short: I made Cole get up and help as I once again dawned the haz mat mom techniques and went to work. Poor baby.

This morning, we are right back at the stomach flu stage. I'm up to my arm pits in bodily fluids. She's having the same issues we've had the past 2 days, but I am concerned that she is going to get dehydrated because she won't drink any Pedialite or Gatorade. And she won't have soup or applesauce...she wants a pop tart. Go figure.

Thankfully I have a husband who works close by so I've sent him on his lunch hour to get plastic diaper covers, motrin, and banana baby food (thanks Emma). If anyone else knows a way to hydrate a kid send suggestions my way. I may have to say to heck with my diet and reward myself with some chocolate. How else will I survive?

So back to my original question...and ye shall find joy in this. I guess the joy I am finding is that she will snuggle with me when she is tired and she doesn't want to play with toys so I won't have that mess to clean up!
Thanks for sharing in my woes. Hopefully Ashlyn will return to her normal self soon and we can get back to the good ole' days!

Jump Around!

It FINALLY uploaded!! :)

Jump Around!

So it has been a few days since my last post. I'll have to make a couple of updates from Mother's Day and our weekend. First I'll start off with today.
I had to share the funniest thing that Ashlyn has been doing lately. When you ask her if she can jump, she starts to bounce and alternate one foot off of the ground. She is so funny. As you can see by the video, she loves seeing herself on the camera. She also LOVES to dance. My cousin, "Auntie Paige" has taught her how to spin and dance. It is so funny!
Today she is starting to talk! So far she has said her vowels--a,e,i,o,u and eye, baby, mom, dad, and clap. It's funny because she keeps yelling for Dad, and I have to remind her that he's at work.
We also bought her a fisher price swing and it is hanging in the tree out back. Everytime she sees it she points and wants to go swing even if it is 50 degrees! I'll have to take some pictures to post.
We are waiting to get our family pictures and Ashlyn's 18 month pictures. As soon as we get them, I'll post some. jc

Ashlyn and the killer bee

Well welcome to the first posting of our blog! Hopefully I will be better at writing on here than I am with my journal. At least you don't get writer's cramp! I'm hoping to use this site to document things that happen during our daily life. I also will be putting "brag moments" on so that I can remember the funny things Ashlyn does and says. I hope you will enjoy these little moments as much as I do.

I have to share a crazy thing that happened yesterday. You've all seen the picture of the kid with the bee on his nose? If not, I've attached it. Well I want you to know that this really happens! Last night, Ashlyn and I were outside sitting by the fence and a wasp flew up and landed right between her eyes. Although I had my camera with me, I was too worried about her getting stung that I didn't take a picture. She kept trying to pet the stupid thing! I was waving my hand in front of her face and the bee just held on for dear life. She thought it was hysterical! I was not finding the same humor in it. I was thinking "Ok, I REALLY don't want to deal with a bee sting" Finally I had to take my shoe of and whack the bee off of her nose. She was surprised at the flying flip flop but mommy saved the day and she didn't get stung. I however may need bee therapy. I beat the thing to death and then took a picture of the striped culprit.

So today I asked Ashlyn if she could go and get some white socks from her room. She left and came back with red socks. I said, "No silly, those are red, we need white socks." She left again and returned with white socks! I was so proud! Then I asked her to go find her white tennis shoes and she came back with those too! I can't believe how big she is getting and how much she is learning. She is such a sweet baby! One of my favorite things that she has started to do is when I tell her to be soft, she reaches up her hand and softly pats my face. For some reason she finds it hilarious to kick me while I'm changing her diaper, so I experience this moment at least 6 times a day.

Well I should go and make the most of nap time. jc