Breathing Treatments Again?!?!?

Yuck, this winter has been rough for us. I find that each time we move we seem to find all the "bugs" and bring them home. This move has been no different. Tanner had strep throat about a week ago.

Now Bryan has ear infections, and a sinus infection. And poor Cassie has bronchitis. When we were at the doctors office their oxygen levels were low...... which means in addition to antibotics we are doing breathing treatments every four hours. These kids are real troopers though. They do not like the breathing treatments but they manage to do it with smiles on their faces and just mild grouchiness!!

And I am happy to report........ that as of today they are feeling much better. The sad news is that Hunter is heading to the doctor first thing tomorrow morning because his ears are hurting and he has a lot of head congestion. Nathan and Jayson have a little runny nose and post nasal drip cough. However, we are hoping that it will stay that way and not get worse. :> Stay well, my friends!!!

100 Day Projects!!

Yes, I realize that this was about a month ago and I am just getting around to posting it. HAHAHA. But we had to turn the projects in and we are just getting them back. (At least that is my story and I am going to stick to it. ) This was an interesting project for us. It was interesting mostly because it gave me a chance to really see how different and unique the quads are. They get lumped together so much that it is fun to see their individual personalities when they are given the chance. That is one reason I love having them in separate classes at school. They are each shining in different ways and finding their own strengths.
So for this project they had to count 100 of something and find a way to display it. Bryan picked stars and he stuck 100 of them in his name on poster board. Jayson also picked stars but stuck his to the number 100 on poster board. Cassie picked beads and made a necklace. Nathan...... well he is my creative one. He started by counting out 100 sticks, then he decided to stick the colored balls on the end. He then decided they looked like flowers so we had to find a lid, paint it green and stick them in. Very impressive I must say. It is now the centerpiece for my dining room table. He is very proud!!! Have a great day my friends and enjoy the uniqueness of all around us.

Homework Outside!!!!

Last week we had gorgeous weather. Mid 70's. It was gorgeous and wonderful. I was able to open windows and spray away the germs. I love, love,love having my windows open. I love the fresh air that blows through the house. I love the sounds of the outside. And I love how much more free you feel when the windows are open. I never realized I was claustrophobic until after the quads were born, and I lived in AZ where you could shake your neighbors hand from your windows. (Seriously, this is true!!!)

We discovered that besides opening windows on warm days, you can also do homework outside. Homework goes so much more quickly when you can be outside soaking up some vitamin D at the same time. Unfortunately, this was short lived and it has been icky and rainy again but it does give us something to look forward too!! Have a great day my friends!!!

Too Pretty!!!

In September when we went to Disneyland, we decided to get season passes since the cost was comparative. So we are try to get there once a month. Each time we go it gets a little easier to "herd" the children. However, Super Bowl Sunday is not the day to go. I could not believe how many people were there. One guy even got frustrated with his children and the long lines and in his loudest most irriated voice said," Doesn't anybody like the Super Bowl anymore?" I just laughed out loud, because it was exactly what I was thinking. :>

Well this trip the kids got to meet the mean witch from Snow White. She seemed a little overwhelmed at first as the kids kept coming. She was counting and then wanted to know if they were all mine. She giggled and said I had my own group of dwarfs! She also started picking out "grumpy" and "happy". ( I won't tell you who was who, I will keep you wondering.... plus it changes through the day!)

After pictures as we were walking away my fabulous group of dwarfs told me that pretty lady was "too pretty" to be a witch. She would never be mean!!! Hmmmmm, what does that say about me?!!! They tell me I am mean all the time. HAHAHAHAHA. Gotta love kids!!

As a side note.... I disagree, she looks pretty mean!!! Have a great weekend!!!

Head Wounds!!!

Naturally, nothing in our life can be boring or quiet. Jay had once again gone out of town last week. So, of course, my kids decided that I needed some good stories to tell. They also thought I had NOT spent enough time at doctors offices. Monday, Jayson was playing in the backyard with Cassie and decided to stop the swing with his head. (Not a move I would recommend.)

Bless his pointed little head, or perhaps I should say swollen little head!!! He walked in calmly, and merely said that his head hurt. I was working on homework with two of the others and getting dinner started. It took me a minute to look at him to see why his head hurt.

No need to wonder! :> I called the doctor's office to see if I HAD to bring him in or if I could just watch him. They wanted to see us but since he never lost consciousness they said I could just ice it and give him Tylenol. Whew, off the hook for that one.

Now it is Tuesday! I needed to run to Sam's club to stock up on groceries and run some errands. I drop the kids off at school and run home to do a couple of things around the house before heading out on errands. I decide since I have no kids with me and plenty of time I get the luxury of leaving the bus home (aka: the van) and take the truck. Oh how I love driving something other than the van.

I even found myself loitering down the aisles as I shopped.(NOT a good idea ,but at the time it sure was fun.) When I got to the checkout the girl was flabbergasted and amazed that I was able to fit everything into one cart. She could not do it again so I had to drag two carts out to the truck and unload. (One thing I do not like about going to the warehouse stores is that it is so much work. You load the cart, unload the cart, load the van, unload the van, drag it all into the house , (without the luxury of bags so it takes a lot of trips), and then you still have to put it all away.)

Anyway, I no sooner get into the truck and head for home when I get a call from the school nurse. Tanner is in the office bleeding very badly from his head. He was injured during PE and they are not sure if he needs stitches or not. Okay, I am 15 minutes from home and then 15 minutes from the school. I realize that I am going to have to go home to get the van in case I have to take him to the doctor because I will not have time to get to the doctor and back to get the rest of the kids.

I race home, quickly unload anything that has to be shoved into the fridge or freezer and run to the school. When I get there the bleeding is mostly stopped and my son is sitting ever so still with an ice pack to his head. I ask what has happened and I hear that the kids in his class were playing softball for PE. Tanner and a nice young lady both tried to catch the ball at the same time......... unfortunately they hit each other and that is when her teeth went in his head. Wow, those are some strong teeth. Nobody is really sure how deep the wound it they just wanted to stop the bleeding. (Not sure that the school nurse is really a nurse at all. ) I take him into the bathroom and start cleaning. Her teeth went completely into the top of his head. The cut is very deep and I realize there is no way around this one I am going to have to go to urgent care. Lucky for him he is current on his immunizations so at least he won't have to get a shot.

Well that means checking all the kids out of school and leaving. So we did, and off we went. I was very lucky that I have an uncle in town that could help out. Now granted, he is 75 but he and my aunt are awesome about helping when I get into a bind. Tanner and I head to urgent care to find out that human bites and cat bites are the 2 worse possible bites and they will not stitch them up regardless of how deep they are. So they cleaned it, steri striped it, put him on antibotics and sent us on our way to follow up with our doc on Friday.

We finally get the kids from my uncle, run through three different drive throughs to get dinner, and off to Walgreen's for the prescriptions. It is really sad when you pull up and the pharmicist smiles and tells you how they missed not seeing you yesterday. Yes, indeed between me being sick, the kids being sick, and the various accidents I had been to the pharmacy everyday for almost two weeks. :> Record!!! Anyway, you can see that neither one of the wounds really slowed us much. I can only wish for that.

His cut did get a little infected over the weekend so I had to clean it out and pluck some hairs but he is no worse for the wear. He has a great story to tell, and chicks dig scars!!!

Pesky Mole!

Ever since Hunter was born he has had a mole on his right shoulder. Never really thought too much about it until recently. It started to grow and looked a little off. With so many scary things that could be wrong we decided to nip it in the bud and have it checked out. We have a fabulous doctor and she also thought it looked a little worrisome. She decided to biopsy it.

Hunter is so brave. They numbed the area and took a paper hole punch like thing and took out the middle of it. And sent it off to the lab. The test came back completely normal!! So no more worries and she will continue to watch it and monitor it. But for now we do not have to remove it.

And there is my cheesy little brave man!! Way to go Hunter!

Braces Times Two!!

Back in Sept. we started with Orthodontics. (I thought diapers were expensive.:>) We are very lucky because we had an ortho in Tucson that was not very proactive. However, when we moved back to CA we were lucky to get a fabulous one. On our 1st visit as the doctor was explaining what needed to happen over the next two years, Tanner started to get very nervous. He could not sit still and his gorgeous brown eyes filled with tears. Immediately the doctor turned 100% of his attention to Tanner. He got down on his level and explained that he had two daughters and he would never do to Tanner anything that he would not do to his girls. He told him that he would move one step at a time, explaining everything as he went. He told him he would never lie to him about whether it would hurt or not. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Tanner calmed right down and was ready to get started.

Little did he realize what lay ahead. He had to start with an appliance in the roof of his mouth to widen his jaw. Poor little guy could not talk and got horrible sores in his mouth for about a week. Then for many weeks we cranked that thing three times a week. Finally in December we were done cranking and he moved to top braces. The improvement in his smile is amazing. My little Tanner that would come home in tears and not smile because kids were making fun of his crooked teeth....... is now smiling big again and showing off the cool braces.

How could anyone make fun of this little man and those killer brown eyes?!?!?! Kids are so mean. SMILE my son and walk tall!!!