Depressing

Last week Justin had a bad cold. Luckily I didn't get it and we kept hoping our girls wouldn't. Well Alison picked up a bad cough a few days ago. Yesterday my mom commented on how bad it sounded so I called and talked to a nurse. She said they would want to see her since they've still seen some rsv going around and there is some pertussis going around too. And it didn't help that she has a history of rsv.

So I took her in and they tested her oxygen levels which really weren't bad. I know because I got to watch the monitor last year when she had rsv! Anyway, the doctor came in and I told her she had been wheezing while coughing, and breathing a bit hard. So she listened and said, oh yeah, she is wheezing! So we did a breathing treatment. Have you done one before? Essentially you have to hold up a mask to their face that blows out a mist/vapor that they are supposed to breathe. At first she was all interested and excited at this new toy. Well about one minute later she was pushing it away, crying, trying to get it away from her! So we did this for about 2 more minutes. The doctor said they usually do this about 3 times on average and then they sometimes send you home with one. I think they call it a nebulizer.

After one time the doctor said she was much better and we didn't have to do again! Wahoo! But she did send us home with kind of an inhaler contraption with a mask. We have to give her 2 puffs every four hours as she needs it. So not too bad! We picked up the inhaler/medicine thing from the pharmacy and did it this morning and it went quite well! I'm just glad we didn't have to do the other kind like at the office. Last night she slept better with much less coughing and she's better today too. Yay for that!

As for me, I went to the dentist today. The last time I went was when I was pregnant with Alison. I was on full Medicaid so it was all covered. I'm on partial medicaid now since I'm no longer pregnant. Justin is not covered but the girls are fully covered (huge blessing!). I recently found a groupon for a local dentist, so Justin went last week and I went today. It was for a cleaning and x-rays and a great deal! Justin has bad teeth unfortunately, so I assumed he would come home with bad news and he did. All of his stuff together was around $2,000!!! Um yeah, we don't have that kind of money floating around! Who does?! He's funny about it, so I don't know if he'll do anything.

Well I generally have pretty good teeth so I wasn't too worried. WRONG! They said I have 9, yes, NINE cavities! What? I don't have a total of nine cavities in my mouth now! Of course a few are little ones they said. I was kind of outraged to be honest! I said out loud, I have never had 9 cavities in my life! The dentist said, well, they have been building up for a long time. After you take care of these, you probably won't have another one for 10 years. Needless to say, I'm kind of frustrated and bummed. They told me there are 3 that they are first concerned about and I can have these done over an extended amount of time, so we'll see. I think I will slowly take care of the 3, but past that I'm not so sure.

You have any good dental stories? Please don't tell me you have none. That's not what I'm going for! :) I guess I should be grateful I don't have any root canals or crowns. At least not yet! Geez, life is expensive isn't it? The end of my ranting is here. If you read all this, congrats!

Easter Happenings

We headed up to WY for Easter and had a great time. We left on Thursday and came home Sunday. We mainly just hung out and relaxed and enjoyed spending time with family. Saturday we missed one egg hunt but luckily there was another one in a nearby town.

 This is Alpine, WY. Did I mention it was 24 degrees?! The sign on their door says Easter Egg Hunt: rain, snow, mud or shine! No kidding!

 Ali found a couple eggs!

 Getting ready for the hunt to begin!

 We actually had to convince Molly to pick up eggs. It was so cold! You can't blame her for wanting to keep her hands warm!

 Grandma and grandpa were there to help.

Later that afternoon we had our own egg hunt and the Easter Bunny stopped by! Sunday we had early church and were planning on leaving soon after, so it was nice to have an extra day.

 Justin's brothers, Mark and Brad, even helped out!

 I'm not sure she has enough eggs. What do you think?!

 Her loot. Um, I know, it's bad. We needed some cousins or somebody else to help out!

 Ali found a few too!

 Everyone helping out.

 Ooohhh!! Easter bunny left some good stuff!

 My MIL and I went to a little consignment shop and the owner gave us a huge garbage bag full of toys she was going to throw away. We saw this princess castle sitting on top and were happy she gave us the entire bag for free!!

 Ali actually played with the castle. She doesn't always play a ton with toys because she can't always quite figure out what to do, but she sat and played for a long time with this! We were impressed!

 Easter dresses. When I first bought this cute dress for Ali, I happened to notice they had one in Molly's size. I went back the next day and bought one for her. They are just too cute! And even though it was more than I would ever normally pay, I figured once in a great while you can splurge, right? They look like little princesses to me.

 Keep in mind that two days before Molly was running in her slippers on the hard tile floor and slipped and fell right on her forehead and got a HUGE goose egg!! We felt so bad! Luckily it went down the next day, but it's pretty bruised now.

 I had fun making matching bows.

 Too bad I only had a few minutes and couldn't get a picture with both looking. But we all know that's not always easy!

 Sweet Alison.

Check out the curls in back! We're wondering if she might have some curly hair...??

Most importantly, as this time we are so grateful for the Savior. Hope you had a wonderful Easter.

It's something

I've been a bit bummed lately that I haven't been able to sew like I would like to. The primary reason is that we moved Ali's crib into the same large, open room where my sewing machine is. She is the LIGHTEST sleeper! I didn't think babies could be light sleepers but well, I was wrong! Good and bad is that she goes to bed for the night at 6:30 pm. That's obviously nice, right? But early to bed, early to rise is how the saying goes and yes, it applies here too! She wakes up between 6:30 and 7 am. I realize to many that's not early, but for me, it is! Especially when Molly sleeps (or would sleep) til 7:30 or 8 am. With nap time and bed time, there isn't a ton of extra time to sew.

That being said, we finally moved her crib back into the room with Molly since she's gotten over being sick and waking up randomly at night.

It's not much, but I found some cute houndstooth fabric at the quilt store the other day and had to buy a fat quarter. I didn't know what I would do with it, but then I remembered that I wanted to make a checkbook cover. Kinda lame, I know! But my cover is this really ugly brown. So I thought this cute fabric would spice it up and make me smile while spending my money :)

The ugly cover I was telling you about

It fits!
Now I will be honest and tell you that yes, I was lazy enough to look up a tutorial just because I can. (Isn't that what google's for?) However once I finished this simple and quick project, my checkbook didn't fit. Boo! This 30 min. project just became much longer now that unpicking was involved! What makes me even more upset is that I had to add a piece. You might be able to tell from the pics, but since the fat quarter is so small, I didn't have enough to start over, so I just pieced it and left it. I'm kind of bugged, but what can you do?

It's not anything really exciting, but it's exciting to me that I least I sewed something! I'm hoping to get on a roll here and sew on a more frequent basis. It makes me feel good and happy. So that's what I'm gonna do!

As far as training for the triathlon goes, I feel like it's going well. I've kept a good schedule at the gym and I did a "mini" tri last Saturday. I swam the full 300 meters (I've got it to about 8 min.), biked 7 miles, and ran 2 miles. I did all at the gym, so clearly ideal situations and I really didn't like the stationary bike since I couldn't get any resistance, but I finished it all in about 45 minutes or so and felt pretty good about it! It was tough, but not too awful.

When I first signed up for the triathlon, I was concerned about finishing, but now that I've invested so much time training I want to be fast! I know I will finish but the question is how fast? I think the toughest thing for me is the run at the end. I really don't love running. And doing 2 events before, it makes me a bit nervous. But everyone says adrenaline makes you do great things, so let's hope it works in my favor. I've been outside on my bike (that's a mountain bike now with road tires) only once. If it would stop raining I could get some more training outside on my bike, but for now I'm doing cycle classes at the gym, which I enjoy. But its definitely different on your own bike! That's where I'm at! It's May 21st, so it will be here soon!

Claim to Fame

Yesterday we heard great news! Justin's cousin, Lance Pendleton, has been playing minor league baseball with the Yankees for several years and yesterday he got called up to the big league!! He pitched three innings in last night's game and did quite well. We are so excited for him! Justin's not sure about cheering for the Yankees, but we might have to now!!

Here's an article with more info including his reaction to moving up: http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6365693

One of the perks...

to living at home is when my mom makes us yummy salads for lunch!! Alas spring isn't here to stay yet, we keep getting more rain and more is supposed to come :(

But isn't this salad gorgeous?

Yes, it looks as good as it tastes!!

In case you are wondering, yes, we do have our own kitchen downstairs, but we mainly eat breakfast there. Before you think my mom does all the cooking for me, I will have you know that I do contribute to the meals here! My mom and I kind of take turns and it's a pretty great system if you ask me! It will be a very, very sad day when we have to leave!

Not quite walking

I thought it would be fun to give a little update on Alison! She is such a happy girl and has some new favorites.

She will be 15 months in a few days and is still not walking, but she likes to stand and pull up to everything and her latest toy she likes playing with is this little hippo.

Geez, all these pics are blurry because she was moving the whole time!!

I know this is blurry, but her face is still so cute and happy! My sister Natalie has one of these at her house and when we were there a few weeks ago, her little cousin Emery was pushing it and so we had Ali try it. She LOVED it! It was so fun to watch, she was so happy and laughing. So of course I did what any mom would do, and looked it up online. They don't sell it anymore, but I found it for $5 on ksl! So I bought it and now she is practicing walking with it! It has these little blocks too that the hippo "eats" up. She thinks it's so fun.

And it really has helped. She is learning how to balance and since playing with it, when we practice walking with her, she does better and is more coordinated.

She also can be found right by the dishwasher, or on the dishwasher if it's open :) She loves the toilet and gets her hands in as quickly as she can. She also loves toilet paper. Anytime she can get in the bathroom, she goes for it!

She says mamamamama and dadadadada a lot, no other words yet! She can wave and clap and likes to be involved with what's going on around her. She still loves/wants to be held as much as possible, which gets tricky at times! Another thing is she is not interested in TV at all. Isn't that weird? Molly was mesmerized even as a baby, but Ali could totally care less. This is totally fine and good even, but sometimes it could save me! She loves her sister Molly and wants to do what she does. She has 10 teeth! She has her top front 4, and two molars in back. Then two on the bottom front, and two molars in back.

Ruffle pillow

I showed you my new bedding a while back. But I got to thinking about my navy pillow and how expensive it was....so I took it back and decided I would make my own!

Ruffles have been everywhere in blogland and I think they make a cute pillow, don't you? So I went to Joann's and found some fabric for about $3.50 and made myself a pillow cover for a pillow I bought for $2.50 with a cover I didn't really love. (Pillow forms can be a bit pricy, so it was totally worth it, especially since I could pull the cover right off!)

It was sunny, if you couldn't tell!

The lighting downstairs isn't that great, but you can tell here that it is indeed NAVY.

I know it looks like, wham! Navy! But it pulls together all the blues. I cut off the quilt at the bottom of the bed that maybe would have helped you to see the full picture! Anyway, I'm quite pleased with my $6 pillow.

Babies

Let's just say that I might have some of the cutest little nieces ever!

See for yourself--

First up, Reese. Brooke, don't be mad! But they are too cute not to share!!

And then little miss Elise!

Photographed by me :)