Random

This picture is about a month old. The kids planted these sunflowers. Now the flowers are taller than the fence and look into other peoples yards.

When I got home from oral surgery Talmage grabbed his flashlight and little mouth mirror to come check out the work the surgeon had done. Good thing I was still pretty out of it.

More Fun Than Having Teeth Pulled

On Monday I got braces put on and then on Thursday I had oral surgery and had seven teeth removed. I lucked out with only growing 3 wisdom teeth (two top and one bottom) but also needed all four premolars removed to give me enough space in my little mouth for all my teeth. I had them all done at once under IV sedation-- very pleasant.

The surgery went well as far as I know but during post op they brought Aaron in to explain how to take caer of me and he could not handle it. He took one look at my gauze stuffed cheeks and had to sit down. The nurses looked at his white face and escorted him too another room, had him lay back in a chair, and insisted on giving him oxygen. Then they had to put a surgeons mask over my face so Aaron would faint and put me in a wheel chair and send two people (one for me and one for Aaron) to escort us to the car. Aaron was worried that I'd never let him live this one down. He says I was laughing and wagging my finger at him. Too bad I don't remember any of it!

After we got home Aaron was perfectly fine and was even able to change my gauze while I was so out of it.

Anya was hardly allowed in the room with me for the next few days because she's such a funny girl, she kept making me laugh and that hurt. One day after I finally let them see the teeth the doctor made us take home Anya started making up stories about them and would say things like. "Oops Mommy, you almost swallow your teeth!" and then she'd laugh and run out of the room.

And we can't leave Talmage out. Last night he informed me, "Mom, when you die and then are resurrected you'll have your wisdom teeth back!" (I'm thinking things like, oh what a pleasant thought, so why did I have them out and am going through all this pain, and he has is father's tactfulness) He saw my face and said, "but don't worry they wont have to take them out again."

So thanks to my family, I have been experimenting with ways to laugh without moving my face-- it's not easy and can cause more pain if not done correctly (especially with sharp braces!).

Also one more note on tactfulness. Do you think it would be tactful to rent the movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks" for your wife to see when she looks like a chipmunk after surgery?

Hurray for Anya

Well Anya had her follow up appointment with the doctor and her lungs were clear! Wow, it's been awhile since a doctor told her that. We also reviewed her RAST (allergy test) and she scored very very low on a wheat allergy and slightly higher on egg whites. No other allergies showed up and they tested so much (milk, soy, peanuts, mold, dust mites, . . .). Both the wheat and egg white scores were not high enough to constitute an allergy that could be causing the breathing problems. So she's clear to eat products containing wheat and baked goods with eggs in it but we'll shy away from hard boiled eggs and scrambled eggs (which she's happy about because she doesn't like eggs). So from here she stays on a maintence breathing medicine for two months and then is reevaluated and if her lungs are still clear she can stop the nebulizer. It was the most possitive doctors visit we've had in a long long time.

Big Kids

My kids are growing up! Last week the kids helped make cookies and I thought it would be good for them to help wash the dishes we used. They thought this was a great idea. Talmage washed and Anya rinsed and they did every dirty dish they could find and were still looking for more.


We have been having more doctor fun again lately. Talmage is being watched for asthma and is doing breathing treatments with the nebulizer like Anya has been doing. But Anya, who always likes to outshine her brother at the doctors office, is our real worry now. She is on another antibiotic and has two weeks to get her breathing/coughing under control or she'll need to visit the Pulmatologist for more tests. Yesterday she got to have her blood drawn for a RAST test to see if she as an allergy to something she's eating or breathing at home. We'll get those results in two weeks. She was excited to get her blood drawn and have a gauze and tape bandage just like Mommy gets. She did really well and didn't even cry or try to pull away. The tech was amazed that a 2 1/2 year old could do so well. Anya was so pleased with her bandage that he insisted on keeping it on until Daddy came home from work and could see it.
She has been growing so tall lately. Look at those long legs! She is still 30 pounds and hasn't been gained any weight since Easter. Maybe she's just letting Talmage have his turn to grow. He's packed on 6 pounds of muscle since Easter and is 41 pounds of compact solidness.

Family Pictures

Here are some pictures we took with Aaron's family while we were all in Washington. For those of you familiar with the area the pictures were at the Ridgecrest Building. I love all the green!

Just the four of us.

The whole clan-- all 16.

A little cousin fun. We still miss cousins!