Andrew's Birthday

I know this is pretty late, but here are the pictures from Andrew's Birthday. It was on Oct. 4th and I had surgery a few days before, so we decided to celebrate his birthday a week later and hoped he didn't notice........ he didn't. We just had a little party with some family. Here are the pictures! (Cherilyn, I stole some of your pictures since they turned out better.)

Are you FREAKING kidding me?

Wow, such is my life. I have been looking forward to Halloween SOOOOO much since we moved here. People that actually trick or treat? And I was super excited when I found out that the elementary does a Halloween parade. We did that when I was in elementary and I loved it. But as fate would have it I landed myself in the hospital...again! WHY WHY WHY?
Ok long story, short-ish. I had a sinus infection and I went to the Dr to get some antibiotics. He gave me amoxicillan. I only took 3 pills until the "Crazy Headache of '08" returned.I did go to the ER as I felt the symptoms coming, but the dr though I was crazy. My headache wasn't full blown until 3 am Halloween morning. I pretended it wasn't happening and tried to go back to sleep. But I couldn't do it so I woke Jess up at 6 and we went to the emergency room. This time did not go as smoothly as the last time. It was a few hours before they gave me any pain killers and I was there a total of 7 hours before they admitted me. Last time it was 3 hours. They X-rayed my chest (although I'm still unclear as to why), they did a CT scan on my head, and another spinal tap. This spinal tap did not hurt nearly as bad, although I did have to lay on a metal table that they tilted. Scared the heck out of me! Jesse held onto my arms and the girl tried to figure out which way to tilt me, and the intern seemed really excited about it. The CT scan was embarrassing since I threw up multiple times as they wheeled me down the hall and waited for me to finish before they lifted me onto the table. Yes, 3 guys stood around me and waited for me to finish. Thanks guys. Although one guy did take the bag from me, so huzzah to him.
They gave me a lot of Morphine, but it didn't seem to really help so much. When they admitted me (into a GINORMOUS ROOM! it was awesome!) the nurse I got said she wanted to make pain management the first priority. THANK YOU! So she upped the morphine...alot....and before long the pain was lessening.
The Dr. came in and said that they don't know what was wrong (comforting, REALLLY comforting) as the CT scan was normal and didn't show swelling. However my white blood cell count was still too high and the pressure of my brain fluid was WAY to high. Hence the crazy headaches.
I went home on Saturday because the headache was all but gone. Which was a big mistake. I should have remembered last time that it went away and then came back again. So Sunday night I was back in the emergency room. They gave me some toridal, and can I just say: WHOA. I was out in 2 seconds flat and I slept for the next two days. I think they were probably thinking "Man, she keeps coming back! Let's just knock her out until the headache goes away so she will quit bugging us" 3 times to the ER is 1 week is a bit excessive, I agree.
The theory Jesse and I have is that the amoxicillan is to blame. Both times this happened after taking it for a few days. When I told the Dr this, he said it wasn't possible. He left for awhile and then came back and said"You're right! Some people have reported severe headaches after taking it" HA!
However my neurologist does not agree. Well it's not that he doesn't agree, he just wants to do all his fancy tests before we talk about a diagnosis. So I'm having an MRI tomorrow, and a nerve conduction test, and an EMG in a week. We'll see. Although doing some research on my own I found an article about a woman in Great Britain that had all the symptoms of Meningitis (me!) but they couldn't find any infection (me!) they believe it happened because she had taken some amoxicillan (ME!). They called it Aspectic Meningitis, which means, all the symptoms with no infection. Here's the a link to the definition here. Yes, this is my self diagnosis. We'll see if the neurologist agrees, he should though, it completely makes sense!
So that was my Halloween adventure. Although it was cool that Maddi and Andrew came to visit me and they weren't scared or mad at me this time, like when I had surgery. Maddi wouldn't talk to me for almost a week! Weird kid.
But lets give a big shout out to my mom for coming and taking care of the kids, not once, but twice! Thanks mom! And she cleaned my house, brave woman. And thanks to everyone who brought dinners and called to see how I was. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!
I'll get the Halloween pictures posted after I get them off the camera. These are not pictures I took. Cause yeah, I wasn't there.....hmmmm....I'm not bitter.....ok.. YES....... I AMMM!!!!
And YES I'm we're still going to California! If I have to follow everyone around on a SCOOTER or a STRETCHER, I'm GOING! We have delayed this trip to many times because of my health, and I REFUSE to do it again! I might show up to Wicked in my pjs, but I'm still going!!!!
Phew...... I just had to get that off my chest. I'm not sure who I'm yelling at, but I hope you heard. me. I think I was yelling at fate. Ok I'm tired from that rant, and I'm going to take a nap........zzzzzzzz......zzz....oh! hold on I need to log off...k, Good bye!

Maddism

Maddi comes up to Mom with a small pad of paper and a pen.

Maddi: What do you want?
Mom mulls it over, not sure yet what the game is.
Mom: A fence.
Maddi: Did you want a salad with that?
Mom: ummmmm... sure.
Maddi brings back an imaginary salad and Mom pretends to eat it.

Maddi: Ok Mom what else to you want.
Mom: Hold on, I'm not done with my fence yet..............ok I'm done.
Maddi: Ok what else do you want?
Mom takes a page out of her Grandpa Bradford's book and says: A nice obedient child.
Maddi: hmmmmmmm..... we don't have any of those, how about spaghetti?
Mom: Ok.

*sigh* This speaks volumes about my everyday life....

More on Prop 8

Just a comment on my last post. I didn't have time to elaborate as to why I put it on my blog.

I've heard a lot of debate going on about this, especially as to why people outside of the state should care about what happened in California. I wondered this as well, as was surprised to hear how aggressively the church was fighting this proposition.

I didn't know that this proposition, while giving some people more rights, would take other people's rights away. How can that be right? Or even fair? I think a lot of people think this proposition is just about approving gay marriage, but it doesn't protect the religious freedoms of others.

Can't we all just get along?

Prop 8

This is an email I got about Prop 8 in California. I thought this explained very well how it affects the church.

In a recent LDS Sacrament meeting in California, the focus was on Amendment 8. (The gay marriage issue.) One of the speakers who was an LDS judge in the area, had statistics that were 'mind blowing'.

For example, in Boston, MA (where gay marriages are now legal,) the Catholic Charities have closed their doors because the state has required them to allow adoptions to same sex couples, and they refused. They are a large and worthwhile charity with great power in the state and they were overruled.

A Methodist church has lost their tax exempt status because the minister refused to perform a marriage of a same sex couple (they were not of his congregation).

A physician who refused to do fertility treatments on a same sex couple because of religious reasons was sued, lost and the state is requiring him to treat everyone as equals.

Our schools will be required to teach, starting in kindergarten, that marriages make up many different combinations. The consequences are horrible.

Directly tied into ALL of this is our right to continue to go to the Temple. If Gay Marriage is supported by the government, then those who are same-sex married, who are 'LDS' and legally recognized as married by the government, can sue to be married in the temple. It is my opinion that the church will not bend on this issue, and our rights to go to the temple will be in jeopardy.

AND goodbye to those religious tax-deductions... Tithing, fast offerings, etc. We will lose our tax-exemption status if the government legally forces the church to support same-sex marriage.

These effects are far-reaching! I hope no one is upset by this email. I would not want to offend anyone, but I believe this issue is not a political issue at all, but a moral issue that affects all of society.

The Proclamation on the family clearly gives a warning voice on this matter. I pray that this issue on the ballots will overturn the gay marriages occurring right now in that state, and help prevent other states from adopting this stance. I believe that it is important to support and defend traditional marriage, home and family.

Another friend says that her relatives in Sweden are even watching what goes on in California, and friends in Canada are watching.

The whole world is waiting to see what happens.

Prepare Yourself...

So take a deep breath and relax because this may be a shock. Well..... at least it was for me. Yesterday I was on the phone for about 15 minutes and when I was done I went to look for Maddi. I found her in her room under her blanket. I began tickling her and tried to pull the blanket off but she wouldn't let me. After I got it off, I didn't notice it at first because she was laying down, but when she sat up, I figured out what had happened.



Like I said.... Prepare yourself!











Did you do it?



Did you prepare yourself?










At least you get to prepare yourself. I, on the other hand, am still in shock.





Ok are you ready?



Cause here you go......













I literally FREAKED out! I tried not to make her feel absolutely horrible about it, but I did tell her we would have to cut her hair like a boy. Some of the hair on top was cut right next to the scalp. And you can't tell from the picture but on the side here, underneath, it's Andrew length. I tried to fix it myself, but I had no idea how to.

This is what it looked like after Jesse took her to Super Clips, because I was too besides myself to take her.


You can't really tell from the picture, but there is a strategically placed barrette to pull the hair over the ultra short part.

And when she came home she was all happy and said "The lady cut off the boy hair and made me look like a pixie! I look like Tinkerbell!"

ummmm uh-huh.

And yes earlier this week Maddi decided she didn't want to be a witch, she wanted to be Tinkerbell. Maybe that was her inspiration.
And yes, I feel sick about it. I'm sure we'll all look back and say, haha remember when....

But I'm not sure that will happen for awhile.

Maddism

Mommy is laying down by Maddi to try and get her to sleep. Maddi keeps asking to hear the story of "Belle's Enchanted Christmas." But since Mommy hasn't heard that one, Maddi gets fed up and decides to tell the story herself and then somehow segues into Disney's Three Musketeers.

The story gets very long and embellished so Mommy rests her head and closes her eyes.....

Maddi grabs Mommy head and lifts it up:
Mom! Don't fall asleep! You might have questions later!

Trust me kid, with how often that movie is watched in this house, I think we're safe.......But I will save any questions for the end.