Emily's big break.

Two thursday's ago everyone was out front taking advantage of our warm non windy afternoon weather we were having. Miss Emily was riding her newly fixed bike up and down the street. Her back tire has had a slow leak since we gave it to her for her birthday last year. This mom finally remembered to pick up a new tube just a few days before so that dad could fix her tire once and for all. No more blowing it up just to have it flat a few hours later!

She was riding her bike in front of the house when she tipped it too much during a turn and crashed and burned. Kory and I were standing not 10 feet from her and saw her tip over. She of course started crying and complaining that she couldn't walk. Being she hadn't even tried to stand up we kept telling her to get up and brush it off. After several minutes of her not even trying I went over to try to console her and check her leg out. There appeared to be nothing wrong with her leg. No scrapes, No scratch, No blood, No nothing!! Kory and I kept telling her to toughen up and to brush it off.  She would NOT get up and started crawling into the house. Kory came over, picked her up and carried her in. It was when he sat her on the couch we discovered a huge goose egg on the front of her leg. It wasn't there when she was outside. I didn't know you could get a goose egg other than your head!

Having just sent the hospital a check to start off our 3-month payment plan for Baby Kylie I didn't want to rush Emily to the Doctor for no reason. Kory called a friend/co-worker, and on the side EMT, to check out her leg. When Eric first saw her his opinion was to take her in for an x-ray. However, when he started touching and pushing on her leg he decided that more than likely she had just sprained her leg and the bike hit her shin bone hard enough to cause the goose egg. Emily could wiggle her toes and move her ankle so chances are it wasn't broken. Her ankle and foot started to swell up and so we immediatley started icing it.  Three days later on Sunday we had a brother-in-law, Jim who is also an EMT come take a look at it. The goose egg was gone but her foot and toes were still swollen. He could get Emily to wiggle her toes and ankle so he too thought she had probably just sprained it. However, we couldn't get her to stand on it or apply any pressure to her foot without her crying out. I also felt like she wasn't sleeping very well at night and was then of course AWNERY during the next day. At the same time Emily was saying that she thought her leg was getting better every day and hurt less and did NOT want to go to the doctors. Yet she crawled and scooted all over the place not using her "bad" leg. I felt confused and wasn't sure what to do. Miss Kylie had her 2-week doctors appt. that upcoming Tuesday and so I decided I would take Emily in too just as a precaution. I love Dr. Worwood. He didn't even touch Emily's leg. Once he heard that she had had a goose egg on her leg he sent us over for an x-ray. Just a few minutes later we were back at the doctor's, and he was pulling up her digital x-ray. As soon as I saw the picture I could tell she had a nice break! I felt so bad now knowing that my 5-year-old had gone 6 days with a broken leg!

Emily with some help chose hot pink for her cast color. This cast goes up to her thigh, it can NOT get wet and isn't weight bearing. Doctor would prefer her not to use crutches as kids will usually try using their leg before they should. So for the next 4-6 weeks it's like having a crawling toddler again. She scoots around on her bum all over the place. She's still pretty independent. She can get up and down the stairs herself, goes to the bathroom by herslef and can still dress her self. At her next appt. another x-ray will be taken. If her leg is healing a new cast will be put on. This time it will only go up to her knee, be weight bearing so she can walk on it and be water proof. This cast will be on for an additional 2-4 weeks. If it takes the full 10 weeks she'll be having her cast removed during the 1st week of school. I'm hoping and praying her leg will heal quickly so we can enjoy some of our summer cast free. I'm a bit irritated with the whole situation. Kory has finally been put on the day schedule and the kids and I had plans for this summer. I wanted to be able to take them to Zion's and Bryce Canyon by myself this summer. Emily has been begging me for swim lessons too. With her not being able to walk at the moment this leaves me with 3 in strollers if we went hiking. I can't do that by myself and even with the big kids help I don't think we'd have much fun! Swim lessons are definelty out of the question too.  I went to Wal Mart on our way home from Grandma's by myself with everyone and it wasn't easy. I had to put Kylie in the basket part in her car seat and then Brayden in the front. I then had to put Emily in the basket of a second cart and had Hunter push it for me while I was pushing the other cart. Just crazy! We'll have to find some different activities for our summer this year.

Madelyn's Photo Shoot

Somebody at our house has a birthday coming up very soon. She's counting down and informed everyone this morning her birthday is one week from today. Did you know that's just 7 days from now? She makes me laugh. This beautiful girl of mine is turning 8!

While in Hurricane last week I took her to the temple to take some pictures of her in her Baptism dress.

This is Madelyn's favorite.

 She's my little photogenic child. Always wanting to pose!

 She's a cute little girl.

 I love her to pieces.

I'm so glad she belongs to us!

Now I get to work on making her Baptism invitation's.

Newborn Photo Shoot

I miss my best friend, April. She lived right across the street from us in Prescott Valley. One of her many talents was taking awesome photos in her front room and turning them into professional pictures. She was so good at this. I had the intentions of visiting her sometime after Kylie was born to have her take some pictures for me. However, her family recently started a new adventure by moving to Minnesota. As much as I'd like to visit her, she's just too far away at the moment. These past few days I've tried to do my own photo shoot with what little knowledge I picked up from her. I wish I paid more attention now!  I bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 from Costco many years ago. I tried using it way back then and got frustrated knowing April was across the street and could do what was taking me hours in just a few minutes. Directions did not come with this program. I've decided it isn't very user friendly to someone who is just starting in photo editing. I keep looking up some of my questions on YouTube trying to get answers. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. It's been quite frustrating and I'm about ready to just email April some pictures to work her magic on then.  Here are just a few pictures I've been playing with tonight...

I like this picture, but the tulle was a bit scratchy and has left her little tummy splotchy. I'd like to fix this but so far haven't been able to figure it out. One day, hopefully!

 This one's Madelyn's favorite. I just wish I caught more of her face.

 I love the spit bubble below.

 By the time we were done we both felt like this. She is not crying just yawning very largely!

I love it.

I've got about 70 more photos to go through. I used a few different background cloths and props. I also have a few picture ideas to take outside but am waiting on better weather. It's finally warm around here, like over 70 degrees but the dang wind won't go away. I don't mind a little breeze but what we've got is just crazy. Our wind gusts are usually around 15-20 mph which is too much for me anyways but twice this week we have had gusts of wind around 55mph (been happening at least once a week for a while now). My very full trash can keeps getting blown over, branches in our trees are breaking off and my stroller took a joy ride down the street all by itself. I just can't take my baby girl out in weather like that! I thought it was funny today when Kory came home for lunch and started complaining about the wind AGAIN. His comment was something like this "We are not living Alton for long if this dang wind continues on like it has been so far this year." Amen. I couldn't agree with him more! I just feel bad he's the one working out in it.

One week old...

It's hard to believe that Miss Kylie is one week old today. I'll admit I have a hard time saying this as she wasn't born until 11:30pm a week ago. I don't want to have to say she's a week old till tomorrow. Sounds silly I know!

This morning with a little extra help I gave Kylie her 1st official bath in the kitchen sink. We must have had the water at the perfect temp. as Kylie just laid there for several minutes in peace.  

 It wasn't until I started lifting her out of the water to soap her down that we heard her displeasure. 

Once we got her out of sink and into a towel she settled right down with the help of her binky.

 To finish off our monthly picture collage of this pregnancy we had to have a final one with baby girl. I know Kylie is little. At her Dr's appt. yesterday she weighed 6'14. But holding her and loving on her it's amazing to think that she fit inside my body. I can't believe she was inside me just a week ago today. Knowing my body wasn't doing a dang thing in preparation of her birth I kept telling myself that she'd be born on June 7th when I turned down the June 4th induction date. 

Here she is after her bath. Nice and clean with fresh fuzzy hair.

I think we've got a binky baby again. Haven't had one of those since Hunter.  

She is just so stink'n cute. I just want to eat her up!

Day 6

Today Kylie had her newborn check up with her Doctor in Hurricane. My 3 older kids were able to attend a 4-H Pirates themed camp for the day leaving me with just the 2 younger ones as Kory was supposed to start the day shift today, but in the end didn't.

While being in Hurricane we stopped by to see Aunt Sheri and GG, GGpa to show off our newest addition. My sister, Sheri, has a sweet baby girl Brionney who is 3 1/2 months old. I haven't seen Brionney in a few weeks but being 3 1/2 months old she's supposed to be tiny still. Oh, my heck! Look at the difference when we laid them side to side. Brionney is huge and Kylie is so tiny. I love how Kylie still has the "folded" look. It saddens me to know that Kylie will too soon be "huge" too when compared to another newborn. I wish she could stay this little longer.

 Here's Kylie and her GG, the one that she is named after. During the 30 minutes we were visiting I can't tell you how many times GG asked who Kylie was and who she belonged to. After telling her again that she was my new baby she asked if I had enrolled her in school yet and how that was going. It brings tears to my eyes seeing what Alzheimer's has done to my grandma. It makes me sad to know that GG will never remember who Kylie is. That Kylie will probably not have much of a relationship with her GG like my other kids do.

My grandpa has a hard time taking grandma places especially far from home. I went ahead and let him know of our blessing of Kylie and baptism date for Madelyn coming up. I wanted him to know that of course they were invited but I understood if he decided not to come too. We're not terribly far away but for Grandma it would be a very, very long day probably making it twice as long for Grandpa. When I first told him about it, he said he'd just have to see but since then he's called me twice. He's confirmed the date so he could put it on his calendar and then called again wanting to know what time sacrament started. He says they're coming. I hope they can make it but again will understand if something prevents them from coming.  

Day 5

Last night not wanting a repeat of Miss Kylie being wide awake and wanting attention from 12-3am we kept her awake from 8-10pm which was so hard!!! I was hoping this would mess with her little schedule enough so that I could get sleep. No such luck! Little stinker was awake from 12-3 again. I'd nurse her, she'd fall asleep for no more than 5 minutes and than be fussy again. I swear she's spoiled already as I had to hold her almost the entire time or she'd be cranky. I do have to wonder if she may have had a belly ache. She was very wiggly the entire time and she didn't have any messy diapers all night and was quite gassy. For being so little I was suprised how stinky she could get. When she'd burp they smelled quite sour too. This is the part that's frusturating to me. Trying to figure out what I eat that causes her little up set stomach's, IF that's what it was. With Emily it was anything chocolate which being I don't have much of a sweet tooth it didn't bother me terribly. With Brayden it was all dairy products; milk, ice cream, cheese, etc. This was much harder. I'm hoping we don't have a repeat with Kylie but I did have a bowl of ice cream last night which makes me wonder????

Kory took all the kids to church this morning 9-12. As soon as he left I hit my pillow again and didn't wake up till 11:30 when Kylie woke me up. All I can say is I felt much better after that nap! The kids were so excited to get home and hold their sister again.

I just love Brayden's smile.

 Miss Emily loves her little sister and can't wait for to be able to play "baby dolls" with her.

 My legs have been bothering me a lot these past few days and I don't know why. From my knee down sporadically, I will feel a lot of tightness during the day. When I try to rub my legs, they are so hard and sore. They must be full of fluid. It can last up to a few hours and then all of a sudden, I realize it's gone. My legs aren't hurting anymore, and the tightness is gone. I was feeling a little cabin fever this afternoon and wanted to get out of the house. Although it makes no sense to me as today was my 1st day not having to go anywhere since coming home with Kylie. Anyways trying to get Kylie in as much sun as possible for the jaundice we waited till about 7pm when the dang wind had finally died down and went on a family walk. We stripped Kylie down to just a diaper. At first Kory was going to take everyone on a walk including baby and leave me home by myself but at the last minute I decided to go along to. I was a bit worried it would make my legs worse as I could feel them getting hard again. I think this was the best thing I did today! My legs hurt for just a few minutes and then I could literally feel the hardness leaving. My feet have been swollen for weeks now and by the time we got home even their swollenness was gone. I don't know how or why but my legs feel so much better now. I hope it's gone for good. I'm hoping I walked off all the extra water retention I must have had.

Day 4

Today was a much better day.

Kory has been home or at least around the entire day and took care of the 4 older kids while I took care of Kylie. I didn't get out of bed until after 9 this morning it felt so good!  Kylie was up from 12am-3am this morning and I know I needed the extra rest. Kory took care of the meals all day and kept the kids close by. While my family planted the greenhouse this morning, I was left home alone to do whatever it was I wanted in a very quiet house. Loved it! The best part of this morning was being able to take my 1st shower after getting home and knowing I wouldn't be bothered. It was great!

 I had to take Miss Kylie back to Panguitch for another bilirubin check this afternoon. Her results were still a little high, but the Doctor decided to wait until Monday before making any other decisions. Her results are always on the borderline and he's hoping that when she's seen Monday morning for her newborn checkup her little body will have gotten rid of all those extra red blood cells on her own and won't need the lights. Hip hip hooray. I'm so glad I don't have to go back to Panguitch tomorrow. Panguitch has the closest lab and it's only 45 minutes one away but I'm tired of all the driving. I feel like the past 3 day's that's all we've done is drive, drive, drive. I'm looking forward to tomorrow knowing I don't have to go anywhere.

She is so precious. Babies grow up so fast and I love the different stages, but newborns are one of my favorites. I love the snuggling on my chest, holding their tiny little bodies and watching them breathe while they sleep. I want to savor these moments I have with her. I know before to long we'll be enjoying the next stage of Miss Kylie and this one will be gone.

Day 3

I keep telling myself that this little bundle of joy is worth all the pain and agony that today has brought on. I do believe that Post Partum has caught up to me. It happens with all new mommies, but I was hoping it would hold off another day or two when Kory would be around. We got home from the hospital yesterday just in time for Kory to leave for work. My kids, all of them, did absolutely awesome but it was still tiring on me to be home by myself with 5 kids. Even though Hunter and Madelyn were great to help out there are just some things that mom/dad has to do for the little ones. Being dad wasn't around it was left up to me regardless of just having a baby. 

Today, our first day home Kory wasn't supposed to go to work until 4 this afternoon and then would get off at 2 in the morning. I was looking forward to him being home most of the day to help me. He got a 6 am phone call this morning from his future day shift boss asking if he would come in earlier today. He wanted Kory to run the D-90 to make sure he could do it before being assigned to that machine hopefully sometime next week as his new job for the mine. Kory said he could but that it would have to be mid-morning as he wasn't willing to leave me alone quite yet. THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU! Even though he went in early he still doesn't get off until 2 in the morning which means we'll probably have a tired daddy on our hands tomorrow.

Kylie's blood was tested before leaving the hospital yesterday for jaundice and it was a little high meaning I had to take her to a lab today for another heel poke. The closest lab is in Panguitch, 45 minutes away. The test needed to be done around noon. We were able to get one of Kory's sisters to take the big kids. Then Kory and I left at the same time, him to the mine and me to the lab. Knowing I was going to be driving later today I wasn't able to take the Lortab this morning for these ridiculous cramps. Oh my gosh how they hurt. They make me cry every time.

The tears have made their presence today. I cried all the way to Panguitch, I cried while my baby cried when her heel was poked, and I cried all the way home because her blood results are still too high, and I get to take her back for another heel poke tomorrow at noon. Chances are I will be sent home with belly lights for her to sleep on throughout the weekend. I'll have to take her back Sunday and then again on Monday for more heel pokes. 

Kory's sister kept my big kids after getting home from Panguitch so that I could take a much-needed nap. I cried on the way home because I was so thankful for this rare opportunity. Kylie and I slept for almost 2 hours.  I have forgotten how much a body can hurt after giving birth. My lower legs and feet are swollen. It hurst to walk. My calves are tight with fluid, and I can't curl my toes. Most of the afternoon I've propped my feet up on some pillows. I think the swelling is finally starting to go down. My cramps are out of this world. I don't think the Motrin is doing much good but I'm not willing to stop taking them either just in case. I constantly have a heating bag over my body. It helps some. My milk decided to come in this afternoon too. I have forgotten how painful this can be too. I feel like I can't put my hands to my sides as they apply to much pressure to the sides of my breasts. I keep waking up Kylie trying to get her to nurse almost hourly to help relieve some of the pressure. Plus the more she eats the more she'll poop and hopefully will help make the jaundice go away quicker. I feel so tight, heavy and full. What I would love to do is go to the milking barn and hook myself up to the milker. LOL It would hurt like crap but when your already hurting does it matter that much? After just a few seconds I'm sure I'd have the relief, I'm seeking.

I've always been told that it's somewhere between day 3-5 that is the absolute worse for a new mommy. I'm hoping today has been the worst of it. Kory already told the mine that he wasn't working tomorrow, Saturday. I hope he'll be home all day tomorrow and then I'll have him around all day Sunday. I don't think I've ever been so excited to have him home with me before. I decided that even though my kids have been on their best behavior I want some help, I need some help. I just want someone else to answer all the questions or to remember to have Brayden go potty. To have an adult around to do the little things like when Emily knocked over her glass of milk tonight. My kids never spill anymore but of course karma would have a spill tonight. She cleaned it up and did a pretty good job but let's remember she's only 5. I can still see a few milk smears on the floor. I'm just to tired and sore to deal with it tonight, and by tomorrow I'll have black smears on my floor. It didn't help that I knocked my plate off the table tonight too, so I now have powder sugar all over the place. Oh well!!  Dinner was supposed to be brought in tonight, and it wasn't. At 7:30 I pulled on my big girl panties and made french toast for dinner.  It's a favorite of my kids but it made me miss the hospital even more. I have never had such good food while in a hospital. I was given a menu that looked like it came out of a restaurant. I had choices like steak & mashed potatoes or a baked potato. There was roast beef, lasagna, etc. I had grilled shrimp one day for lunch over pasta. I ate so much good food, it was amazing. 

Tonight, I miss the hospital. I'm in tears AGAIN just thinking about it. I miss the nurses who bring me ice water or as much apple juice I desire. I miss the hospital bed that with just a push of a button I can make myself sit up or lay down without having to scoot around on my sore behind. I miss the food that is brought to me. I didn't have to make it and I sure as heck didn't have to clean anything up afterwards. I miss all the meds that are just automatically brought to me because they keep track of the timing and how often I can take what.   I miss the constant interruptions of nurses just "checking" on me asking me what I want or need. Can I go back??

Tonight, I just have to keep telling myself that Kylie is worth all the pain, tears and turmoil that today has brought on. Tomorrow will be a better day because it can't get much worse than today!  My kids are in bed hopefully sleeping and now Miss Kylie and I are hitting the sack. I hope we both sleep well.