Vaccination reaction...

I took little Miss E in on Tuesday for a check up and to receive her 3rd PCV13 vaccine and her 1st (1 of 3) Hepititas A vaccine....

Then next day she woke up like this! 

Ahh!! Hives?! What are you reacting to??

Went to the doctor to discover (what I had put together myself by then) that she was reacting to the solution used in that vaccine. 

• Prescription for steroids.

• Prescription for a very strong antacid called, "Famotidine."

• Prescription for Benadryl.

The next morning (today) she woke up looking like THIS:

Ouch!! Mommy in hysteria, Daddy with oil ready to exercise his Priesthood, brothers both very worried and quiet...

More Benadryl, and a call to the Pediatrician...

More tears. Officially scared of anyone in scrubs...

Doctor advice: Oatmeal bath.

**and to track down the Lot number for the batch of the Hep. A vaccine used on Emery...

The other woman in his life...

Daddy and his special little lady!

BE PRE-PARED! --Scar, Lion King

For this months "Monthly Relief Society Meeting" (ie enrichment night. Yup, I'm one of those...) we talked about Food Storage (Ahhh!!!!) 

Scary, right? You're either very prepared- because you LISTENED to the promotings and made it happen, or you're still shaking in your boots because you haven't. Or maybe you started, but you still don't have enough for your entire family to survive solely on your supply for 72+ hours...

(Just a hint, that's us.)

The night was perfect. I wasn't gonna go- not from a lack of interest, honestly, but from a lack of not wanting to show up looking like swollen mess... But I went!!

My hubby had to all but throw me out of the house, but I went! And it was good. 

A lady shared her personal testimony and experience with having to rely on Food Storage. (which warmed my heart- her father had a brain tumor, also.)

And then we went into the parking lot (no I didn't bring a jacket!) and thankfully had two brethren stoking fire in two large fire pits. (Yay!)

We were able to speak as fellow women, fellow mothers who - if tasked with enduring a trial that included relying solely on our preparations- would all be in the same boat. We would all have mouths to feed, wounds to heal, shelter to seek, warmth to provide, thirst to quench, etc..

**we did this while roasting marshmallows and making s'mores= nice touch!

    We finished the meeting by putting together our own starter 72 kits. Just a few things we could put in a recycled container to get us started, give us an idea of what to pack... So perfect. 

Food storage is about baby steps. You can go online and spend a TON buying pre-made, pre-packaged, everything-you'll-need-in-a-tub food supplies, and be done. 

But remember, you're the ones that have to eat that.

 Do you know what's inside? 

Have you tasted it? 

Do you have young children? 

Have they tasted it?

Can you see yourself eating ONLY what lies in that tub for 72+ hours?

If not, then DIY.

Baby steps.

Think about what YOU eat right now. 

What you like eating. 

What your CHILDREN eat right now.

What they like eating.

Because in the case of emergency, opening that tub up and seeing YOUR food, will be a real comfort.

Secret Life Of Walter Mitty...

"Beautiful things don't ask for attention."  

--Secret Life Of Walter Mitty 

Watch this movie! It is so good. I really didn't want to- I thought it was going to be SOOO differen... And it turned out to be really funny, and heartwarming, and inspiring!

Seriously. Do yourself some good. 

Watch This movie.

Feeling crummy? Grab some GRATITUDE!

"When you are physically sick, tired, or in despair, steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them in gratitude and love toward God." F. Enzio Busche

http://www.amazon.com/Yearning-Living-God-Reflections-Busche/dp/1570089841/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219715625&sr=8-1

It's so easy for me to feel sorry for myself. Like, I can start to feel pity and it'll quickly become a slippery slope {of doom! --Aiden would say}

    My morning could start off wrong and I feel crummy, and then something else will happen and something else and I'll start to look for the bad! instead of seeking to see the good.

And any shred of light, any positive attitude I had left is just thrown out the window. 

And I start sulking. Feeling bad for myself. 

Everything sucks, my life's too hard... And there's no relief.

You can spend tons of money and it won't change anything.

You can binge on food and it won't change anything.

You can cry and cry and RUNAWAY and it won't change anything. 

There is no relief, but there is a cure: Gratitude.

Gratitude changes the way you see everything! It brings bright sunshine into your heart and warm sunshine into your soul! With a grateful heart you are full on less, and happy! 

It causes your cup to runneth over.

It fills you. 

Life is enough. 

Less becomes more.

   The cure is having gratitude. And when you do, you'll realize you're glad there isn't relief from self pity. If there was a Band Aid for self pity, we would never get better. We would never feel gratitude- because we would never seek for it.

    My MIL gave me a magnet like 4-5 years ago {when Logan was diagnosed} that has a quotes from Spencer W. Kimball:

"Sometimes the solution is not to change our circumstance, but to change our ATTITUDE about that circumstance."

...steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them in gratitude....

Here's to hoping my "Attitude of Gratitude" stays for a long, long time...

(Like longer than just two weeks!)

Be Still... especially when it hurts.

     I'm lying in bed after yet another - painful but necessary- surgery to reconstruct my mouth. Waiting in an ever increasingly painful limbo, for the Vicodin to kick in before the Novocain completely fades...

    What a love/hate relationship I have with pain killers! I love that they are readily available when needed, but I SO wish I didn't need to take them. I wish the pain wasn't too much to bear. And while I'm making wishes... I wish I didn't need the surgeries that causes the pain in the first place! I wish I hadn't lost my footing and fallen down and knocked my three front teeth out.

But the trick is to enjoy my life, not wish it away.

I had an accident. It happens to greatly affect my mouth (and our wallets) even sixteen years later. Right now I am in a lot of pain. I have to take time to rest; to heal. 

    But I can't change it. And if I have learned anything from it- I shouldn't want to change it.

   This is an ongoing experience, and it's for my benefit. Right now it's hard to have to lie in bed and listen to life go on without me, but I can be grateful. This too shall pass, and I can be grateful that I have help. I can be grateful to those who help it to pass smoothly. I can be grateful for what I have. My sweet blessings.

    

    I'm lying in bed listening to my family. I can hear the typical, playful sounds of a 21 month old as she moves around the room from toy to toy. I can hear the sounds my boys make, I can hear their voices. I can hear my husbands voice. I can hear his efforts as he reminds, helps, cleans, prepares, and fathers. 

I love him. I love him SO much more than I show.

He is so good to me. 

And to our babies. 

I am so grateful for him.

     I hate to say this but I can remember so much more when I take time to be still. (Or in this case, when I have no choice but to be still.)

I can remember all the sweet sacrifices my husband makes. All the sweet, playful, funny, romantic efforts he has made on my behalf.

What a great guy I have!!

I'm a humbled when I stop and think of him. 

Really stop and remember.

I am so blessed to have him.

Everything Christ taught us, He taught through example. And many times, He would take time to Be Still. We need it. We need it for our physical bodies, our mental minds, our tender hearts, our eternal souls, our ever-growing testimonies, and our need to commune with our Heavenly Creator.

Take time to Be Still.

Take time to pray.

In fact, pray always!

     Memory lane, it has been a pleasure.

I'm sad we had to meet this way- me all swollen and miserable. But I'm grateful for the reminders... 😉

This boy is S E V E N!!

I cannot believe this boy of mine is seven!

Sometimes, I look at baby pictures and it seems like just yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital to meet his big (one year old) brother Aiden! But then I start to remember all the phone calls, therapists, doctors, appointments, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork etc.. And think: "it's only been seven years?!"

It's been a hard road. In some ways life is easier and yet, in some ways it's harder. I'm learning that if I wait for life to get "easier" or for the day to come that I actually FEEL like I've got this "mothering" thing down... I will be waiting the rest of my life. And never be satisfied.

Life only gets different. 

Adventure: An adventure is an exciting or unusual experience. It may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome.

Life with Logan is an adventure. We're only seven years in, so the best is yet to be...

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Logan!