TOOT & PUDDLE

About a week ago my kids got to adventure out to my sisters farm and we all went to get chickens! We live in the city and my sister has a big farm like I have mentioned before, so I think my kids have the best of both worlds. We get the joys of living in a neighbor hood and they get to experience fun farm stuff like chickens! They are laying chickens and we are hoping to get tons of eggs from them. She got two different kinds (don't ask me what kinds) but the brown ones lay GREEN eggs and the yellow BROWN. Green eggs! I thought that was just a book! haha. When we picked them up my daughter kept mooing at them and just jumping out of my arms and Ryder was ecstatic! He claimed the two yellow ones first for him and Averee. We all looked at him and ask so what do you want to name them? He looked up smiled and said
TOOT & PUDDLE

So I'm happy to introduce Toot & Puddle

Not so much anymore.

I have to start off by saying, back in the day when I would think about being married and having babies. I always wanted a huge family. I wanted at least 3 or 4 kids. After I had Ryder I was quickly reducing this number. lol. Justin and I agreed that if the second by chance happened to be a boy we may consider having a third to try for a little girl. Now when I was in my "having babies" time I swore I was never going to have a little girl. I just knew deep down I was going to have all boys. And to be honest I didn't want a little girl, it scared the crap out of me!! I will never forget the day we went in to find out what our second bundle of joy was.. Justin said he will never forget the look on my face when she looked up at me and said "It's a girl" I about died, and I cried all afternoon, I truly had no idea what I was going to do with a girl! Well now I couldn't imagine my life with out her! She brings me so much joy, and I love watching her become such a girly girl. I truly feel complete as a little family.

Now moving on to my two beautiful children.
Watching them grow everyday has turned in to an adventure. You never know what our day is going to hold and what mile stone one or both are going to experience each day. And let me talk a little about their personalities. So far Averee had been a lot like Ryder was, in looks and personality. But in the past month I'm seeing her true colors. haha. She is completely opposite then her brother!! Well in some ways. At home she is a lot like him, very out going, loud and never stops talking. But lately when we go out and someone tries to talk to her she shuns them. My brat of a daughter turns her head and makes a nice almost grunting sound. She will not speak, look or even crack a half smile! Then when we walk away she will be so sweet the minute they turn around and start walkin in the other direction, she will wave and say bye, bye. Then we move on to her temper. She gets mad very easily and throws massive fits if it doesn't go her way. If she wants some thing that brother has she screams as loud as she can. This is opposite of Ryder he is so sweet and out going and will talk to any stranger that looks his way. Always helping, and if a mean kid takes some thing out of his hands, he's like what ever and finds some thing else to play with.

I know this is just a phase for my daughter but WOW. haha. I feel like her and I are butting heads a lot. She has now started getting time outs in her crib cause I have to try and get this temper under control! I will not have a little brat running around DEMANDING what ever she wants! I love the girly girl and even the little miss Pris but that is as far as it goes. She can look that way but not act that way. If anyone has some great advise for me I would love to hear some!

This all comes from my last two days of wanting to pull my hair out! haha. I'm really hoping the rest of the week gets better. I have hope it will!

my kids

Such a happy girl.

Like I have said before she is my GIRLY GIRL! This was her showing off her new sunglasses and her "pretty" jewelry. haha. These days she is spending her time pushing her stroller around with her purse on her arm! Oh and she has to have a cell phone in her purse to "chat" when needed. Yes I know I'm in huge trouble!!

Ryder is growing every day. I guess I don't really see it on a daily bases but then I can take a picture and all of a sudden I look at it and am in shock! Wondering where have the days gone. My baby is getting so big! All he talks about these days is fishing. He has got bit by the fishing bug bad!

learning her animals.

When Averee had to spend some time in the hospital a few weeks ago. I took that time to work with her on her animal sounds. The only one she got down was a Cow. But it was so cute! I have been working with her since and she now has Cow, Pig, and a Dinosaur (yes this one came from her big brother) and her pig sound usually has her head bobbing but no "snort" coming out with it. She is so funny. The different sounds are coming every day. They grow so fast. :)

His version

Ever since we went to the Pole Pedal Paddle this past weekend and Ryder got to see the kids raft down the river he has not stopped talking about it! Yesterday with our 90 degree weather we broke out the pool. All of sudden Ryder tells me "look mom I'm in the pole piddle paddle" (his version of it) Love his imagination!!

Pole Pedal Paddle

This past weekend we got to experience some thing all of us were looking so forward to! It's called the Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend. It's kind of a all kind of event challenge. The adults went on Saturday and they biking up to bachelor, ski down the mountain, bike back to where they start canoing, and then end it with a long run. Or something a long those lines?? But anyway on Sunday they do the Kids PPP, 3 out of 4 of my sister's kids competed in it. It was so cool! They started with biking, then got to raft down the river and ended with an obstacle coarse. They had so much fun! The kids and I spent the day in the sun watching them. I think my kids had just as much fun as they did competing. Averee got to spend the afternoon eating ice cream and Ryder got to do a little coarse they had set up for the young ones. I think this is going to turn in to some thing we compete in every year!!

Miss Thing.

If she's not posing for the camera wearing her or my shades she is pushing her stroller around with her purse on her arm. I love it! The other day she was in the bathroom with me (like always) I was putting on my make up and I look over and she had a blush brush in one hand putting blush on and then eye liner in her other hand. She looked up at me and she had a nice brown/black line right under her eye. haha.. She is becoming such a girl!!!

Her purse she got to pick out after we spent about a week watching her turn everything in to a purse! Including brothers Easter basket. haha.

quick update

Friday morning we woke up and she was being her wonderful self. So far we have had no recurrence of the puking since Thursday. HOORAY! I guess the doctors knew what they were doing and gave me some good advice when we came home. She is drinking at least 32oz a day of liquids just to keep hydrated and to keep mama in the "no worry" zone. :)

emotionally drained.

This morning I woke up to Averee crying around 6 I jumped out of bed and ran in there and sure enough she threw up all over her bed. I just kept thinking are you freaking kidding me! When is it going to end for this poor little girl?? I got her up cleaned her and went and snuggled with her in the living room. About a half an hour later, she threw up again. I called the doctor and made an appointment first thing. This is what I was supposed to do if she throws up after we left the hospital. I thought a little before we left just in case we ended up back at the hospital, so I packed up a bag full of books, and toys for the kids, just in case... We loaded up and left. The dr. she saw the other day wasn't in today, so we got to see a new one. She was just as wonderful as the last, I was so happy when we got done. After waiting FOREVER for her to come and check her out she finally came in. She checked Averee all over and said the same thing, they are leaning towards the flu, but they aren't ruling out a Urinary infection. They don't want to have to cath her again so they are holding off to see if it's just the flu. they have both told me it could last 5-7 days. We are now on day 5, and crossing our fingers she just gets better instead of worse. They are expecting her to have a few throw ups here and there even through the weekend. So she said to watch her and make sure she is getting at least 32 oz of fluids with in a 24 hour period. So far she has only thrown up the 2 times this morning and is eating and drinking like normal and being our Miss Averee. I'll keep you all posted if anything changes.

This is my little girl sleeping so peacefully as she was getting admitted in to the hospital yesterday

Sunday night she started throwing up, no fever, no other signs of the flu. We had a horrible long night of no sleep and her throwing up at least once an hour and most of the time more then that. Around 5:30 Monday morning she stopped throwing up and was eating and drinking through the afternoon. 8 hours had past and I was really confident she had just ate some thing and it was all over with. She went all morning and afternoon with out getting sick. This is the reason I didn't call the doctor or freak out about it. Come Monday night it started all over again, and was throwing up just like the night before. It was to the point she couldn't even keep the water down that I was trying to feed her in a syringe that equaled out to about a teaspoon. The minute anything went down it came right back up. I was up all night with her again. First thing Tuesday morning I called the doctor and took her in. The doctor walked in, took one look at her and said she needs I.V. fluids. The poor girl woke up limp and just couldn't even function right. It came so fast. I felt like a horrible mom. But Monday she really didn't seem that bad. It happened so fast.....
Anyways at first the doctor was thinking of just doing it in the doctors office for 2-3 hours. Turned out her nurse was out for the afternoon, so off to the hospital Ryder, Averee and I went. I called my sister to come and pick up Ryder. There was no way I was going to have him in the room for what I thought was going to be 3 hours, just hangin out. I tried to get a hold of Justin just to let him know what was going on. He was working out of reach, so he didn't even know his baby girl was at the hospital until about an hour after we were admitted. We walked in to her room and sitting on the table was needles and all kinds of things a mom does not want to see! My heart sank in to the stomach and the tears started to swell up in my eyes.... The 3 nurses helping us were wonderful. I was still waiting for my sister to show, so they turned on some cartoons for Ryder. Anything to keep him occupied while they were diggin in to his sisters arms with a needle! They tried it in the left arm first, and her "chub" was sitting on top of her veins so it was making it difficult to find them. Couldn't get it, so we went to the right arm. This time she got it right away, but it was a huge vein and blood was coming out every where! As you can see in the picture she had to have a brace put on so she couldn't bend her little arm and it got all wrapped up so she couldn't pull it out. Poor Averee was screaming her little head off and there was nothing I could do but cuddle her, while holding her down so they could finish. Not what a mom wants to go through... My sister showed and Ryder was so excited to go to her house and play. About an hour after we got all settled in the doctor came to check on her and see what her lab work showed. She came in and looked at me, says " I'm so sorry but she needs to stay through the night". My heart sank once again in to my stomach. Ok well there is nothing I can do, I have to do what is going to make her better. They kept the IV going all night. Her lab work came back normal, so they wanted to test her for a Urinary Track Infection, nothing. By this time I'm getting calls from my sister cause Ryder keeps asking her if his "little sister is going to get better?" and "why can't she come home" (who knew a 3 year old would be so concerned and actually get it) Justin came up right after he got off work, spent the evening with us until we were ready for bed. He had to get up early for work so I told him not to stay it was no big deal, and there was only one little chair that folded out to a bed that I wasn't giving up! :) The night was a sleepless night not only for me but Averee too. We had a little infant boy in the next room that cried all night. This morning came and what a difference! My little girl was back!! She was so happy and lovey. Made me want to tear up all over again. The doctor came in around 8 and told me she wants her to eat some breakfast and if it stays down she can go home! yay!!! I ordered her some french toast and she was in heaven, you could tell she hadn't ate anything for a couple days, she scarfed it all down. The nurse was shocked how much my little girl ate. haha.. It all stayed down and we got to leave..
that is our story. I never knew how fast dehydration could come about. I feel horrible and am probably a little over concerned about how many fluids she is taking in at home, but better safe then sorry. She is now resting and seems to completely be back to normal. If she does have any vomiting issues she goes right back in. This was a really scary time for me and I thank everyone so much for all the concern that you all showed for our little girl.

The highs and lows of Mom's weekend.

I will start out by saying and wishing everyone a wonderful Moms weekend!!
I do believe it turns in to a weekend and not just one day for all of us wonderful mommies out there!
I got spoiled! I was so excited to get a call on Thursday from my mama telling me she is going to come over this weekend for Mother's Day. I called my sister and she had the greatest plan ever! "lets take Saturday or Sunday afternoon and go shopping just us girls with out any kids!!"
I was like what! you mean, actually have an entire afternoon with out my children? Gosh I really don't even know what that would be like. So I jumped on the wagon! We ended up spending Sunday afternoon shopping in all the little boutiques in downtown Bend, had a wonderful lunch outside in the sun, and grabbed a coffee on the way home after stopping and buying a ton of flowers for our yards. It was one of the best Mother's day's I have had (well in my 3 years of celebrating them) :)
I got home to two very excited kiddos, and one that was bouncing off the walls cause I brought home flowers to plant and we stopped at this wonderful FUN candy shop new to down town Bend. Check them out and if you have one close to you, seriously go take a trip down memory lane no matter what age you are!
Powell's Sweet Shop
www.powellsss.com

That was the high of my weekend...
Now for the Lows.

I came home to some excited kids, and then a couple hours after I got home my little baby girl started throwing up every where! It continued about every 15 minutes for the next few hours. I was up all night at least once an hour with her puking all over me or the floor. I tried my hardest to keep a towel as close as I could but unfortunately it didn't always make it in the towel. Around 5 this morning I finally woke Justin up and had him take her so I could get a little sleep. I managed to get 2 hours of sleep before I started my day today. Averee has now been puke free for almost 5 hours, so I'm crossing my fingers she is over what ever she had.

Hope you all got spoiled!!!

open mouth insert foot..

When I'm having one of those days when you have a toddler asking you a ton of questions and always at your feet, and a baby crying over anything and everything, I tend to say jokingly "Ryder your killin me" or "Averee your killin me". Now I'm not one that says to many swear words especially in front of the kids, but I do tend to say "oh my lord" quit often.
Today I put Averee down for her nap and she was crying, I go to take Ryder in to the bathroom and he proceeds to say

"oh lord Averee your killin me"

Guess I should really watch what I say... It could have been worse!
Right???

Over the Mountian we go.

After a long day of debating on going over the mountain, around 5 o'clock on Friday evening I decided to go for it.
The day before we were to leave for Corvallis, my nephew ended up in the ER after he went down hard at his track meet. Turns out he tore his "hip-flexor" muscle. He was now on crutches and in a ton of pain. The doctor gave him permission to still go this weekend but to make sure he got a wheel chair at the Zoo. That night turned out to be a little harder then they were anticipating so Friday morning Karri called and said she just doesn't feel comfortable taking Austin out and about especially out of town for the entire weekend. So I went back and forth on what I was going to do. Karri had Averee's carseat (we thought it would just be one less thing we would have to move) and Justin had been working out of town the past few days and I was planning on just dropping off the car when we left town, so he had a way home, well now that wasn't going to work I ended up having to wait and go get him. That ended up being around 5. So over all the plan was just to wait until another weekend. And then I talked to my brother, and it all changed. He was heading back from California from picking up Hailey (his daughter) and she was so so excited to see Ryder and Teta (that's what all the kids call me) I couldn't let her down. So I packed up the car and we left around 6 Friday night.
Saturday morning we woke up and decided to wait on the Zoo until everyone else could go and we headed down to the coast to spend the day at the Aquarium. Ryder hasn't been there since he was one, so I figured he would love it due to the sharks, and his obsession with them. We got down there around lunch ate at Moe's, then headed over to the Aquarium. As we are walking in to the Aquarium it's was pouring on us, by the time we paid and all used the restroom and headed outside it had stopped raining and was just windy. We can totally handle that.. The kids had a blast!! Every time I have been there the Octopus is always hiding and you can't really see it, but this time it was all sprawled out in the window and movin around. Ryder thought it was so cool. He was in AWW over the sharks and then we got to the most exciting part for him. They had a new "touch and feel" part and he got to PET A BABY SHARK!!! Nothing topped this. lol.. He did enjoy a lot of other parts, like seeing the huge crab, this is due to him watching Deadliest Catch every week with his daddy. He just kept telling me "daddy would love these mom" haha.. I let them pick out something from the gift shop, Ryder choose a shark book (no surprise there) and then Averee kept pointing at this little penguin so I bent down for her to grab it and as soon as she got it in her hands she gave it a huge hug and kiss (she is such a girl) haha. After the Aquarium we stopped by the Rogue Brewery so I could pick up some beer for Justin. He was so excited cause they have a beer named after Captain Sig from the Deadlest Catch. Then we headed back down to the water front to look around and go to the candy shop! As we are heading down the side walk my brother had Averee and puts her down and the little stinker took 6 steps for him! All by herself!! She still isn't walking so this was huge, by the time we made it home and tried again she wouldn't do it any more... Anyways after the candy store we loaded up and headed back to my moms. We got some Yummy Local Boys for dinner. That was are day in a nut shell. Sunday came way to fast and my plan was to leave around nap time cause Averee managed to scream almost the entire trip over on Friday. She was ready around 10 so I packed up and headed out. She was out before we even made it to Albany. Ryder fell asleep also, he stayed asleep until we got home, Averee on the other hand woke up a little after Sweet Home!!! Luckily she just read books and played with Ryder's leapster.
It was a quick trip over but so happy I went.