Happy Halloween!!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Just incase the video doesn't work:
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/aaeH4w16y3w4b9Nf

MONARCH WINNER IS:

A very sleepy Archer came out just as I was getting ready to draw the name from the paper bag (sorry, couldn't find a hat), so I let him be the "picker" for the contest.... And the name he drew is....

PAUL!

Congrats to you, Paul! :) I'll need your address so that I can send it off to the publishing company so they can mail it out to you!

Thanks to all who signed up. I do have a copy of Monarch that you can borrow, if you would like. OR you can purchase it now at Amazon!

Monarch - a book review (and giveaway!!!)

I have amazing friends. Very talented, amazing friends. Very talented, amazing and successful friends who are following their dreams and living life to the fullest. With that said, I'd like to let you all know about a fabulous friend of mine:

Michelle Davidson Argyle

Michelle has been writing for as long as I have known her. I remember her sitting down the hall from me during lunch in high school, always writing away. She always had some fascinating story running around in her head and I loved hearing about them. Now that we are what some people refer to as "grown ups" (psshh!), she is a published author. An amazing published author. And I expected nothing less!

As you can already tell by my first 2 paragraphs, I am NOT an author. I write how I talk, which is not proper or correct or fancy in any way. :) But I will try to do her justice.

My Michelle has had 2 books published - one she self-published (Cinders) and the other (Monarch), she has signed with Rhemalda Publishing and it is available to buy NOW! Michelle will have a few more books coming in the next few years and I can honestly say, I can't wait!

NOW, All about Monarch....

(Monarch Synopsis....)

Nick’s life as a CIA spy should be fulfilling, but it has only given him unhappiness—a wife who committed suicide, and two daughters who resent everything he has become. Now, stuck in the Amazon on the last mission of his career, he must track down Matheus Ferreira, a drug lord and terrorist the U.S. has tried to bring down for years. If he succeeds, he’ll have the chance to start his life over again.

Just when Nick is on the brink of catching Ferreira, he’s framed for a murder that turns his world upside down. His only chance of survival lies in West Virginia where Lilian Love, a woman from his past, owns the secluded Monarch Inn. He’s safe, but not for long…

How much do you LOVE that cover?!
And the book?
It does NOT disappoint.

NOTE: The type of book that I normally read is probably more aligned with Michelle's other book (Cinders) because I tend to find myself reading what is now classified as "paranormal teen romance" books (and I am kind of embarrassed to admit that!) Monarch, however, falls more under the Contemporary Thriller genre.

Michelle is great at developing her characters. There are several characters that you get to know in Monarch - some you like, some you might not. Michelle does a fabulous job at making each one real. I found myself getting angry at a few of the characters for their decisions because 'they are better than that'. I know I like a book when I start talking out loud to the people inside. :) Her characters are realistic because they are flawed people - each one with their own struggle.

Another thing that Michelle does well is making you feel like you are there. Her descriptions allow you to be there in the mountains, to smell the rain and trees. You can smell the brownies cooking. You can feel the sweat from the blistering heat.

As I mentioned above, this isn't the genre I normally read, but as long as Michelle is the one doing the writing, I will read them! And not just because I know her and think she's an amazing person in real-life, but because she brings the STORY to life.

I feel like I should mention there is violence in the book but you should have probably already guessed that by the synopsis above (you know, drug lord terrorists and framed for murder and all). There are also a few steamy scenes in the book (which, to me, make it all the better!)

If I were to do the critic thing and give the book a score (1 being bad, 5 being best book ever), I would say Michelle has nailed it with a solid 4.

SO... Want a free copy?

Just leave me a comment below with your name and how I can get in touch with you (email preferably). Simple, right?

I will draw a name from a hat (fairest way I can think of) on September 21st, 2011 and let the winner know. I'll get your address and Rhemalda Publishing will mail you your very own copy!

And so, I leave you with a book trailer (kind of like a movie trailer, but for books!) for Monarch.
(double click on the video to see the whole screen!)

If you can't view it, click here: http://youtu.be/TOjDLvcRHUA

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win your own free copy!!!

DarTanion's Baptism

So in the crazy busy madness we call life, I totally forgot to mention DarTanion's baptism on the blog!!! DarTanion turned 8 years old on July 8th and was baptized on July 9th @ 4pm. We had a special baptism so our friends, the Hartley Family, could be here with us and so that Tanion and his little friend Maddy didn't have their baptisms on the same day (and not be able to attend each others)...

The day itself was pretty busy. Angie and kids were staying with us, which meant an extra 5 people in the basement but it was actually a total blessing. Nothing like 2 moms who can rock out in the kitchen to the random mix of music that is "Mandy's Ipod" all while feeding 8 children breakfast and lunch AND preparing 4 different kinds of soups and 3 different kinds of salad and 3 different desserts for the dinner after the baptism!!! Yeah, we are awesome. And don't let me forget the awesome hubby who ran to the store probably 5 or 6 times getting "one more thing" that we forgot!!


At the baptism, DarTanion was excited, Jeremiah was nervous and I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I gave Archer and Robyn to my parents and Jeremiah's parents and tried to make sure everything was ready. You'd think I'd have it all together for a 4pm baptism, but oh no - just gave me more time to NOT be ready...


DarTanion went under on the 1st dunking (YAY Tanion!) Jeremiah gave a short but sweet blessing (I honestly only remember him saying that DarTanion would be a good person and make good choices in life). The songs were great, the kids were decent and the talks (thanks to both my mom and Jeremiah's mom) were perfect. And you couldn't ask for much better weather!

And our Primary does a "baptism book" for the kids who get baptized. It's what we do while the kid and dad are getting dressed in dry clothes. You get to draw a picture, write a letter or share your testimony with the person who just got baptized. It's such a cool little book.


We had a great turn out of family and friends there to support Tanion in this big decision / day... We had enough food for everyone and great conversation. All in all it was a perfect day for our little guy...

Silly Smurf

Last year after Halloween, we went to Walmart on the right day... We were able to pick up about 8 costumes for the boys for 90% off. So most costumes were about $3-$4 dollars. All the little girl ones were gone (my guess is because all little girls love to play dress up), but I did find one in a size 8 that was a "Smurf-ette" costume. I figured that my boys have a few friends that are girls that would like to play dress up too, so we bought it...

Robyn has taken this costume over (even though it is WAY too big on her... A few nights ago, she decided she was going to be Smurf-ette and refused to go to bed until she found the entire costume. After emptying out her dress up box, she finally found the complete set...

Ladies and gentleman,
I give you my favorite smurf -
"Silly Smurf", aka Robyn :)

Robyn LOVES this thing. Especially the hat. :) She will wear the hat around the house with whatever outfit (or swim suit) she is wearing at the moment.

Doesn't everyone need a favorite smurf? :)

Barlow Family Reunion 2011

Because of a special request from my dad, here is a bunch of pictures of the Barlow Family Reunion from July 2011...

The Parade

4-Wheeling

Skipping Rocks

Playing in the Water
(because we couldn't fish here!)

Our Family
(and Gma Bagley)

Our Friend, Alona Bagley
(she thought the sign was funny)

Grandma and Grandpa Barlow

To read about it and see a few extra pictures, try this link to my aunt's blog...
http://hafenharbor.blogspot.com/2011/07/barlow-family-camp-out.html

The Boys' First Day of School

I promise to post an update soon!!! But for now, enjoy these "1st Day of School" pictures of DarTanion and Archer. Tanion's going into 3rd grade and Archer into 1st grade!!! (Robyn starts preschool next week, so more pictures of that to come!)

Quick Post... We're still alive!

Ok, so I have had a few of you ask if we're still around or if I have forgotten how to blog. I haven't. Just busy (and lazy). SO.... Quick post...

THE WALL / GARDEN
I wanted a wall in my back yard for my birthday. Silly? Maybe. But I don't care and don't regret it either. With a lot of hard work (mostly from Miah) and about $400-ish dollars, it went from the dirt hill to the wall and "garden". We (and by we I mean Miah) are attempting squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, cucumbers and other small garden type plants (sorry, I'm tired and don't remember what all we have growing back there!)
ARCHER / KIDNEY STONES
Archer takes meds that help his stones from getting too big (they still can, but the meds help). On Mother's Day, Archer had a kidney stone that was too big to pass (2 cm by 1 cm) and the poor guy was crying because he couldn't pee. After spending hours in the Heber Emergency Room (and trying 3 different sized catheters to remove the blockage), they sent us to Park City for Surgery with a Urologist. It was a same day / emergency surgery. They blasted the stone (that was too big to pass), which broke it into lots of little pieces. The kid peed stones (relatively pain free) for a week, but hasn't had a problem since then.

MIAH GOT A JOB!
Jeremiah got a job as a Backup Line Mechanic for BD Medical in Sandy. He works the night shift (5:45pm to 6am). It pays ok but I'll still work to keep insurance and to keep us paying off debt faster! I leave for work at about 6:50am - Miah gets here about 6:35am. I get home around 4:40pm - Jeremiah has to leave by 4:50pm. So we don't really see each other on work nights, but when we do, we actually spend time together, so that's been nice. :) Kids are having fun playing with the upstairs neighbor family (they watch the kids while Miah's sleeping).

THOMAS THE TRAIN
Jeremiah, Robyn, Archer and I rode Thomas the Train again this year. Tanion decided he was too big to go this year... Archer's still obsessed and since Robyn loves anything her brother's do, she loves Thomas too.

DARTANION GOT BAPTIZED!!!
DarTanion turned 8 years old last week and was baptized on Saturday. I have the baptism pictures on the camera still, so here is his "dressed up" pictures to go with his baptism invites...

Ok, very tired and I work early, so I'm going to leave it at this for now, but I love you all (shout out to you, Kim and Jenn!) and shall try to post again soon. Still so many adventures to catch you up on!

Collages

OK, I'm tired... This is the last one tonight...

Classic Robyn
messy and pantless

Archer and Ted E. Bear

(from his kindergarten class)

Ninja Tanion
Cutest Ninja I know!

Who knew going to the dump in
Dad's blazer could be so much fun?!

I think they might even like each other... :)

Fairy Princess Tea Party

I love the Provo Library. :) They have such fun events. The boys look forward to going to "Big Guys, Little Guys" every year with Jeremiah. It's a "just for boys" event. They also do a girls event called the "Fairy Princess Tea Party" and I've been wanting to go since I found out about it. BUT, it's for girls 3 and older. But guess who turned 3 and can dress up and go to the party with her momma?! :)

I bought 4 tickets the day they went on sale thinking my sister Keena and my niece Kaylee would be able to go with us. Well, unfortunately Keena had to work, so I invited my awesome friend Jerusha and her little girl Callie to go with us (don't feel bad I didn't invite you - it's probably because you had more than 1 little girl and I didn't want to leave anyone out - I wish I could have invited all of you!!). I was Jerusha's visiting teacher for a while and we became friends. It's nice because Callie is just 6 months younger than Robyn and they like playing together.

SO... After changing 4 times, Robyn finally agreed to at least wear a tutu (yeah, she's not so girly...) and I somehow managed to squeeze (and I DO mean SQUEEZE!) into a dress I bought before I got married (and had to worry about arm fat and garments hanging out). I covered up with a cardigan and made Jeremiah take a few pictures of us and we were off!

We watched some ballerinas dance and then got to go meet the Fairy King and his court... Robyn didn't really like the king - she ran away from him. But she loved the main girl fairy...
Anyway, they had a 'meal' of cheese, a cookie, a strawberry, 'clouds' (white cotton candy), and a 'fairy cake' (muffin) with lemon water. It was a very pretty (small) meal. And each person got a fairy charm on a silver ribbon and a bottle of fairy dust (pink sand). Robyn wanted to eat the fairy dust, but finally stopped trying to when I told her it was poison and would turn her into a real frog. (Hey, whatever works, right?)

Afterward, we went back to my house and let the girls play on the swings. There is just something about little girls in fluffy skirts that makes me smile... And I kinda love these little girls.
Robyn and Callie play so cute together. They talk about each other all the time too. Callie has the prettiest blonde curls and soft voice. Robyn's loud and doesn't care at all about wearing shoes outside. :) The girls got their pretty princess clothes dirty (and I'm sure it looked awesome to my neighbors with Jerusha and I dressed up, taking pictures and pushing the girls on the swings...)

Sometimes it's hard with 3 kids and I think "WHY didn't I stop at 2?!" But then I get to play with her and see her sweet, yet fiery and spunky personality and remember - THAT'S why.

Teeth...

There have been an excessive amount of loose teeth in this household! My boys seem to be losing 1 a week for the last few months. This tooth fairy is BROKE! And then we have dentist appointments that are making it even worse! Here are a few pictures...

Remember a few weeks ago when I did the update on Archer and mentioned he lost his first tooth and he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy asking to keep it? And that the picture showed Archer in bed farting and the tooth fairy flying farting? Yep... Totally Archer. :) Well, I saved it, but the kids spilled liquid on it before I got it put away, so now it's crinkled, but still cute. Here's that letter...

Since then, he lost his other front tooth! And it's cute when he talks!

And then he went to the dentist and had one pulled. Here's a picture of his smiley, swollen face from that night...
And that silly boy... He keeps trying to pull others that are barely loose because he wants more money...

OH, and Tanion? Yeah, he lost another one. His smile consists of a bunch of spaced out big teeth now. Super cute, though...

And today he went to the dentist and was put under sedation to do all his work that he needed done... The dentist pulled 1 loose tooth and instead of capping some like he was going to (darn you, weak enamel!), he decided to just pull 2 more. So yeah, that's $3 (in gold dollars, no less) this tooth fairy has pull out tonight! Here are his swollen / slightly drugged face pictures...
Notice the lack of teeth? MAN! How's he gonna chew!?!

Okay, one more post then bedtime. :) Hope you guys are enjoying these!

Tanion's Award

So I already posted the video of Tanion singing at the Manner's Assembly on Valentine's Day but here is the 'reason' I was there...

The school called me Friday to let us know he would be receiving an award on Monday so I talked to my boss (who is great, by the way) and he said he was fine with me leaving to go to the assembly. Jeremiah and I sat in the back of the auditorium again and watched him sing his song and waited patiently for his turn to get the award. We kept it a secret for the weekend and thought it'd be neat to surprise him...

By the way, he won an award for having good manners. :) Archer got one for being kind the month before - Tanion gets one for good manners. Guess we're doing something right! :)

This little stinker (love him as I do) REFUSED to look at me and smile. I'm back there waving and smiling and giving thumbs up. NOTHING. More of a frown than even a smirk! So after he sits down (and I get some incredibly terrible pictures of the event), we leave. He comes home and tells me that he saw us but that he didn't want to smile or be weird in front of everyone.

So those are the 'best' pictures I got of the day. The camera does NOT like the lighting in that auditorium. But we're SO proud of our little guy. :) He's awesome.

Tanion's Manner Video

This video was taken on Valentines Day this year. The school's office called to let me know about Tanion winning an award for this assembly (a post on that coming up) so I talked to my boss and was able to go. The 2nd Grade performed a song about Manners (the theme for February). It'll probably take a while for the video to load, but if it does and you want to see him, he's on the top row, 4th from the end in the blue Scooby Doo jacket. :) He was pretty proud of his 'solo' part at the end. :)

A new not fun experience...

(First I want to say that I know that there has been a severe lack of DarTanion on our family site. No worries, he's still around. It's just that he's healthy so very little drama there! And I do have a post that I shall dedicate to him - as soon as I download the pictures / video from about 2 weeks ago... My bad... Sorry.)

But this story is about today. Or tonight really.

I've been a crazy, emotional mess about some unnecessary stupid drama since last night and started feeling better tonight around 5ish (FINALLY!). I came home and just wanted to sleep, but Miah got invited to go play video games with some of his friends in Heber and he REALLY deserves to go do that. (I tell him to all the time, so I'm glad he's finally listening!) Plus, he was really stressed out about stuff too, so he REALLY needed it. ANYWAY...

So I've been looking forward to bed time since waking up this morning. My awesome Visiting Teachers came over and we visited and laughed and had a great old time. When they left, it was about 8:45pm and I still had to get the kids their night time medicines and get them to bed before I could go to sleep. Tanion is sleeping over at the neighbor's house, so it's just me and the youngest two. Archer was playing on one of the preschool games websites and Robyn was watching him. I got the meds together and took them in the computer room - where both kids were. Archer's medicine for his kidney stone stuff has to be mixed with liquid, so his is in a cup of punch (as always) while Robyn's med is still in a dosage syringe. I put them BOTH in the computer room and took Robyn to go to the bathroom so that she doesn't pee the bed. As I leave the computer room with Robyn I tell Archer - "There's your medicine. Make sure you take it all before bed time."

Robyn goes pee and I am helping her wash her hands and Archer comes in the bathroom. He set the syringe on the counter and said "Is this Robyn's medicine?" I told him thanks for bringing it in the bathroom for Robyn's but he needs to go drink his medicine that is in the punch. He gets this totally scared look on his face and informs me that HE just took Robyn's heart medicine because he thought it was his. For some reason, I didn't notice the lack of medicine in the syringe until he says that. I look at the dosage syringe and it's gone. *Crap!* And my hubby isn't home and I'm already emotional today. Super. Not wanting to deal with this.

So I call the husband and interrupt his 'guy time' to inform him of the situation and ask what he thinks. We decide I should call the pharmacist to see what he/she thinks and then, if they don't know, possibly poison control. Pharmacist couldn't help but gives me the number to poison control.

I call Poison Control for the first time ever. (Now, honestly, are you as surprised as me that this is the first time with MY KIDS that I've had to do this?) The lady (Libby!) was fantastic and calm and was telling me what she was doing the whole time. I'm fairly calm, considering the situation, and just keep telling her that it's okay that it's taking a minute to look it up and how appreciative I am that she is just there to help. After giving lots of information off of both medicine bottles (to make sure they aren't a bad combo and such) and getting personal information about Archer's age and size and health and such, she decides that it's probably not enough heart medicine to do any damage, but that I should keep him awake for at least the next hour to make sure. She said I'm lucky that Robyn's heart medicine is a fast acting drug because they can tell sooner, rather than later, if he'd have to go to the hospital. After thanking her again for everything, she says she'll call me in an hour to make sure he still seems ok.

SO, an hour of video games for Archer and prayer / reading scriptures and church magazines for me, I get a call from Libby to check and see how Archer is doing. Archer is still Archer, but perhaps a little tired. It's a little past his weekend bedtime, but pretty much normal for him. She says how glad she is that he seems to be doing fine and he should be okay to go to bed now. But that if he complains of any pain or acts 'funny' to take him to get medical attention. She then asks if she can call again in the morning to check on him and I tell her absolutely.

Ok, so really? Amazing experience. Good job, Utah Poison Control Libby! You kept a slightly panic-y, emotionally drained mom from losing her sanity completely. And you are going to follow up on my little guy in the morning? Really? You're awesome. Thanks for being there so I didn't have to worry other people (family) because of my *not* thinking. Thanks for being there to look up information about medicine that isn't common for little kids - and for apologizing because it's taking 'longer than it should'. To me, 10 minutes is NOT that long when you are helping me out as much as you did.

Now that we've gotten our first Poison Control call out of the way, can you think of any other not so fun experiences we need to go thru? Am I missing anything? I mean, we've done stitches, ER visits, broken bones, surgery, hospitalizations, life flight, heart problems, kidney stones and now Poison Control. Man. I was just thinking as I wrote that out - we have gone thru some crap in this little family, haven't we?! HA!

Love you all. But now, I'm going to go snuggle some babies (okay, so they are 3 and 5 but they are still MY babies) and go to bed.

Archer Update :)

We met with a Pediatric Nephrologist (Kidney Doctor) on Thursday. Dr. Sherbotie told us more about Archer's kind of stones and what he should / shouldn't eat. He also told us an amount on how much sodium is too much (1200mg or less daily).

KEY POINTS:
*Drink at least 50 ounces of fluid daily, avoiding electrolyte containing drinks and sugar drinks - water is always best.
*Limit salt / sodium intake to 1200mg or less daily
*Limit animal protein (eat less meat / dairy) but make sure he still gets enough calcium (800-1000 mg/day)

We'll need to do another 24-hour urine collection to measure the amounts of cystine and creatine in his urine sometime in the next few months. Also, he'll need to take potassium citrate to help make his stones occur less frequently, but will require him to drink lots of water (which he needs to be doing anyway). He recommended that we maybe pack lunches for Archer to be sure to limit his salt intake - and Archer LOVES that idea. :) The boy loves taking home lunch.

Other than that, business as usual. He was sad on Friday when he woke up hurting because it was a party for the 100th day of school. He was crying because of pain and disappointment. But now we know how to combat the pain (ibuprofen) and at about 10am, Archer got to go to class and play on the 100th day of school. He was super excited. :)

It seems like he's having a bad day (which we think means he's passing a stone) about once a week. The one I posted a picture of is the biggest. Most look like a crumb of something. We aren't sure how many he has passed so far because we quit straining his pee. :)

Want to know more about his type of stones / disorder? Check out: http://www.cystinuria.com/what-is-cystinuria/

SO, other than that, life is good. Archer actually lost his first tooth on February 5th. The Tooth Fairy had to rush to a grocery store at about 9pm and they luckily had a golden dollar (because that's what our Tooth Fairy brings for lost teeth). Archer wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy (I love how he spelled things):

Diiir tootH faiRy, cAN I ceep miy tooth? fRoM ARcheR

...and at the bottom, he drew a picture of him sleeping and the Tooth Fairy coming to visit. And both were farting. Yep. Love that boy. :)

* * * * * * *

Thanks to everyone for thoughts and love. He's a strong boy and will learn to live awesomely through all of this! :)

:(

Bummer... It seems as though our little guy (Archer) has a bunch of those evil little stones trying to work their way out. He came home early from school on Thursday because he was in pain. He stayed home Friday and cried or slept most of the day because of pain. When they hurt, he feels like he needs to throw up so that's not fun either. He's a tough little guy, but this is starting to wear him out. It's the saddest thing to hear him cry / whine because its hurting him... We're hoping that with the combination of pain medication and anti-nausea medicine, that he can be fine this weekend...

Prayers are welcome. Loves, Us.

Pictures of a stone...

I don't want to gross you out, but I thought I would show you what Archer's stones look like. He passed this beauty today. It's probably the one that was causing his pain on Saturday.

Today he came home from school and went to the bathroom. Jeremiah said that Archer started yelling for him to 'come here!' so Jeremiah went in to check on him. Archer said that he stopped peeing because the rock got stuck! (We told him that he needs to tell us if it really hurts to pee or if he stops peeing but he still needs to go because we didn't want it to cause an infection!)

So Jeremiah grabbed the tweezers and the sterile jar that the hospital gave us and helped get Archer's stone out... Jeremiah said part of it broke off when he was removing it but Archer was able to pee out the rest... (I know, this is probably really gross to you, but) we measured this little beauty and it's 1 cm (10 millimeters!) long and 5 millimeters wide! That's a BIG stone - especially for such a little guy! I took a picture of it next to my fingernail so you could tell about how big it is... (I mean, I was interested in what they looked like and thought maybe you would be too!)

It's almost as big as my pinky finger nail!

Good news? It was passed with no pain! The pain seems to come a few days before for him...

Stone Results and an Award

Well, the doctor called us towards the end of last week to inform us of the type of Kidney Stones that our little guy (Archer) has... It is...

Cystine Stones. These are NOT the most common type (which I TOTALLY knew it wouldn't be!) Actually, this kind accounts for less than 3% of kidney stones. Of course, after the doctor called, I looked up information on this type to find out what I could about them. Below in BLUE is the most helpful info I've found:

Cystinuria is a condition passed down through families in which stones form in the kidney, ureter, and bladder.

Cystinuria is an autosomal recessive disorder, so you must inherit the faulty gene from both parents in order to have symptoms.

Cystinuria is caused by too much of an amino acid called cystine in the urine. After entering the kidneys, most cystine normally dissolves and goes back into the bloodstream. But people with cystinuria have a genetic defect that interferes with this process. As a result, cystine builds up in the urine and forms crystals or stones, which may get stuck in the kidneys, ureters, or bladder.

(BAD NEWS) Cystinuria is a chronic, lifelong condition. Stones commonly return.
(GOOD NEWS) However, the condition rarely results in kidney failure, and it does not affect other organs.

(info found at: https://health.google.com/health/ref/Cystinuria)

So yeah, it's a bummer deal because, not only is it Jeremiah and my fault (darn genetics!), but it's a life time thing. But it's good that we know what it is and what causes it. We will be meeting with a Nephrologist (kidney doctor) in a couple of weeks. And for now, he has had one more painful day (which most likely means another stone is on it's way out soon) but it wasn't as bad this time because we gave him the pain medicine when he starting complaining that he hurt...

So, ready for some happy news?

That cute, little guy is Archer at the school assembly last Wednesday. We got a call on Tuesday from his school saying that Archer was going to receive an award and they'd love it if we could come. So, because I have a great boss, I was able to take a long lunch and go see Archer receive an award for "Being Kind" to others. He was really excited to go up in front of the school and even more excited when he noticed that Jeremiah, Robyn and I were in the back taking his picture and giving him thumbs up. Unfortunately, we were far away and the camera's lighting wasn't ideal, so the picture isn't great. Because he is great at "Being Kind", they gave him a gift certificate for a free kids meal at both Wingers and Ruby River Steak House! But I think he was most excited about his "Being Kind" certificate. :)

Archer really is a strong, kind and good little guy and we love him a lot! We'll keep you updated as anything new happens.

Brown Pee Drama, Part 2. Kidney Stones.

Darn that brown pee...
Friday night we went to bed not knowing what was wrong with Archer and why he was peeing blood... By Saturday night, we knew.

SATURDAY...

Archer woke up at about 4:45am on Saturday throwing up and crying because his tummy hurt. Jeremiah was convinced that he probably caught a flu bug from one of his many trips to the hospital / clinic. I was worried because the doctor had said "as long as he's not throwing up or complaining of pain, I'm not as worried". And now, he was throwing up and in pain. I stayed up with the poor little guy and watched the same Thomas the Train video about 5 times in a row. He was throwing up about every 15-20 minutes and trying to sleep in between, but his tummy really hurt.

At just after 6:15am, I called Dr. Dave (whom I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!) to see if he thinks we should go to the hospital. Of course, I had to leave a message because it's a Saturday and it's early in the morning and I wasn't really expecting a call back until later that day. At 6:30am, Dr. Dave called me back (see why I love him?) to tell me that he would recommend we go to an ER or Urgent Care soon because it was most likely related to the blood in the urine. Jeremiah wanted to go to the Urgent Care because it would be cheaper. It opened at 8am and luckily Archer finally passed out for longer than a few minutes at 7am. He slept til about 8am, so he got dressed and they headed out to the Urgent care at about 8:30am.

At 9:15am, Jeremiah called to inform me that he was heading to the ER at UVRMC because the Urgent Care thought it might be appendicitis. I called our upstairs neighbor to ask if she could keep an eye on Tanion and Robyn so I could go to the hospital too. She agreed and by 10am, I was at the hospital with Jeremiah and Archer (parked by the very same Life Flight that took Robynson to Primary Children's).

We didn't want to worry our family until we knew what was wrong, so we just hung out at the hospital while Archer cried because his tummy hurt and he was hungry. They had already put in an IV to give him fluids (he was dehydrated from throwing up all morning) and so that it would be easier to administer everything else. The checked him out and right before he went back for an ultrasound, they gave him morphine for the pain and Zofran for the nausea. He was definitely drugged. He quit crying and was very sleepy... They couldn't see the problem on the ultrasound, but thought it might be kidney stones. SO, they did a few X-rays. Couldn't see anything on the X-rays but were pretty sure that's what it was, so they asked to do a CAT (CT) Scan. We agreed and off he was wheeled again.

SIDENOTE: Archer was SO big and SO brave for all of it. Jeremiah said that when they put in the IV that they brought in 3 nurses to hold him down. Jeremiah told them that he's been pretty good about it and if they will just let him hold Archer, that he'll do just fine. And guess what? He was. He held out his arm and Jeremiah held his hand and Archer watched as they put the IV needle in. No crying, no pulling away. NOTHING. Kinda sad because he was getting used to getting poked, but VERY brave of my little guy. (I mean, I was kinda freaking out that I had to park next to Life Flight and had to walk through the halls they walked us through to take Robyn to Life Flight.) Okay, back to the story.

Only 1 parent could stay in the room for the CT, so I let Jeremiah (that stuff fascinates him and scares the beegeebers out of me). Jeremiah said Archer was shaking a little because he was cold and scared (ever notice how cold those rooms are?) but that he was really brave again. Then they wheeled him back to his ER room for more waiting. We finally decided we should let our parents know that they thought it was Kidney Stones. Of course, our parents were just as worried.

After waiting FOREVER, the doctor came in to confirm it was, indeed, a Kidney Stone that was causing all the pain and drama for our little guy. He gave us some "what to do's" and a prescription for anti-nausea medicine and pain medicine and sent us on our way. Archer tried to take his IV out himself, he was so ready to go. He was walking out the door to go home while I was getting instructions from the doctor on using the "stone catching strainer" and medicines and everything else. :)

We came home to my mom and Jeremiah's mom there with the kids. They came to check on Archer and help out with the other kids. Both Grandma's were willing to take on the other 2 so we could focus on Archer - in case we needed to go back to the hospital (THANK YOU!). Archer ended up taking more pain meds and going to bed until about 9pm when he woke up and demanded the Taco Time he was promised for being so brave. :) (Kid after my own heart, right there!) We gave him his Taco Time and he stayed up playing with his trains and watching Thomas movies until around 3:30am when he finally passed out again.

Also, Jeremiah canceled our appointment with the Nephrologist (kidney doctor) because the ER doctor didn't think it would be necessary since we knew what was causing the problems now. He said that we needed to see a Urologist instead!

SUNDAY

Archer woke up at about 7am on Sunday and wanted to eat and play video games with Jeremiah. He didn't ask for pain meds or anything until after lunch time! He was his normal little self, but would pause every once in a while because his tummy hurt a little bit. He thought it was funny he had to pee through a strainer (to catch the stone if it passed). That afternoon we headed to Heber to pick up Tanion and Robyn and visit for a second with our families. Archer got a little more pain meds at dinner time, but really seemed fine! He did go to bed early, but I think that's because he was up half the night the night before!

MONDAY

We decided to keep Archer home from school, even though he was acting just fine. We weren't sure how to ask a Kindergarten teacher to make sure he used a strainer to pee and to let us know if he needed pain meds. Plus, we wanted to monitor him a little more. I had to go to work, but Jeremiah just kind of let Archer have his way. Archer only took pain medicine twice during the day (once at 11:30pm the night before and once around lunch time). The little guy built 3 different train tracks in the front room, requested ice cream for lunch and had a 'dinosaur dig' in his room. Yeah, he seemed pretty fine. Our friends the Bagley family stopped by to see how he was doing and he had fun playing with his friends. He requested an extra cup of water for bed and a puke pan just in case. Jeremiah had scheduled an appointment with the Pediatric Urologist at Primary Children's, as per the ER doctor's request, for Tuesday morning.

TUESDAY (today!)

Since Jeremiah had a job interview at the same time as Archer's doctor's appointment, my mom and I took Archer to Primary Children's. When we got to the hospital, Archer really had to pee, so we asked the Receptionist in the Urology Department if they had a pee strainer and a bathroom he could use. Glad we did because he passed part of the stone!!! Since he passed part of the stone while we were at the doctor's office, we could put it in the collection cup and have the labs done on it (and not have to drive back to Salt Lake to do it later!) and find out what is causing those darn things... The Urologist also said that when looking at the CT Scan results, he saw that there were SEVERAL stones in Archer's kidneys and the one that was on it's way out. He didn't think that Archer passed the entire stone (or mass) in his office, and that there was probably more on it's way soon.

After dropping off the passed stones at the lab, Archer went pee again. He sighed and said "Oh no, Not Again" because he was, again, peeing blood. (We couldn't see the blood Friday - Monday.) This could mean he's got more stones or pain on the way. But, the good news is that he hasn't had pain medicine AT ALL today and that he didn't hurt when they passed today. (He passed more today when we got home but we no longer have to collect them since we have a sample at the lab.)

SO, Archer has SEVERAL Kidney Stones. Hopefully soon we'll find out what is causing the little buggers so that we can change his diet to avoid getting more of them. Also, he'll have to have follow up appointments about every 6 months until there is no more sign of them... Which might be soon and might be never.

We thank you all for your love and thoughts and support. Archer thinks it's funny every time I tell him that someone says they love him or to give him a hug. :) I'll try to keep this updated as new things arise, but for now, know that he's doing ok!

Loves!

The Brown Pee Drama.

(Archer with a dog he named Dobby that he really wanted us to take home with us)

So I decided we'd start the new year off right - with health checkups and dental appointments. You know, make sure we are all healthy and such. Good mom thing, right? Plus, the kids were over due for Well Child checkups (since they didn't get them this last year when they should have) and it's always good to go to the dentist. (Still haven't made it to the dentist, by the way. That will be postponed until a little later, I'm afraid.)

So on Tuesday (Jan. 4) we took the kids to our favorite doctor, Dr. Dave in Heber City. He's known the kids since they were born and I love how great he is with them. And how well he understands that I have WILD children. All 3 kids get checkups and none need shots (cuz Archer got his Kindergarten ones right before he started Kindergarten down here). No problems, we head home. No big deal. Co-pays for 3 kids, $75. New medication for DarTanion $140...

Wednesday (Jan. 5) morning, Archer is laughing and tells Jeremiah to come look at his pee. Yes, his pee. He thinks he's pretty cool because he has changed his pee color to brown. Doesn't know how, but his pee is brown and he's awesome because of it. Jeremiah's a little worried (and not the basket case I would be!) but decides to see how it goes the rest of the day. He quizzes Archer on if he ate something funny in the last few days, trying to see if something food-wise would make his pee change color. Nope. Nothing. And the kid pees different shades of brown all day. I find out about it around bedtime when Archer says his pee isn't as brown anymore and I laugh... Jeremiah informs me that it has been brown all day...

Thursday Morning I go to work again but tell Jeremiah to get Archer in for a doctor appointment as soon as possible. I talk to my boss and he's great about it and tells me I can go home and take care of him or do whatever. Because Archer isn't experiencing ANY kind of pain / fever / anything else, I stay at work til the appointment, go with Miah to that and come back to work after. Archer stayed home from school so Jeremiah could monitor his pee more. Archer is acting COMPLETELY like his little self. Bouncing off the walls, no issues at all. He got poked and prodded and labs done (both blood and urine) at his appointment. Archer thought it was awesome he got to pee in a cup and keeps asking to do it again.

Friday: Results came back today: They have NO idea why but he has "large amounts of blood and protein in his urine"... Super! Jeremiah takes Archer back for blood pressure and labs. Archer was awesome and didn't even cry when they took blood today. And he was all sorts of upset when he didn't get to pee in the cup again. Those blood results came back quickly. Still more normal blood results. Still no idea what's wrong.

SO... On Monday, we have an appointment with a Pediatric Nephrologist (Kidney Doctor) to see if we can find out what's wrong with Archer. I'm just glad he's acting as normal as he ever was and that he doesn't seem to be in any pain. I'm hoping that means he had a little infection and he's on the mend. Or that it's something that he takes some antibiotic for a few days and he's healed... Nothing serious. That's our hopes...

SO, I'll keep you updated on our latest family drama!
Thanks in advance for the love and prayers!