Father's Day Weekend And a Few Weeks After

Father's Day weekend was a bit hectic.  On Saturday we went to the zoo.  Basically, Max had a melt down, all he wanted to do was sit by the train track and watch the trains go by.  He really got into it with Jake, and then had a melt down as soon as we got on to ride the train.  It was a mess, I had to hold him like a baby and rock him until he calmed down.  That's when we realized that he really needed the stroller and once we put him in it, he was a joy the rest of the trip.  We got to see the polar bears, otters, and all the new animals at the Rocky Shores exhibit.  My Mom paid for our tickets, food, and train ride.  We are greatful for all that she does.  It makes sense though that Max was acting that way.  We went to the dentist the week before and he told me don't be surprised if Max will be having a hard time over the next few months,  his molers are coming in!!!  Blah that's the last thing I want to worry about.  They do free lunch over at Sunnyside Park every day, of course I would love to take Max there but because he's been so crazy lately I can't even get him to sit down and eat, all he wants to do is run around, and the food is only for the kids, not the Mom's who take them there.  So maybe we will try again after the baby is born and during Jake's week off we can all go over.  Anyways, the zoo was fun and after Max got into the stroller he really enjoyed himself.  While we ate lunch he threw rocks over the gate and into the stream that we were sitting next too.  All he wants to do is throw rocks.  Sometimes when the kids are outside playing in the pool I have to stop him before he can get to them cause he wants to throw rocks in.

On Father's Day I was in charge of sharing time.  It went fairly well.  We talked about the Word of Wisdom, and one of my kids kept reminding me that we shouldn't drink and then drive.....I thanked him for the advice.    I made them these cool Father's Day treats to give to their Dad's, I thought Root Beer would be good, as long as the kiddos didn't shake them up.  Jake told me not to get him anything for Father's Day since money is really tight right now.  Instead I decided to make a more DIY gift and made strawberry jam for the first time, and then canned it.  Oh yes I did it, and all by myself.  Barb showed me how to a few years back, but I'm still a little intimidated of the pressure cooker, but strawberry jam is so highly acidic that I only needed to do a water bath for the preservation process.  Jake also got a trip to Pocatello.  We weren't planning on going anywhere this year since gas prices are so ridiculous but we went up and visited Erinn and Patrick.  Max had fun with Mya and they had a good time at the pool.  Unfortunately, whenever we go anywhere his nap and bed time schedule throws him off, so he was really tired the whole trip.......but was having too much fun playing with Mya that he really was okay, even though he's just one of those kids that needs a nap.

Van For Sale!!!

This 1998 Green Ford Econoline 3 door passenger van has a mere 132,000 miles.  The windshield was replaced in June 2012.  Tires are fairly new and hubcaps were replaced this past week.  This van is in great condition with very few scratches due to normal wear and tear.  

This van is perfect for those with special needs, especially for someone in a wheelchair. The lift allows them to enter the van easily. It was altered to allow someone in a wheelchair to either be the driver or a passenger to their destination.  Straps in the middle of the van allow a wheelchair to enter and ride safely.  Four more people can comfortably sit in the van as well.

Asking for $8,000.  Call Rachel 801-864-3333 or Jacob at 801-671-4823 to view or set up a test drive.
View the video at the end of blog to see how easily the lift comes down and out and returns back into the car!!!

Driver Side View

Front View, license plate can be attached to driver's front side. 

Passenger side with lift fully extended out. 

Doors swing open one at a time.

Comes with a tape deck, AC, and automatic transmission.

Driver's side view.

Exact mileage.

Back Seat View.  Backseat folds down into a bed. 

Window view next to wheelchair passenger, with sliding window. 

Left door opens automatically first followed by the right. 

View of the lift completely enclosed in van with doors shut. 

View of the front seat. 

Outside triggers to open the van doors and extend the lift. 

Driver's side triggers to open and close van.  

An Interesting Article

Jacob informed me that he read an article about an LDS man whom is homosexual, but lives a heterosexual lifestyle. Then I saw this article posted on FB by my sister.  I'm fairly sure that these  articles are about the same person.  I read the whole thing, and it is really long, but I think worth taking a look at.  I find it very insightful and interesting.  I know that there are Mormons who are homosexual but do not practice because they want to live the gospel, have families, etc.  But it's intriguing that Josh Weed has decided to use his real name and his own personal blog to talk about it.  I think it's worth taking  a look at.

http://www.joshweed.com/2012/06/club-unicorn-in-which-i-come-out-of.html?spref=fb

Some Spring Fotos!!

At the Hogle Zoo with Jackie, Otto and Jackie's cousin.

Max decided to sleep on the floor instead of his bed.  He still  sleep with a blanket on his head, just like Jake......I think it's a genetic thing. 

This was the fort we made for the Earth Quake drill we had a few months back.  Max was overly excited about it. 

Max finally decided to get on a tricycle for the first time, now he loves it.  However, he just needs to figure out the peddles.  

We had Jack for a few days back in May, Max and he did well the first day, but they were sick of each other by the second.  First born syndrome.  

Health Status

2012 has been Max and mines year of poor health.  When the snow finally melted and the weather cleared up max's Eczema went crazy.  It got so bad it looked like he just had a rash everywhere and it took months for it to clear up.  Now he has scars all over his arms the bumps he had.  However, it didn't seem to be clearing up o his butt, but it also didn't seem to be bothering him either.  Then a bump started to grow just below his belly button.  I had finally had enough and took him to Primary Children's Medical Center, where all the best pediatric dermatologists reside.  It took me a month to get an appointment but it was well worth it.  Because Max's eczema had gotten so bad, he had developed a staph infection, and the bump on his belly was a boil.  I didn't even know that people got those anymore.  Anyways she gave him an antibiotic which seemed to be helping his boil, but didn't take care of the rest of the rash, we thought it would clear up with some recommended bleach baths and some topical steroid prescriptions he had been given.  But it didn't.  Things got worse as well.  Max was turning into a little monster.  We were starting to have the summer from hell!  he would cry and wine about everything, he wouldn't eat his food at all anymore and he was trying to push around all the other little kids on the playground, which really isn't like him at all.  So we decided that maybe his staph infection hadn't gone away and that he needed to see a doctor again.  They gave him another prescription and it seems to be all cleared up and Max seems happier too.  I mean he can still be a pain at times, but he's much more pleasant.

For the past month there seems to have been something effecting my health every week.  I had a cold during graduation that was awful, then I fell in the garden.  They say you have poor balance when your pregnant, but I guess the fact that someone decided to dig a hole in the trail next to our garden plot and leave it there unfilled didn't help.  I fell into it, twisted my foot and landed on my side.  We went to OB Emergency at the hospital the next day just to be on the safe side.  Everything was all right but the fall totally messed up my foot.  It's bad enough that I'm carrying all this extra weight and my poor feet have to adjust to that, but it felt like a muscle on top of my foot tore as well, making it extremely difficult to walk anywhere for a few days.  It's been over two weeks and my foot still hurts a bit, but I'm just glad nothing too serious happened from it.

After believing that my pregnancy wasn't going to jump to a high risk one, this weekend it finally happened.  I could feel the symptoms of cholestasis beginning last week, but I kinda just ignored them.  I was diagnosed with it at 28 weeks when I was prego with Max so I thought it probably wasn't going to come if it hadn't already. It just took a bit longer this time.  At exactly 31 weeks the extreme itching, tiredness, inability to sleep, and lack of hunger all began on my birthday.  I didn't even want to go out to celebrate cause I was feeling it, but I was determined to spend some alone time with Jake. But Sunday night was aweful.  I woke up with extreme itching everywhere, including the soles of my feet at 1 30 and didn't sleep the rest of the night.  My doctor was nice enough  to prescribe me some medicine ASAP before my blood work had come back.  THANK GOODNESS for that cause after one day of treatment I feel a little bit better.  A little bit goes along way with this illness.  I mean I'm still itchy but at least last night I was able to sleep only waking up every 3 hours to go to the bathroom and scratch my leg.  I have to start doing my non stress tests next week, which is annoying cause I can't take max with me, but as long as the baby it being monitored I'm content.

Graduation and Etc.

Summer has finally begun.  I am officailly graduated, unfortunately the day I was suppose to "walk" I got really sick.  Just when I thought I had escaped any sort of illness this winter I finally got a cold in April. I was too sick to walk and could hardly stop blowing my nose.  Graduation isn't important for everyone, but it was something I had been looking forward to for years.  Now summer is here and I am glad.  I felt like a single mother this semester. And Jake was gone three nights a week with only an hour interval between work and school in the evening.  Max was starting to grow anxious to see jake, he would wake up in the mornings and run into our bedroom to see if Jake was awake, or anytime he got in trouble or sad he reminded me how much he wanted daddy, which didn't always make me feel good.  However, when Jake was around he was constantly acting up a lot.  I think he was trying to get attention from him, even if it was the negative kind.  School has been out for a few weeks and now Max seems fairly content to have Jake around again.  After searching for a new job over the past few months,  he finally had an interview somewhere else, and then has been asked to come in and interview at a few other places.  I guess it always works this way, because then they decided to give him a promotion and a pay raise where he works, the question is will it be enough to tempt him to stay?  Well it was.  A new job anywhere means starting over, convincing them to give time off for when the baby comes and when school starts, and less money.  He also plans on volunteering  at the University hospital for the next few months, we're just waiting to hear back from them to see what works best for Jacob.

The pregnancy has been going well, and I'm still waiting to see if the Colistasis is going to kick in or not.  There's a chance that it's not, but if it does then a scheduled C-Section seems to be the upcoming method of delivery.  Max has been really good and patient with me lately.  He continues to play basketball outside and at the age of 2 has a talent for it.  My mom brought over his own basketball hoop and we raised it as high as it goes, he thinks it's funny but he still gets it in.  He has moved on from his last girl Elleyna to a new one named Joselyn.  He and Elleyna have hit a rough patch and she has become the dominant personality in the relationship so he decided to move on.  Jocelyn is our friends Jake and Breeanna's little girl.  She is 4 months older than Max and about 2 inches taller, but they seem to get along really well.

First Half of April

This is my 23rd week, and I feel much better.  The flowers on the trees have bloomed and so I think the worst of my allergies are over. I feel so much better and Jake can sleep easy at night now that I've been letting him turn the air conditioning on. The air was making my allergies was worse because it was basically just recycling the pollen from the outside air.  But once again, I thank God that my allergies are better, they are just about 10X worse when I'm pregnant.  Max has been extremely clingy to Jake this week.  He has been really good when he's home with me, but as soon as Jake gets home he turns into a wild child.   He wants to spend every possible second with Jake and he expects him to take him outside to him, play games with him  and go somewhere. Jake only does these things on the weekend, but Max wants to do them all the time, he won't let Jake out of his sight not even to go to the bathroom.  Jake's nights were spent with a crying child who wanted his attention, so it was quite miserable for him.  Anyways, I'm glad to say that it's Monday and I think he had his fill of Jake for the weekend, and he's turn back to normal....today he was pleasant and easy going.
It's become much easier to take Max to public places.  He's starting to listen better, to hold my hand when we cross the road instead of taking off or making me carry him everywhere, and he's become a little better at playing with other kids.   Now that we are going outside more he wants to play with the other kids, instead of just being a loaner. I think the worst of the terrible twos has past. Unfortunately, Jake and I had to take him to 2 separate doctors visits to figure out what was going on with his skin.  I looked like his arm broke out into an awful rash.  I was worried that he had a fungus, or had touched something and had an allergic reaction.  However, after deciding to drive 45 mins to see a pediatric dermatologist I found out his eczema is just flaring up, and even though something triggered it, it's not serious.  Which is good to know, cause it looks awful and I was worried about it spreading.  Today he wore a short sleeve shirt for the first time in awhile, and all the Mom's on the play ground kept asking me what was wrong with his arm (probably cause they wanted to get their kids away from Max cause it looks so bad).  But I think the medicine is helping.  He was scratching his arm in his sleep, so we have to give him Benadryl when he takes his naps and when he goes to bed at night, I don't think it's making him drowsy, but I'm always worried of him getting too use to it.  Sometimes I need to take a breath and make sure I'm not being a psycho Mom. But at least he's not scratching his arm.

Easter Sunday was yesterday.  It was an easy going day.  Max and I made some special Easter box's and treats for his nursery friends.  I wished I had took a picture because they were really cute, but the above picture is the link of the template I found on Pinterest for the boxes and they are exact replicas of how the box was organized and I used the exact same candy,  Peeps and Starburst Jellybeans.  In the end it was a lazy day.  We were going to have dinner with the Giometta family, but plans fell through, so at the last minute we put together a Chicago style pizza, which I must say was delicious, and now that I've made it plenty of times it's fairly easy and quick to prepare.  Mom got Max some candy and she gave us some Fannie Mae chocolates.....Trinidad's were one of my childhood favorites.  It was definitely a night full of Midwest favorites, pizza and candy.