September 28, 2009
Opinions Needed
So I have decided that I need to take up digital scrapbooking. I haven't actually scrapbooked in years, but I have my pictures printed still and put them in albums. But I think digitial would be so much easier and of course cuter. I have used scrapblog before but I need to know what you use if you digital scrapbook. I want to eventually turn the pages into books, so what websites work for that? I know there are probably a billion of you who do digital scrapbooking, so tell me what works for you!!
September 24, 2009
The Ham
I think it has been a while since I updated on Hallie. She is alive and well, very well. She is getting funnier/louder/more out of control with each passing day. I have never known a child to be so full of personality from the day she was born. I don't know where she comes from. However, I have identified recently that she definitely has my eyebrows, so I guess she wasn't switched at the hospital after all. I think she also has Devin's eyelashes, so something identifiable from him too. Whew. 
Hals is getting smart. Today she picked up the cell phone charger from the floor, crawled to the nearest plug in, and repeatedly tried to plug it in. She must have seen us do that before. She also follows commands when she feels like it. She carries objects around in her mouth when she is crawling and has this stuffed kitty (a webkinz if you know what that is) that my grandma got her for Christmas last year. It is her FAVORITE toy. She carries it around with the tail in her mouth and then will randomly leave it places. The other morning, she left it in the bathroom and was crawling out, so I told her "go get your kitty." She stopped, gave me a glare, and then turned back around and went back in to get it. Disgruntled but obedient? I'll take it.
Hallie is terrible at keeping her hair in place. I do it every morning and more often than not (especially when Devin brings her to me at work on his way to class) her hair is out of control. She knows that in my presence she is not to pull it out, but apparently Devin is not that strict. With me, she will put her hand next to her ponytail, bow, or whatever it is, and just look at me like, "should I?" When I say, "no!" she will put her hand down until I look away. Then it is usually a swift grab and rip. Who knows why she feels the need to do that?
She still loves swimming, as you can see. We took her to a hotel pool to swim with Jen and Sadie while my mom was here last weekend. She is such a daredevil! She would sit on the edge of the pool and before you could even get ready, she would launch in. I have a video of it, but the blogger is being way slow, so we might have to go without. It was crazy though. She has no fear.
Here are the girls getting ready to swim. Hallie's favorite word is still "dada", although she uses different inflections to mean different things. For example, when we pray and say "amen", she will say "dada" but in a solemn, final type tone like amen sounds. She also says "daddy" and chants "dada" like she is cheering him on (even if he is not present). She also says "yeah", "yay", "baby" and "mama" (though still VERY rarely). Her vocab is increasing. It is fun to watch.
Hallie is getting ready to walk, although I think she would walk sooner if she wasn't so lazy. For the past week or so, she has been taking steps. But I think it will be a while still before she actually walks. She quickly gets sick of trying to walk and will just pull her feet up when we are holding her hands to show her refusal. She also has learned that when we want her to walk back and forth between us, it is much easier if she just leans forward, she'll still get to the destination, but without all the work.
These videos clearly show her using her favorite word, "dada" despite me trying to get her to say other things. She really thinks it is funny when I ask her to "say mama." 100% of the time, she will reply, "Dada".
Hals is getting smart. Today she picked up the cell phone charger from the floor, crawled to the nearest plug in, and repeatedly tried to plug it in. She must have seen us do that before. She also follows commands when she feels like it. She carries objects around in her mouth when she is crawling and has this stuffed kitty (a webkinz if you know what that is) that my grandma got her for Christmas last year. It is her FAVORITE toy. She carries it around with the tail in her mouth and then will randomly leave it places. The other morning, she left it in the bathroom and was crawling out, so I told her "go get your kitty." She stopped, gave me a glare, and then turned back around and went back in to get it. Disgruntled but obedient? I'll take it.
Hallie is terrible at keeping her hair in place. I do it every morning and more often than not (especially when Devin brings her to me at work on his way to class) her hair is out of control. She knows that in my presence she is not to pull it out, but apparently Devin is not that strict. With me, she will put her hand next to her ponytail, bow, or whatever it is, and just look at me like, "should I?" When I say, "no!" she will put her hand down until I look away. Then it is usually a swift grab and rip. Who knows why she feels the need to do that?
She still loves swimming, as you can see. We took her to a hotel pool to swim with Jen and Sadie while my mom was here last weekend. She is such a daredevil! She would sit on the edge of the pool and before you could even get ready, she would launch in. I have a video of it, but the blogger is being way slow, so we might have to go without. It was crazy though. She has no fear.
Here are the girls getting ready to swim. Hallie's favorite word is still "dada", although she uses different inflections to mean different things. For example, when we pray and say "amen", she will say "dada" but in a solemn, final type tone like amen sounds. She also says "daddy" and chants "dada" like she is cheering him on (even if he is not present). She also says "yeah", "yay", "baby" and "mama" (though still VERY rarely). Her vocab is increasing. It is fun to watch.Hallie is getting ready to walk, although I think she would walk sooner if she wasn't so lazy. For the past week or so, she has been taking steps. But I think it will be a while still before she actually walks. She quickly gets sick of trying to walk and will just pull her feet up when we are holding her hands to show her refusal. She also has learned that when we want her to walk back and forth between us, it is much easier if she just leans forward, she'll still get to the destination, but without all the work. I am uploading some videos of her. You can hear her scream, which is by far her favorite way to communicate. She screams ALL THE TIME. It is super unnerving, especially when we are driving, but hey, I guess she is trying to communicate? I don't know.
Life with Hallie is definitely fun. We love our girl. I can't believe she is almost one! Daddy's birthday is first though, on October 4th and then Hallie's on November 4th. Too bad I missed the memo that the 4th is the day to be born. Oh, well.
These videos clearly show her using her favorite word, "dada" despite me trying to get her to say other things. She really thinks it is funny when I ask her to "say mama." 100% of the time, she will reply, "Dada".
September 18, 2009
As Promised...
Well, I know I said I would post pictures of our progress on the house, so here we go. Here is the family room, which has taken the bulk of our time.
Before:
See the nasty yellow banister and doors? YIKES!!! You can also catch a glimpse of the kitchen and the ugly ugly floor that was, but is no longer as Devin wasted no time tearing it out.
This shows how bad the wood floor was. Also, the paint was just plain white all throughout the house.
We had moved in at this point, but this shows the banister again and the built in bookshelf. Don't mind us in the mirror. Also, you can see the dirty kitchen floor after Devin had ripped up the old stuff. It still looks like that, don't worry. We should be getting our new kitchen floor this week though, HOORAY!!!!! And PS. We now have blinds, so we don't have to use blankets. Ha ha.
Here is in process. This picture just shows how much better the floor looks. Along with redoing the floors, we painted the walls, ceiling, doors, bookshelf, and banister; re did the baseboards, hung blinds as mentioned, and re-decorated. We are still finishing a few things here and there, but mostly it is done.
After:
Built in bookshelf and banister.
That is the front door. We had a huge dilemma about what we should do with our dining room table, since there is no space for it in the kitchen. We finally settled on sectioning the room to make part a living area and part the dining room because I didn't want the table to go to waste. Plus there isn't a whole lot of room in the kitchen to eat. So here is the living room half.
You can see here what we did. The table is behind the couch and the doorway on the left leads into the kitchen. We are currently re-finishing and re-painting the table's chairs, so that is why they are not there.
Again the dining room portion.
This is the room downstairs. We got the twin beds from Devin's parents house. Yay! We are going to probably re-finish them too, but not till next summer, I would bet. But, proof that we have room for you if you want to come stay! If you are married, you will have to either push the beds together or go one night in separate beds, but hey, at least we have a place for people to stay now!
See the nasty yellow banister and doors? YIKES!!! You can also catch a glimpse of the kitchen and the ugly ugly floor that was, but is no longer as Devin wasted no time tearing it out.
This shows how bad the wood floor was. Also, the paint was just plain white all throughout the house.We had moved in at this point, but this shows the banister again and the built in bookshelf. Don't mind us in the mirror. Also, you can see the dirty kitchen floor after Devin had ripped up the old stuff. It still looks like that, don't worry. We should be getting our new kitchen floor this week though, HOORAY!!!!! And PS. We now have blinds, so we don't have to use blankets. Ha ha.Here is in process. This picture just shows how much better the floor looks. Along with redoing the floors, we painted the walls, ceiling, doors, bookshelf, and banister; re did the baseboards, hung blinds as mentioned, and re-decorated. We are still finishing a few things here and there, but mostly it is done.After:
Built in bookshelf and banister.That is the front door. We had a huge dilemma about what we should do with our dining room table, since there is no space for it in the kitchen. We finally settled on sectioning the room to make part a living area and part the dining room because I didn't want the table to go to waste. Plus there isn't a whole lot of room in the kitchen to eat. So here is the living room half.
You can see here what we did. The table is behind the couch and the doorway on the left leads into the kitchen. We are currently re-finishing and re-painting the table's chairs, so that is why they are not there.Again the dining room portion.This is the room downstairs. We got the twin beds from Devin's parents house. Yay! We are going to probably re-finish them too, but not till next summer, I would bet. But, proof that we have room for you if you want to come stay! If you are married, you will have to either push the beds together or go one night in separate beds, but hey, at least we have a place for people to stay now!September 8, 2009
Too Much Fun
This Labor Day Weekend we had a great time just being together as a family. On Saturday, I got to watch Kirston's kids while she went to the Temple. Brelynn and Cole were fabulous helps with Ryder and Hallie, who are the same age. It was a good reminder why I do not want twins (not that Ryder wasn't good, he was a breeze. It's just that Hallie is a BULLY!)
Looking like they are playing nice, but probably shortly before Hallie pushed him to the ground, stole his toy, or steam rolled him. Take your pick. However, they do look incredibly cute together.
I took the kids to the park to play. Brelynn wanted to take Ryder down the slide and Cole wanted to take Hallie down the slide. We started with the small slides and moved on up to the large slides. All parties loved it. It was great entertainment.
How cute is that? It makes matters better that they are wearing nearly matching shirts.
We also got to ride the Bee. 
This is only funny because both babies were shoved into the stroller that was meant for one baby. Also, please take note of Hallie's binky. Yes, binky. Has she ever taken a binky in her life? Not so much. (Unless you count when we would shove it in her mouth and hold it there during church when she was tiny). However, Ryder is a binky baby and so Hallie wanted a binky too. Literally, she probably stole Ryder's binky 10 times and put it in her mouth and started sucking on it (don't worry I washed it each time before giving it back to him) before I got smart and dug out one of her old binkys. From then on, she spent the afternoon sucking on a binky. Weirdest child alive, I am telling you. She was even more happy if she had hers in her mouth and Ryder's in her hand. Don't worry, the binky is safely stashed away again as she of course does not want it (nor do I want her to have it) anymore. 
Just to prove we were at the top... I know definitely not the prettiest picture ever, but proof. Devin carried Hallie the whole way and was way less huffy puffy than me. He also kept randomly saying things like, "Maybe we should get gym passes" or "We should look into buying a treadmill or something." I wonder what he is trying to hint at????? My complete and utter out-of-shapedness???? 
Me at the top. The only reason I really did it was to cross something else off my list. I love crossing things off lists, so much that I torture myself with a hike I don't enjoy really at all. 
What a cute pair. Hallie laughed the whole way down because she was bouncing so much. She had a great time, at least! Just kidding, it really was a great family activity and I am glad that we went. Perhaps I will even go again in another 10 years or so.
Looking like they are playing nice, but probably shortly before Hallie pushed him to the ground, stole his toy, or steam rolled him. Take your pick. However, they do look incredibly cute together.
I took the kids to the park to play. Brelynn wanted to take Ryder down the slide and Cole wanted to take Hallie down the slide. We started with the small slides and moved on up to the large slides. All parties loved it. It was great entertainment.How cute is that? It makes matters better that they are wearing nearly matching shirts. We also got to ride the Bee. This is only funny because both babies were shoved into the stroller that was meant for one baby. Also, please take note of Hallie's binky. Yes, binky. Has she ever taken a binky in her life? Not so much. (Unless you count when we would shove it in her mouth and hold it there during church when she was tiny). However, Ryder is a binky baby and so Hallie wanted a binky too. Literally, she probably stole Ryder's binky 10 times and put it in her mouth and started sucking on it (don't worry I washed it each time before giving it back to him) before I got smart and dug out one of her old binkys. From then on, she spent the afternoon sucking on a binky. Weirdest child alive, I am telling you. She was even more happy if she had hers in her mouth and Ryder's in her hand. Don't worry, the binky is safely stashed away again as she of course does not want it (nor do I want her to have it) anymore. -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, we hiked the Y. YEAH, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT- WE HIKED THE Y! I am just as shocked as you. I don't like hiking. I really don't. I really really don't. I don't know why people subject themselves to torture like that, other than to feel accomplished (which I definitely did after hiking that beast). Now, this may not seem like a big deal to you avid hikers, because after all, it is only 2.4 miles, but let me tell you, it is like STRAIGHT UP and switchbacks the whole time. I have done it once before, but I forgot how rough it is.
Just to prove we were at the top... I know definitely not the prettiest picture ever, but proof. Devin carried Hallie the whole way and was way less huffy puffy than me. He also kept randomly saying things like, "Maybe we should get gym passes" or "We should look into buying a treadmill or something." I wonder what he is trying to hint at????? My complete and utter out-of-shapedness???? Me at the top. The only reason I really did it was to cross something else off my list. I love crossing things off lists, so much that I torture myself with a hike I don't enjoy really at all. What a cute pair. Hallie laughed the whole way down because she was bouncing so much. She had a great time, at least! Just kidding, it really was a great family activity and I am glad that we went. Perhaps I will even go again in another 10 years or so.September 4, 2009
Seriously??
Well, I think my last 24 hours (ok, or a little more) have been record breaking as far as problems that can occur and have. Let's recap, shall we?
Yesterday afternoon I came home from work for a few hours before going back to an adoption training class. Devin heads out as soon as I come home and vice versa. Basically we never see each other anymore now that school has started again. The sacrifices you have to make...So Hallie and I were going at it alone while Dev went to work like a good, nice, overworked husband.
Anyway, in this few hours, I was determined to get the house cleaned up and dinner ready for myself as well as my cousin Carlie who was kindly coming to be with Hals while I attended the class. As I was scrambling around, attempting to be super woman, Hallie was tending to herself. Basically, that means she was crawling around on the floor making messes faster than I could clean them up. Pretty soon, I heard a big fat wail coming from her direction and I ran over to find that she had crawled into the wall. She had a nice big red mark forming on her forehead right next to the big bruise she already had from earlier in the day when she pulled a big mirror down on herself. Yes, I know what you are thinking, that I never watch my child. Well, you are wrong. I do, I promise. She is just sneaky. Okay, so bruise number 2. Not even 10 minutes later, I heard another wail and she had crawled into the wall again. What do you think her problem is? Don't you think she would learn to look around before just heading full speed into the nearest thing? Bruise number 3 starts to appear on her forehead right along with the others. Fantastic.
See those two red lines and the big brown one? Yeah. Battle Wounds.
By that time, she clearly looked abused. I decided that crawling on the floor was no longer an option and put her into her high chair to watch me cook dinner. Well, she hates that. The only thing to keep her happy in there is of course, food. So I gave her some crackers and went about my business. I managed to successfully cook some enchiladas and get them into the oven. However, when I went to get them out, it is at that precise moment that Hallie started coughing/choking sounding, so I turned to look at her and accidentally tossed the hot pad right into the oven where it immediately lit on fire. Yes, full on fire (flashback to Linda's house anyone?!). I had a choice. Do I save my dying child or do I let my house burn down? I opted for the quick pull out of the hot pad, threw it into the sink (still in flames) and then ran over to pound Hallie on the back. Luckily, she was fine. I think something just went down the wrong tube. Anyway, then I ran back to the sink to turn on the cold water to douse the fire. It's a really great thing our kitchen is tiny, eh?
Did I mention that Hallie is sick? Well she is. So to top it off, she was coughing, snotty, and just an all around mess. I can't believe how rag-muffiny she looked by the end of the day yesterday. Carl came just in time to give me a breather and luckily, Hallie fell asleep while I was gone to the adoption class. I didn't have to deal with anything more until she woke me up around 2 am in full on cough attack mode. I hate that because I can't tell if she is living or dying and I can't handle the thought that I am not there to save her if something happens. So going back to sleep was nearly impossible at that stage. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much last night. I think she did though, which is what is important. Oh and Devin was dead to the world too. Lucky him.
Sick, mad, and why the heck are you taking my picture? See the bib? Snot. Lot's of it.
This morning came far too soon. I made sure to place a call to the doctor's office first thing. I didn't hear back from them until about noon, but that's a later story. Here is a glimpse of what our schedule is like almost daily. Devin had class from 10-11 today (much later than he usually starts actually), then I was supposed to go into work at 11. Hallie of course, conveniently decided to fall asleep right about 10:43, which is a problem because Devin and I meet at my work between class/work and switch her off to save time. He gets out of class at 10:50 and I couldn't be late for work because I had a client coming at 11. So, I either wake up the sick child and take her, or I leave her sleeping and leave at the exact precise moment that I can get to work on time (about 10:55) and hope that Devin is only a few minutes behind me driving back. Don't judge us. That is what we did. I HATE waking her up and I couldn't do it, so I left at the last possible second as Devin was sprinting from his class back to his car and driving home at record speeds. By the time I got to work, there was of course NO PARKING spots so I was forced to drive around until someone vacated.
I then ran inside panting to tell the receptionists that I am there and ready for my appointment. Usually it is good and professional to be there before your clients, but ya know, sometimes that is just not possible with mine and Devin's schedule. Anyway, nice to know, but apparently my 11 o'clock appointment canceled and no one informed me. Nice. So all the running, stressing, sweating, etc. for nothing. I also had a noon scheduled and then Devin was supposed to bring Hallie back to me at work because he had a 1 o'clock class. See how fun this is going to be? Well, my 12 o' clock didn't show up either. I was so mad! I called her and she just laughed and said she was sleeping. Nice. I went home quite annoyed.
Devin went to class as mentioned and then went straight to work at 4 (he gets off at midnight). In the meantime, I got said call from the Dr.'s office responding to my message. The first person said that Hallie clearly has allergies and there is no need to bring her in. I insisted that I am pretty sure she does not have allergies, so she said she would call me back. Someone else called a while later and said that after consulting with the doctor, they thought she should come in right away. I dropped everything and ran to the doctor's office, only to sit and wait and wait and wait and wait. Apparently it was our doctor's birthday, so they were all in the staff area having a big old party. Fun for them, not so fun for me when my child is screaming and hating life confined in the exam room. Finally another doctor showed up (ours was off for the afternoon after his party), gave us 1.34 minutes of his time, and headed out the door while telling me that Hals has an ear ache and he would write me a prescription.
Being the ever caring mother that I am, I decided to go get her prescription as soon as possible. I took it to Smith's, dropped it off, circled the store a few times, bought Hallie some Popsicles and a clearance blow up pool for next year (I told you I am a good mom) and then headed back to the Pharmacy to get the drugs. Well, the girl behind the counter not-so-kindly informed me that 20 minutes had not passed (it had in fact) and that it was not done, so I took my seat next to a crowd of other people and continued the waiting game. Soon, everyone around me was called and had gone to pick up their prescriptions. I was getting really bugged because I knew I had been there before all those people, so finally I went back to the ever-so-friendly girl and asked if ours was ready. She didn't even look, said no, and sent us back to our seats. Another 20 minutes passed. People have come and gone. Again, I went up and asked her if she could see if our prescription was ready. This time she looked half heartedly, came back, and said no again. Again I waited. By this time, I had nearly had it because Hallie was screaming, she clearly didn't feel well, and I am done with the waiting. I waited a few more minutes then approached another girl to ask for Hallie's prescription, telling her that I had been waiting an hour now and they told me it would only be 20 minutes. She went to look and what do you know, it had miraculously been sitting there the whole time! She came back and handed it to me and said, "you just must not have been listening close enough when they called your name." Oh man, I nearly snapped her head off. (*Disclaimer: I don't really snap people's heads off...don't be alarmed*).
I treated myself to a night off of cooking after a day like today and yesterday. To summarize: My child is ill, looks abused, barely breathing, and not happy. I am tired, feeling sorry for my baby, really full from a great dinner that I picked up, and actually quite happy that I can look back on these experiences and just laugh. Motherhood. This is what it's all about, people.
Bonus points for you if you have read this whole thing and not fallen asleep or gone crazy.
Yesterday afternoon I came home from work for a few hours before going back to an adoption training class. Devin heads out as soon as I come home and vice versa. Basically we never see each other anymore now that school has started again. The sacrifices you have to make...So Hallie and I were going at it alone while Dev went to work like a good, nice, overworked husband.
Anyway, in this few hours, I was determined to get the house cleaned up and dinner ready for myself as well as my cousin Carlie who was kindly coming to be with Hals while I attended the class. As I was scrambling around, attempting to be super woman, Hallie was tending to herself. Basically, that means she was crawling around on the floor making messes faster than I could clean them up. Pretty soon, I heard a big fat wail coming from her direction and I ran over to find that she had crawled into the wall. She had a nice big red mark forming on her forehead right next to the big bruise she already had from earlier in the day when she pulled a big mirror down on herself. Yes, I know what you are thinking, that I never watch my child. Well, you are wrong. I do, I promise. She is just sneaky. Okay, so bruise number 2. Not even 10 minutes later, I heard another wail and she had crawled into the wall again. What do you think her problem is? Don't you think she would learn to look around before just heading full speed into the nearest thing? Bruise number 3 starts to appear on her forehead right along with the others. Fantastic.
See those two red lines and the big brown one? Yeah. Battle Wounds. By that time, she clearly looked abused. I decided that crawling on the floor was no longer an option and put her into her high chair to watch me cook dinner. Well, she hates that. The only thing to keep her happy in there is of course, food. So I gave her some crackers and went about my business. I managed to successfully cook some enchiladas and get them into the oven. However, when I went to get them out, it is at that precise moment that Hallie started coughing/choking sounding, so I turned to look at her and accidentally tossed the hot pad right into the oven where it immediately lit on fire. Yes, full on fire (flashback to Linda's house anyone?!). I had a choice. Do I save my dying child or do I let my house burn down? I opted for the quick pull out of the hot pad, threw it into the sink (still in flames) and then ran over to pound Hallie on the back. Luckily, she was fine. I think something just went down the wrong tube. Anyway, then I ran back to the sink to turn on the cold water to douse the fire. It's a really great thing our kitchen is tiny, eh?
Did I mention that Hallie is sick? Well she is. So to top it off, she was coughing, snotty, and just an all around mess. I can't believe how rag-muffiny she looked by the end of the day yesterday. Carl came just in time to give me a breather and luckily, Hallie fell asleep while I was gone to the adoption class. I didn't have to deal with anything more until she woke me up around 2 am in full on cough attack mode. I hate that because I can't tell if she is living or dying and I can't handle the thought that I am not there to save her if something happens. So going back to sleep was nearly impossible at that stage. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much last night. I think she did though, which is what is important. Oh and Devin was dead to the world too. Lucky him.
Sick, mad, and why the heck are you taking my picture? See the bib? Snot. Lot's of it. This morning came far too soon. I made sure to place a call to the doctor's office first thing. I didn't hear back from them until about noon, but that's a later story. Here is a glimpse of what our schedule is like almost daily. Devin had class from 10-11 today (much later than he usually starts actually), then I was supposed to go into work at 11. Hallie of course, conveniently decided to fall asleep right about 10:43, which is a problem because Devin and I meet at my work between class/work and switch her off to save time. He gets out of class at 10:50 and I couldn't be late for work because I had a client coming at 11. So, I either wake up the sick child and take her, or I leave her sleeping and leave at the exact precise moment that I can get to work on time (about 10:55) and hope that Devin is only a few minutes behind me driving back. Don't judge us. That is what we did. I HATE waking her up and I couldn't do it, so I left at the last possible second as Devin was sprinting from his class back to his car and driving home at record speeds. By the time I got to work, there was of course NO PARKING spots so I was forced to drive around until someone vacated.
I then ran inside panting to tell the receptionists that I am there and ready for my appointment. Usually it is good and professional to be there before your clients, but ya know, sometimes that is just not possible with mine and Devin's schedule. Anyway, nice to know, but apparently my 11 o'clock appointment canceled and no one informed me. Nice. So all the running, stressing, sweating, etc. for nothing. I also had a noon scheduled and then Devin was supposed to bring Hallie back to me at work because he had a 1 o'clock class. See how fun this is going to be? Well, my 12 o' clock didn't show up either. I was so mad! I called her and she just laughed and said she was sleeping. Nice. I went home quite annoyed.
Devin went to class as mentioned and then went straight to work at 4 (he gets off at midnight). In the meantime, I got said call from the Dr.'s office responding to my message. The first person said that Hallie clearly has allergies and there is no need to bring her in. I insisted that I am pretty sure she does not have allergies, so she said she would call me back. Someone else called a while later and said that after consulting with the doctor, they thought she should come in right away. I dropped everything and ran to the doctor's office, only to sit and wait and wait and wait and wait. Apparently it was our doctor's birthday, so they were all in the staff area having a big old party. Fun for them, not so fun for me when my child is screaming and hating life confined in the exam room. Finally another doctor showed up (ours was off for the afternoon after his party), gave us 1.34 minutes of his time, and headed out the door while telling me that Hals has an ear ache and he would write me a prescription.
Being the ever caring mother that I am, I decided to go get her prescription as soon as possible. I took it to Smith's, dropped it off, circled the store a few times, bought Hallie some Popsicles and a clearance blow up pool for next year (I told you I am a good mom) and then headed back to the Pharmacy to get the drugs. Well, the girl behind the counter not-so-kindly informed me that 20 minutes had not passed (it had in fact) and that it was not done, so I took my seat next to a crowd of other people and continued the waiting game. Soon, everyone around me was called and had gone to pick up their prescriptions. I was getting really bugged because I knew I had been there before all those people, so finally I went back to the ever-so-friendly girl and asked if ours was ready. She didn't even look, said no, and sent us back to our seats. Another 20 minutes passed. People have come and gone. Again, I went up and asked her if she could see if our prescription was ready. This time she looked half heartedly, came back, and said no again. Again I waited. By this time, I had nearly had it because Hallie was screaming, she clearly didn't feel well, and I am done with the waiting. I waited a few more minutes then approached another girl to ask for Hallie's prescription, telling her that I had been waiting an hour now and they told me it would only be 20 minutes. She went to look and what do you know, it had miraculously been sitting there the whole time! She came back and handed it to me and said, "you just must not have been listening close enough when they called your name." Oh man, I nearly snapped her head off. (*Disclaimer: I don't really snap people's heads off...don't be alarmed*).
I treated myself to a night off of cooking after a day like today and yesterday. To summarize: My child is ill, looks abused, barely breathing, and not happy. I am tired, feeling sorry for my baby, really full from a great dinner that I picked up, and actually quite happy that I can look back on these experiences and just laugh. Motherhood. This is what it's all about, people.
Bonus points for you if you have read this whole thing and not fallen asleep or gone crazy.
September 1, 2009
Coming Highly Recommended...
Inspired by this post by my sister, I thought I would post a recommendation that everyone read "A Single Voice" by Sister Kristen Oaks. I just finished reading this book and it was excellent. I picked it up not because I am single, but because I know a lot of people who are single and I sometimes sense how difficult it is for them, especially in a church that highly values and often discusses eternal families. I felt like maybe I could get some insight into how to be more empathetic to those who are single. I did gain insight there, but more than that, I felt like the book helped me take an inventory of myself to see where I stand in the Lord's eyes. A point that has resonated with me that Sister Oaks makes in the book is that we are not judged as couples, nor do we go through life's most significant events (birth, most temple ordinances, partaking of the sacrament, death) as couples, but rather as individuals. 
Anyway, here's to hoping that we can all be more inclusive to those who are in different situations than we are and to view everyone for their capabilities and what they can contribute rather than their single or married status. Let me know if you read the book, I would love to hear what you think!
Anyway, here's to hoping that we can all be more inclusive to those who are in different situations than we are and to view everyone for their capabilities and what they can contribute rather than their single or married status. Let me know if you read the book, I would love to hear what you think!
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