"Free" education?

You know that our education isn't really "free" when you are cleaning up the kids play area and find the following note that was used as they were playing school:
"Dear Parent,
Please can you make some donation for a big math test the donation is for money for field trips. Thank you, Jessica Allen."
Yeah, I think my kids caught on how often and how much their teachers were asking for donations.

(don't worry, I don't blame the teachers one bit. I always donate because I don't want them pulling it from their own small salaries!)

Funny Things

So, I don't have time to post regular events in my house, but the funny things my kids say, well I just have to make time. The other day I got a "night off" for following my health goals. I don't go anywhere, I usually just hibernate in my room while Brad puts the kids to bed and makes sure the house gets cleaned. The other night it was time for my night off. After family scriptures and prayer Brad told the kids "Okay, say goodnight to your mom. She gets the night off." Ashlyn responded, "You mean she has a date with the bathtub!" Oh, how my kids know me so well.

We're In Trouble!!

Ashlyn's primary teacher passed on this quote that Ashlyn said yesterday.....
"God made hair bows and pretty girl dresses so we could attract the boys." giggle, giggle, giggle.
I think I am in BIG trouble!!! She is only six.

Cute little Becca Boo

Last night Becca received her present from Grandma Sweeney (who was on vacation on Becca's birthday). She got the talking backpack from Dora the Explorer (which Becca is obsessed with still). She was in heaven. She was playing with all the fun toys that came in the backpack. We let Benjamin play with one of the small toys to keep him happy. Well, Ryan decided he wanted to look at the pretend video camera. So he started playing with it. Becca was quite upset. She said harshly to Ryan "No big boys allowed to play!" We do love this vivacious child!!

Ryan...our champion

I truly believe we are given specific personalities to deal with trials in life. That is the case with Ryan for sure. I have had so many people testify to this as well. Ryan has always been a serious minded child well beyond his years. He has always been concerned about his health and doing the correct things. Well, Ryan has handled this huge trial well beyond his years. It has been one month and today he did his first shot by himself at school without me there (he does his own shots all the time...but I have had to go to the school everyday for lunch until today). Of course his numbers were really low today and I was wondering why I wasn't there. We got through it though. He is such a champion. he doesn't cry. He doesn't complain. He did have his first break down last week when I called him up for dinner. He didn't want another shot. He cried for a bit, and then was just fine!!

He has slowed down on eating knowing if he eats for than 15 carbs for his snack then he needs a shot. He mostly chooses not to. His numbers are all over the place, which is to be expected. I have to call the doctor every other day and he makes new adjustments to the insulin doses and carb ratios almost daily. I sometimes get overwhelmed by that, but then I realize there is a reason we have a doctor. It is his job to worry and figure out this game, and my job is to follow his instructions and pray it works!! I have full confidence in our doctor. He is amazing and always seems to be a step ahead of the game.

It is amazing how much support we have had. It has made life so much more bearable. I have a wonderful contact at our insurance agency, the diabetes center up at the U of U is incredible. I have talked to so many people that know someone close to them with diabetes and they lend us so much support. This is a life long struggle and some days I lose it. But, those days will eventually become less and less. I couldn't ask for a better situation because Ryan is SOOOOO incredible. I really can't believe how well he has done. So, I have to say our entire lives have changed in this past month...and at the same time so much is the same!!

9 months old....already?

Yes, my sweet little baby is now 9 months old. How did that happen? I swear these last 9 months flew by way faster than the blasted pregnancy. Benjamin is getting so big...well, not size wise...just in what he can do. He has learned to crawl in the past 2-3 weeks. He actually has a very funny crawl. He goes on both hands, one knee, and his foot or bum. He crawls and scoots. If I can figure it out I will have to post a video of it. It is pretty hilarious. I do have to say, though, he has kind of out grown it. He does it a little bit, but is going on both knees more.

Benjamin is by far my smallest child. I took him into the doctor today. He weighs 16 lbs 3 oz (which is the 1%-yes 1% not 11% but 1 %). Yeah, usually my kids are that at 6 months. He is only the 15th% for height. Just a small little guy. My doctor is wondering if it is because of his growth stunt in utero, but we still don't know why. I just have to beef him up. We aren't too worried, just something more to do....I am getting tired of food and my children. I have one child I need to make sure eats certain amounts at certain times and count the carbs. Another child who is on the high side of the BMI so I need to make sure she isn't eating too much and is eating healthy food and now a baby who I need to shove calories down!! Seriously....no more food issues. Not to mention I still have a few baby pounds to lose.

Back to the darling baby. He is still as happy as can be. He is now starting to get anywhere and everywhere. We still need to get a baby gate (please remind me why we got rid of our last one?) He loves his siblings and all the neighbor kids. His favorite song is I am a Child of God. He loves to clap my hands together and has started clapping his. He sleeps well at night (most of the time) He just brings us so much joy. I am so grateful I took the huge leap of faith to have another child!!

What's in a Day?

There are certain days in the year filled with memories. On Christmas day you can think of years and years of happy memories. October 1st is filled with many happy memories (12 to be exact) as that is my anniversary. Each of my kids birthdays are filled with happy memories of their births and of fun times on their actual birthdays. Well, there is another day that has changed my life forever now in two different years. That day is January 17th.
On January 17th in the year 2004 my life changed. I lost my little boy when I was only 17 weeks pregnant with him. I won't go into the story, but I spent the entire day in the hospital waiting to birth him and then spending time with his tiny, yet perfect body. My life changed spiritually that day. I also learned that life is full of many hardships that can either make or break you. After I picked up the pieces of my heart I decided to let that experience make me!!
Well, January 17th 2011 will now go down in history. And once again it includes a hospital stay. Yesterday, the 17th, Brad and I took Ryan into the doctor for a physical. We had some concerns and wanted to make sure all was okay with our sweet 9 year old. Well, come to find out our '"worst case scenario" as far as his symptoms came to pass. Ryan was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes!! The doctor did a urine test and found the glucose in his urine was over 1000 which is not good. He also had ketones in his urine which is another sign. They then did a blood glucose test. It came up so high that it couldn't give us a number. It just said, "Too high to read". We all sat there in shock. Brad and I weren't as shocked as Ryan because we knew it was a possibility. He had no idea, and really didn't know what it meant. Dr Glade, our fantastic pediatrician, said we needed to head up to Primary Children's hospital immediately. He got a hold of the endocrinologist who said to get there quickly so we could get the process of correcting and educating started. We ran home, grabbed essentials for the next couple of days, and then headed up.
Now we sit in Primary Children's Hospital trying to soak in everything. I still feel like I am living a dream, not necessarily a nightmare surprisingly enough, but not a good dream either. Ryan had a very difficult time going to bed last night as he was trying to grasp how this would change his life forever. He stated that he too was still in shock!! Can you blame him?
Let me back up and answer the question that everyone has asked so far. How did we know to take him in? Well, we almost didn't. The past few weeks Ryan has been drinking.....a lot!! He was always needing a drink and always complaining of being really thirsty. Secondly, he was going to the bathroom all the time. I mean, all the time. Brad and I mostly noticed it in the evenings when we were around and things were slower. We all thought it was linked to him drinking so much, but I was starting to get concerned because he was only getting drinks out of the drinking fountain and such. I kept thinking to myself "Can he really be getting enough water to be needing to go to the bathroom that much?" Also, he was eating constantly and tons! I was so glad he was finally eating, he is such a small kid and usually doesn't eat that much. The strange thing was this past weekend I was noticing he was looking a little guant in the face and his ribs and bones were protruding more than normal. At first Brad calmed me a bit by saying that was a Bell thing, which it very much is. But, on Sunday Brad himself started looking at all of these things and we both noted that Ryan was way more tired than usual and wasn't his normal perky self. We decided to take him in to get a physical. I called first thing Monday morning and they scheduled a physical for 10 days from now. She also put in a note to the nurse to call us in case she thought we should go in first. I wasn't surprised when our nurse fit us in for 2:40 that afternoon. What a blessing that was. Now we are on top of the diabetes and in the process of healing. I am afraid if we had waited until next week Ryan could have gotten pretty darn sick. He is already doing so much better now that he is on insulin.
It is funny. 8 months ago we sat in the hospital praying for one sons glucose numbers to go up enough and stablize so we could go home. Now we pray that another sons glucose will go way down, which it is, and regulate so we can go home (after we do all the "educational" stuff of course)!! I have to say that Heavenly Father works in miraculous ways. When I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes last February I was scared to death. Once I got information I was fine and did everything I could do manage it. I learned to count carbs very well. Now, I am using that new found knowledge to help and to educate my sweet son that will be doing that for the rest of his life!! Also, I went into this experience not near as scared as I would have been because I knew that once I had knowledge we would all be okay. I was able to pass on that advice to my son knowing exactly the fears he was feeling!! I have been told that the trials I have now will prepare me for what is to come on the marrow. This is a perfect example!
Ryan is taking this all in so well. He is keeping up with Brad and I on all the education. He doesn't cry with the injections (although he HATED having to give himself the finger prick this afternoon). Tomorrow he gets to try injecting himself tomorrow. Wish him luck!! His only big incentive is that once he injects himself he gets to test Dad's glucose levels!! Brad's not super excited. Ryan is, of course. I am so impressed with his attidude. It is also wonderful seeing the effect of the insulin. All of my doubts wondering if he really has diabetes (which is a very common doubt of parents with kids diagnosed with this) are diminished with seeing how much better he looks, is acting, how much less frequently he is going to the bathroom, and even his appetite. It will be wonderful to see the old Ryan back!!
Another miracle to note. I decided to finally bite the bullet and sleep train Benjamin. I have been wanting too, but he has been sick whenever it was convenient with work. I let him cry it out on Friday night and Saturday night. Sunday night he slept for 11 hours straight. I couldn't believe it!! Well, last night I was worried, because I wasn't home, that he would wake up. But, he slept through the night again!! Let's pray he does tonight. Brad needs all the sleep he can get. Also, he slept 2 1/2 hours for my sister Tiffany today. He never naps that long for me EVER!! What a blessing!!

Is this better

There just was something not quite right about the last temple picture. The temple wasn't standing out enough. Let me know if this is better, or if you prefer the other one.
Thanks for all your advice!!

Testing

So, I love the temple. I love seeing temples everywhere and would love to visit all the temples in the world one day. That was my goal, until we started building them everywhere!! Now my goal is to see as many as possible in my lifetime. Along with that, I love taking pictures of the temple. I have just started and haven't done very many. I also love all the new temple pictures out there but don't want to pay an arm and a leg for them. So, I have been experimenting with doing my own. Here is my first attempt of the Los Angeles Temple. I actually got in trouble taking these pictures because I was at my brother in laws wedding and thought we were done with group pictures. So, I went off taking pictures of the temple. Well, my frantic mother in law came and got me after a while because we WEREN'T done. I am afraid she and others weren't very happy with me!
Anyway, here it is. Let me know any changes you would make. Ask yourself, "If I were to display this in my home, what would I want changed (besides the actual temple!!)"

Thanks for you help in this.

(Click on the picture to see it larger)