Busy Busy

This week has been pretty busy. . . so here is what we have been up to!
We had a St. Patrick's Day Dinner on Sunday night. We had Tim, Jenny, Tori, and Kurt over. It was delicious. I made corned beef and cabbage, green kanurdles (German Dumplings), green cornbread, pistachio salad, shamrock sugar cookies, and eclairs with the inside filling dyed green. The dinner was absolutely delicious and it was fun to have our guests over.

Mais and Shaun are sporting their St. Patrick's Day green and giving each other kisses! They are so silly together.

This is Mais's first piggy back ride. She loved it!

We, actually I, bought a jogging stroller this week. Shaun is not sure if I will actually use it, but I hope to prove him wrong! (just not this week :) )

I made some fun Easter cards and sent them off to family and friends. I have really been into card making right now, because Mais doesn't let me sit down long enough to get into my scrapbooking, so I just make cards instead.

We took Mais to the mall to get her pictures taken with the Easter Bunny. She wasn't too sure about it, as you can tell by her face.

This is the happiest she was, which isn't very happy!

So we did our own Easter photo shoot at home. She still wasn't very sure about the fake Easter grass!

Grandma Grimmett sent Maisey that cute Easter Bunny Beanie Baby. She loves it! Thanks Grandma!

Uncle Ryan came into town today to visit. We went to Red Robin for lunch. It was great to see him.

So... Happy Easter (a couple of days early)! We are headed to Colorado early tomorrow morning to spend Easter with my sister and her family. My mom and brother are both coming from Oregon. We are so excited, and Mais can't wait to be buddies with Grandma again!

IKEA

Maisey's eye has been healing really well, and besides the sleeping thing, she has pretty much returned to normal. So we took her out of the house today. I think she was pretty sick of being in our little apartment for 2 1/2 days. We decided to go to IKEA with our neighbors. They have a little girl named Tori who is 6 weeks older than Mais. Tori and Maisey have so much fun playing together. On the way to IKEA we stopped at Rumbi Island Grill to grab a late lunch/early dinner. It was delicious as normal. Then we went to the awesomest store in the whole world. We were there for over 3 hours, and Shaun actually enjoyed it. I don't think we have ever gone shopping together and Shaun have a good time. We found tons of things that we would love to buy, once we get to Oregon. So for now... this is the only thing we bought.

It was only $.59. What a bargain! We couldn't leave IKEA without buying something!

This is the fam at Rumbi! We had such a great time and Maisey was so good in the high chair.

Tim, Tori, Shaun, and Maisey in the elevator at IKEA. These two girls had so much fun looking at everything! And these two boys had fun pushing the carts. All four wheels on the carts turn. Shaun was amazed by this!

Shaun and Maisey are checking out the Hide-a-Bed. Shaun wanted to see if it was more comfortable than his grandparent's.

Maisey and I were trying out a really cute arm chair that would have looked so cute in Mais's bedroom. (If we had room for it.)

This sums up our trip. Maisey was wiped out by the end, so she slept in the cart.

We had a great time eating at the food court. The meatballs were delicious along with the chocolate cake.

We can't wait until Shaun starts his real job and we have a place of our own to decorate. We are so glad that there is an IKEA in Portland, because we will be frequent visitors.

If you haven't gone, I suggest you go! Happy Shopping!

Maisey has Surgery, Mom is Traumatized!

Today was a traumatizing day for both Maisey and I. Probably more for me because she won't ever remember it, but this is something I will never forget. Let me start from the beginning. . .

During November, we noticed a bump on Maisey's right eye, just below her eyebrow. We met with our pediatrician about it and he sent us to meet with a pediatric surgeon from Primary Children's. The surgeon determined it was a dermoid cyst and that it needed to be removed. So we set the surgery date for today!

So to start the day off, we got to the hospital about 6:30 am. First of all, hospitals bring up sad things for me, so I wasn't thrilled to be there in the first place. After some paperwork, and meeting with the surgeon, anaesthesiologist, and operating room nurse, Maisey was taken from us. That was one of the hardest things that I have had to do in my life. How was I supposed to send my child away with someone she didn't know and be put to sleep with out me? Well, I guess it is a common practice because I made Shaun ask if we were able to go with her, and the nurse kindly said, "No." So we sent her off, I cried a little, and then we waited, and waited, and waited for what seemed an eternity. The surgeon came back about an hour later and told us that everything went great and that he thinks he got it all out. What a relief. Ten minutes later they brought Mais back to us. She was still pretty out of it and was having a hard time waking back up. She was really agitated and cried for a while. Who can blame her? She fell asleep (well, actually put to sleep by a gas mask, and then kept asleep by an IV placed in her foot) with out her Mommy, and woke up with out her Mommy. After the first half and hour that she was back she calmed down quite a bit. I was able to feed her (she hadn't eaten since 10:00 pm the night before, and it was now 8:30) and then the nurse took the IV out of her foot. After that we were ready to go home. Here are some pics from our day!

Pre-op Maisey! She hated her hospital jammies. The second we put them on her she screamed. (I think she screamed because they weren't pink!)

Post-op Maisey. This is her scar. It's a little over an inch long. The surgeon put super glue on it instead of stitches because it is supposed to help with scarring. I am kind of glad that she doesn't have stitches because I think she would have pulled at them a lot.

Close up of her scar! It hasn't swelled too much yet, but the doc said to expect that tomorrow. The later it got in the evening, the more black and blue it became.

Pretty much the whole day we just hung out on the couch. We slept for 4 hours when we got home, then we watched the BYU basketball game. Mais just laid there and watched it. Grandpa would have been so proud. (Because she was so in to it and because BYU trashed CSU!)

Since the surgery, I was talking to my mom and she made me feel a lot better. She said that she was praying that my dad would be with Maisey during the surgery. I am sure he was. Maisey was his pride and joy. If I couldn't be there to support Mais through this traumatic experience, I would have chosen my dad. Thanks Dad! I love you!

FHE

Yesterday was a beautiful day out so for FHE we decided to walk to the Creamery on 9th to get some ice cream. My favorite kind of ice cream there is Cherry Nut Divinity, but to my disappointment they only had 10 kinds of ice cream there because they are remodeling the DT creamery. Cherry Nut Divinity did not make the list. So I had to settle for a Hot Fudge Sundae instead! I guess it will suffice. We fed Mais a tiny bit of plain vanillla ice cream. She really enjoyed that. After we got back, we read an article about violence in the media which opened up a great discussion on how to make our home a safe haven in this increasingly violent world. All together it was a great evening!

Before we left to go to the Creamery, Shaun was playing with Mais on our bed. They started wrestling and Mais was laughing so hard. Shaun is a great Dad to her and can always get her to giggle and smile! He even let her win, which is hard to imagine based on how competitive he is! :)

Pulling a Mom

So, out of all of my siblings, I am the most like my mom. I would say 90% of the time, I am absolutely honored and thrilled to be like her. But then there is the other 10%. My mom can sometimes be absent minded and silly. It's not too uncharacteristic for her to do things that are just totally out of the ordinary or sometimes really dumb. But when the rest of us do something like that we say, "You just pulled a Mom!" because usually it is something that my mom would do, or has done.

Well, I tell you all of that, because today has been a rough day for me! I pulled not one mom, but 2! Shaun and I took Maisey on a walk today because we had some close by places that we needed to go. So we went to the health center (just down the street) so I could pick up a prescription. I paid for it, and then we left. Then we walked across the street to the dry cleaners to pick up all of Shaun's puke stuff that needed to be cleaned. While we were there I noticed that I no longer had my wallet. So, we walked back across the street to the health center, and sure enough I had left it on the counter there!

So, on Friday nights, Shaun works from 4 pm to 4 am Saturday morning. This makes for incredibly boring nights at home with Maisey. Our incredible neighbors had some family visiting from Idaho this weekend and they were going to Brick Oven for dinner. They invited Maisey and I to tag along. Since I didn't have any other better offers for the night, I decided to go with them. By the time we got there, were seated, got our food, and left it was past 9:00 pm (Maisey's bedtime). So when we got home, she was incredibly tired. I was getting her in her p.j.'s when I heard a knock on our door. I went to answer it and it was our neighbor Tim. He handed me his phone and said that Shaun wanted to talk to me. I thought it was really weird that Shaun called Tim's phone to talk to me. So I got on with him and he told me that Brick Oven had called my mom and told her that I left my phone on the table. Well, my mom couldn't call me because I didn't have my cell phone and we don't have a house phone. So she called Shaun at work to tell him. So Shaun called Tim and so that's when he came over.

So to say the least, "I pulled a mom!" But even worse, "I pulled a mom!" twice in the same day! I don't even think my mom has done that! I know, I know, it must be talent . . . or lack of sleep. You choose!

MAGIC!!!

I usually don't believe in magic, but I am convinced that this Spray N' Wash has magical powers. If you have kids, are soon to have kids, or even ever thinking of having kids, you should get this! You just spray it on and throw it in the washer. No scrubbing required! It works wonders! It got all of Maisey and Shaun's puke out of our clothes, sheets, blankets, etc. and it even works on all of Maisey's clothes that have spit up, carrots, or rice cereal on them. It is amazing, you should all try it out!

It's Official

It's Official... I am a wife and a mother.

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I don't mind cooking for him, doing his laundry, editing his paper, heck writing his papers.

I don't mind changing poopy diapers, middle of the night feedings, and grumpy days.

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That is all easy compared to...

*cleaning up Maisey's puke for 4 days

*trying to balance Pedialyte with 1/2 strength formula so she doesn't become dehydrated, or malnourished

*cleaning Shaun's NASTY puke from 2:30 am - 4:00 am. (He obviously didn't make it from bed to the bathroom in enough time!)

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I have since learned that Maisey's puke is much more attractive to clean up then adult puke!

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If this doesn't make you a loving wife and mother, I don't know what does!

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Hey, I guess I should look at the bright side: My house just got a deep clean. My sheets, the area rug in our hall, the bathroom rug, the toilet seat cover, and the shower curtain all need to be washed, the carpet in our bedroom, the hall, and the family room has all been scrubbed by hand, the bathroom floor is now spotless, and the toilet (inside and out) has been scoured.

So Thankful for Moms and Neighbors!

Well, our last few days in Oregon were eventful. In the middle of the night Wednesday night, I woke up really sick. I spent most of the night throwing up. Since Shaun was not with me, my mom was the one to clean me (and the bathroom) up and to take care of me in the middle of the night. Then she still had to wake up early and go to school to teach her class the next day. I am so thankful for her and all that she did for me.

We flew home Friday morning, and Friday night when I was rocking Mais to sleep, she started vomiting everywhere. She was sick through the night and all morning. I felt so bad for this poor little helpless baby. All yesterday and today, she just cuddled with Shaun and I (mostly Shaun). I think she got the bug worse than I did. Now that I know what it is like to clean up throw up in the middle of the night (and all day) I have such a greater and deeper appreciation for my mom. I love you Mom!

Saturday evening our neighbors came over to see how our trip was and to see how Maisey was feeling. I told them about the bug that Mais and I had and then later that night they showed up with some pizza for dinner! (Shaun was so grateful that he did not have to eat cereal for dinner). Then today they came to check on Mais again and brought her a book "Maisey's Favorite Animals". I hope Maisey gets feeling better soon so she can start playing with Tori again. Maisey misses her little friend, and I miss my time with Tori's mom, Jenny.

Anyway, that's the latest here. I hope no one else gets what we have! And if you do, I hope you have a wonderful mom (or husband) and great neighbors to help make life a little easier.