The Dentist -- 11 kids at at time!

Yes, that's right.... I took ALL ELEVEN kids to the dentist yesterday!!! I had originally wanted to just take a few each day this week, considering it's Spring Break. But, when I called to make the appointment, the girl on the phone asked if I could just bring them all at once. Talk about a shock! Most people freak out to even hear that we HAVE 11 kids, so it was a little weird to me to have someone ask me to bring them all to a tiny dentist office at the same time. ;)

What was even more fun was the girl who called on Saturday to confirm the appointment. She said, "Hi this is (her name), calling from (Dentist Office Name)... is this the parent or guardian of........... um........... wow." ROFLOL!!! I laughed, and said, "yes, this is, and yes, we are REALLY coming to see you on Monday." She sounded perplexed about the situation (mostly because of the sheer number of children at once, I am sure), and thanked me.

So, we went yesterday... we were even on time. We had only one meltdown from the 11 year old, although it lasted for longer than I'd have hoped. Finally, it was his turn, and he got really nervous. (Un?)-Fortunately, my ex-husband had to bring a few of the kids to the appointment, since he had them over the weekend for a visit, and he was able to go in with Josh for a little while to keep him calm. Josh doesn't do really well with dentists as it is, and he really does not like the invasion of personal space that occurs when you go there. The drill really freaks him out. Anyway, his dad was able to stay with him for a little while, and then left while we were waiting for the next shot of novacaine to kick in. Josh did great for the remaining part, and is now good to go til October! YAY!! Boy, is he glad! ;)

I was very impressed with the dentist and his staff. They were so kind and sweet to all the kids. We did end up with THREE kids who had ZERO cavities!!! YAY!!! Two referrals to the orthodontist. One little girl who has to have a few fillings done at the surgery center (she's 3), and 3 kids who have to go back today due to the fact that they are littler than the big kids and need a special little kid dentist and one big kid who had to go back today b/c the dentist had an emergency patient come in, and we were going to be there again today anyway for the other 3.

So, that's the deal... I was totally pleased with how easy it was, and even more pleased that they were able to do almost all of the work that the kids needed yesterday. Most of the time, dentists schedule you for weeks and weeks at a time. This office is a KEEPER! :)

The ZooKeeper

RSV, round two.

Sara started doing what I can only call "puking" nasty mucous all over the place this morning. We each went through three separate outfits before 9am! UGH!!! She's had 4 breathing treatments today, and is asking for another...

it's after 2pm, and she just finally started asking for food... her meal of choice? Goldfish. I love Pepperridge Farm.

The castle is going by the wayside today... all I've been able to manage to do without her in my arms constantly is to fold a few blankets, which she lovingly helped me unfold again.

Sick kids... it's for the birds.

Hot Water...

Finally, we have it, again.

Cold water is nice for some things. Washing dark clothing that you want to stay dark colored, for example. A nice cool drink on a warm day (or any day if you are me, I LOVE cold water for that!!!) Soaking blood from the knees of kids' jeans after they've fallen and scraped their knees. Spraying on your teenager when he doesn't get up and out the door on time. Yes, cold water definitely has a happy place in my heart... just not my shower. ;)

We have a tankless water heater. We are on our second one. The first one lasted just over 2 years. LOVED it!!! And, we were very, very sad when it up and died one day last month. It was quite a headache to deal with 11 kids and no water heater IN FEBRUARY.. (yes, it is cold in February in Las Vegas!) -- (and, yes, even if it's cool outside, teenage boys SMELL FUNNY!)... Eventually, after replacing all the major parts in our Paloma water heater, and it still didn't work, they authorized us to get a new one for "free" (*) [free does not include the new $400 vent kit that is required to install the lovely new water heater that is thankfully twice the size of the old one].....

The new one worked for just about 2 weeks. Then, it quit. Yup.... that's right... just up and quit. We called customer service... they tell us, "oh, you have to replace all your gas line, it's not big enough".... okaaaaaaaaaay... so last weekend, we did that. $300+ later... it worked.... for two days. UGH!

So, all week, we have been without hot water again... Please, for a moment, try to imagine, if you can, the amount of laundry and dishes that can get backed up in just ONE DAY when you have eleven children. I know... totally scary thought. Yes, some laundry can be washed in cold... but when your kids play hard like ours, you just can't get some things clean unless you can use that all important "SANITIZE" cycle on your front loader washing machine. Besides, did I mention... teenage boys smell funny? LOL

So, another call to customer service... the senior techs have gone home for the day, but I am promised a call the very next day for sure... yeah, right. Nobody called. I called my plumber friend Rob, who came to check things out. He couldn't find any reason why it wouldn't work. (That's cuz my husband ROCKS! and can install anything, anytime, anywhere... he's awesome! :) ) We called the manufacturer again... this time, I let Rob talk to them. They go through a total troubleshooting thing with him, and decide that one of the ignition rods is shorting out, and they say they are going to send me a new control panel. I tell them I expect it overnight, with Fed Ex, by 10 am... of course, they say... no problem!

So, Friday morning comes, and so does the FedEx man... with not only a control panel, but also a full new burner assembly, and a programming chip..... and a few pages of instructions, one of which is in KOREAN, and the others, totally useless!

We tried using what we had, only to find that it just wasn't what we needed in the way of instructions... and by this point, I'm thinking that my warranty is SUPPOSED to cover parts AND Labor, and I'm getting pretty upset. I called the manufacturer again this morning, and they were nice enough, but just not too helpful. Finally, someone agreed to at least email me the instructions on how to change out the burner assembly... and would you believe they were COMPLETE instructions??? I almost fell off my chair!

Aaron disassembled the burner assembly, and then set out for guacamole fixins for tonight's Elder's Quorum social. I got to put it all back together, and did so just in time for him to put the unit back on the wall. We got it all hooked back up, and ...................





drum roll, please....





Miracle of all miracles!!! It WORKS!!! Man, I haven't been so happy to have a nice hot shower in at least a couple of weeks. LOL Now, I just really REALLY hope that it keeps on working, and that we don't have any more problems with it. All the kids had showers / baths tonight, and they are all squeaky clean, now! (Sara really needs one EVERY day, being that she's still a widdle baby. ;) She LOVES the water!)

Now, maybe we can get caught up on the dishes & laundry this week.... The dishwasher is running right now, as a matter of fact.... We actually aren't too backed up thanks to Dixie brand paper plates & the plastic forks from Costco. ;)

So, next time somebody says you're in hot water... take a moment to consider... is that really a bad thing? ;)

Lunch!

Got to have lunch with my dear friend Myn on Saturday... She was visiting from Utah! We ate at Pho Kim Long, my favorite vietnamese restaurant... oh it was good! :) Great seein' ya, Myn! :)

Also, we got dressed up in authentic Hawaiian garb, and went to a Johnny Lingo Night put on by our ward... it was SO much fun!!! We even got my dad to go with us... he had a good time, too. Of course, now the leaders want to get my dads records here, and assign him a home teacher... LOL Should be interesting.... ;)

Time to get kids out the door to school.... and I'm washing towels today! Go me!

The girls room is coming back together nicely.... today, to attack one of the boys' rooms! :)

A Contest...

I seriously need to win this... and hopefully, along with it, will come time to actually read the books & listen to the CD I could win. ;) They are from Sarah Hinze, and are about babies coming from Heaven... If you've read my blog at all lately, you know that I really could use some good literature to help me through this really rough time I'm having with the loss of our baby in December. So, here is the CONTEST LINK .... Anne, PICK ME! ;)

I'm doin' alright today... but it's been a particularly hard week. So many of the people I know are going through such hard things right now. My friend Kari's boy is in the hospital with serious liver problems, my friend MarLee had emergency gall bladder surgery, my friend Misty fell & broke her wrist last week. Friends Brandon & Laura and their family are having major trials... the list goes on and on and on! We have had major issues around her with everything from the water heater to bedbugs (yes, we STILL are fighting them!) to bills, to uncertainty about Aaron's job, to who knows what else. My dad & brother are visiting, (exactly how long does a visit last, you ask... Um... I'll let you know)... it's just one thing after another after another after another... the kids are all going insane -- it must be springtime? -- and I really hardly ever have even a minute to think. Much less, to sit and write. But I did start a new journal this week, specifically about my miscarriage and the feelings I have regarding that... and I actually have slept TWO NIGHTS without taking melatonin.

Now, I would love to sit and elaborate some more, but I have ripped the girls' room apart and need to dispose of some mattresses and get a load of bedding started in the wash... I spent $32 on a professional sprayer today to spray for the bedbugs again (Cedarcide is the BOMB! == seems to be working, you just have to find them all) .... and I am in attack mode. So, thanks for stoppin' by...

The ZooKeeper

Well, well, well.... so this blog is much like my journals...

I have this awful habit of starting to write in a journal, and then life bombards me, and I get totally sidetracked and distracted by all the crazy stuff that goes on on a daily basis... and suddenly, my journal is put aside and seemingly forgotten about. Note that I said seemingly... you see, I often think to myself oh, man... i should write this down... And, I even have gone so far as to put a note to myself in the task list on my cell phone, in an effort to remind myself that I have intentions of writing this amazing story of my adventures down either in my journal or here on my blog, and well....... you know... the cycle just continues, and nothing ever gets written. SIGH!!!

I even saw something on the Sistas board the other day asking me to update my blog... which made me smile, because that means that somebody somewhere actually READS this!!! And, they have checked it a number of times, and can tell that I haven't written a thing on here in many months! That means that they must care about my life, and that makes me smile. :)

So, an interesting side note... a few months ago, Aaron picked up a new microwave oven for our family... one of those REALLY NICE ones that goes above the stove. Life happened, and the microwave sat in the corner next to the deep freezer up until this past weekend. Aaron asked me what would make me happy for him to do this past weekend, and I perked right up and said, "INSTALL MY MICROWAVE!" ;) And, wouldn't ya know, he did just that! He & my dad got it all installed, only to find out that it didn't work... UGH! We got a SCREAMIN' deal on it at Home Depot, and now I guess we know why. Anyway, we called and had the warranty company come out and fix it... it now works. YAY! What I think I like most about this new microwave, aside of the fact that it isn't sitting on my countertop, is the fact that it beeps REALLY LOUDLY if you forget that you put something in it to heat up... That happened to me tonight... as I was sitting here writing... put my leftover red beans & rice in to heat them up for my "dinner" after such a crazy day.... and you guessed it! Completely FORGOT about it! I've got my ipod on, the littles are all asleep (Ben & Eli are at church ball games, some of them are at their other mom's house)... my dishes are DONE! My floor is SWEPT! Aaron is at an Elders Quorum presidency meeting... and my dad is snoring on the couch. LOL So, now I can eat. And, yup... forgot it was even there. But, thankfully, the microwave beeps loud enough (and keeps doing so every couple of minutes in case you missed it) that I totally heard it! YAY!

So, let me go back (just like in my journal but this is faster because I am typing, and as my friend Shaunna will attest, I type like the wind. ;)

AUGUST -- we moved back to our little house. 13 people, 1402 square feet. We had wanted to buy a new house, and keep renters in here, but no matter how we tried, we just couldn't find THE HOUSE and have the right amount of money at the same time. So, we decided to move back in here and save money (yeah, right), and build an addition. The economy tanked, and there went our dreams of adding on anytime soon. Tim turned 12 and was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood at church. GO Tim! :)

SEPTEMBER -- Kept the kids in their same school, cuz we love the principal & teachers just that much! (Ok, and we really DON"T like the principal at their zoned school just that much, too. LOL) At any rate, we kept them where they had been, and school got off to a great start. Millie turned 3, Sara turned 1, Vivianne turned 7, and Aaron turned 36. One more turn down from the bank as far as funds for our addition. Ah well... maybe someday?

OCTOBER -- Fall arrived, along with some cooler weather. Kids pretty healthy... Ben is of course 4.0, Eli -- not so much. Hoping with all hope that Eli will figure out that we must DO work at school in order to get good grades. Continuing to downsize all the stuff we have, as we've downsized our house... got rid of lots of stuff -- thanks so much to Safe Nest for taking it off our hands! :) My birthday... 36 years... officially old! Got pregnant this month.... and discovered that I really AM allergic to lilies by using laundry soap with lily essence in it... broke out into hives from head to toe...of course, Aaron was away on a scout camping trip... ended up in the ER after Aaron came home...

NOVEMBER -- Was approached by a sweet friend at church who moves mobile homes... wanted to know if we were interested in adding on to our house. Um... yeah... but how? No worries! He had a single wide trailer that was a bit older, but in pretty good condition, and we could have it if we wanted it... Ummmm.... ok. Went and looked at it... decided to go for it! Cost... $0. That's right... he delivered it, and had it set by his crew, and charged us NOTHING. Went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving for a Cheney Family reunion... much fun was had by all! We are so glad we got to go.... pregnancy going well... not sick much -- just when I would get too hot or too tired... Came home from Thanksgiving to a broken into house. STOLEN ITEMS: computer, flat screen tv/monitor, dvd player, Ben's basketball shoes, $5 in change, and 2 brand new pairs of Aaron's socks (they opened the package and just took 2 pairs... nice, huh?)... we knew who did it... the cops came, but basically did nothing.

DECEMBER -- the month flew by SO quickly! We got a giant dumpster for the debris from the addition... the missionaries came over and helped Aaron gut the addition (very much a diamond in the rough, btw, but LOTS of potential!)... they had SO much fun! Going in and out of our house through the laundry room, not my favorite, but I was happy to endure it. We had SNOW! REAL SNOW!!! Right before Christmas break... the kids got a snow day, but it ended up not being much fun. I had been feeling great, no problems... just going on about my business, and woke up Dec. 18th and had pink on my potty tissue. Decided that perhaps I'd done a little too much the day before, and should take it easy... Good thing the kids didn't have school. The boys went to Ian's house (my exhusband) for the day, so I could rest... came home from dropping them at the bus stop to meet him, and was bleeding some more. Aaron came home and our home teacher come over to give me a blessing. Shelley (the other mom) took the remaining kids (including our girls) to her house for the night. About 20 minutes after the blessings, I started to bleed really badly. Scared me pretty bad... really bad bleeding turned into massive hemmoraging, and Aaron took me to the hospital. We chose Summerlin because I had been there so many times, and they had my records. We drove past probably 3 other hospitals on our way, but I don't think our tires ever officially touched the ground. Just as we pulled into the ambulance bay, and the nurse came to help Aaron get me out of the truck, everything broke loose, and the I was in REAL trouble. Long story short (because I still haven't dealt with the gory details, and frankly they're awful and I don't feel like writing about them just now, and I'm sure you don't want to read them anyway), I lost the baby... and a whole BUNCH of blood. When I say a bunch... I really don't know just how much... but I can tell you that my blood pressure was something like 60/30, and I was clinging to life by a thread. I honestly felt that I was dying. The OB/GYN Dr. Dalley came in to see me, and the first thing she said was "you need blood... " and also a D & C. We signed all the consent forms, and I was taken to the OR. Aaron gave me a beautiful blessing just before they took me back, and I remember feeling an overwhelming feeling of love and peace, but was also very worried about the potential outcome. Thankfully, the D & C went well, and I was admitted for observation & transfusions. We started out with 2, but I was so so so weak, that the next day when she came to check on me, she immediately ordered 2 more transfusions. I couldn't even get up to the bathroom by myself, and at one point, just eating was more than I had strength to do. My dear friend Stephanie came to sit at the hospital with me the first day. She read scriptures to me, and we discussed many spiritual things. It was a day I will cherish for the rest of my life.

I spent 3 nights & 2 days in the hospital, and then came home to find that some dear soul had bought a Christmas tree and left on our doorstep while I was gone. Aaron's brother Darrell had taken Amelia & Sara to his house to play with his girls for the remainder of my hospital stay (Friday & Saturday). Vivianne spent time with my friend Stephanie and also my friend Marylin while I was in the hosptial. I am so thankful to these sweet friends & family who helped keep the children calm & comforted during my hospital stay. Thank you so much...

The following week, Aaron & I were both extended some pretty time-consuming callings at Church. Aaron was called to the Elders Quorum Presidency, and I was called to TWO big callings... 1) teaching Sunday School to the 14-15 yr olds, and 2) Enrichment Leader -- a calling that has, honestly, scared the begeebees out of me for many years. We figure the Lord wanted to make sure I didn't have time to get depressed about our loss... or something.

We are very thankful that Aaron found out that he had some vacation time at work that we didn't know about. He took off 12 days (including weekends) between Christmas & New Years, and I so loved having him home!!! It was such a blessing to have him here with us so much...

Also, our Christmas was simple and beautiful. We are very thankful to some very loving friends and ward family members who helped make it a very memorable holiday, especially in spite of the difficult time we had been experiencing. We didn't open presents until the evening, which was nice. We just took the day and tried to get the children to focus on the REAL reason we have Christmas, and what it truly means to us. We watched The Forgotten Carols, and that meant so much to me. We got a new Willow Tree figurine to help us remember that our sweet baby is in the arms of angels...

JANUARY -- Yes, these callings are VERY time consuming... Thankfully, the Sunday School position is a team teaching deal, so I only teach every other week, but I prepare every week just in case my partner can't make it. I spent many many hours putting together the first Enrichment meeting, which we held on the 21st. It was completely AWESOME! I asked my dear friend Kathleen Waite from my old ward to come and speak to us about our Divine Nature. We had the Young Women involved, and many of the sisters brought pictures and items from their Young Women's days growing up. It was SO great!!! Kathleen totally was inspired with the lesson she taught... the Spirit was so incredibly strong, and I was just in awe at how well the whole night came together. I now see how all the callings I have held up to this point have totally prepared me to be able to do this. I received many comments from sisters in the ward about the evening, and that just made my day! :) It truly was miraculous that a mom of 11 kids who just nearly lost her life a month prior could pull off something so amazing... but honestly it wasn't me. It was the Lord, and I thank Him for His tender mercies!

Oh, lest I forget... the day before the enrichment night spoken of above, our oldest son Eli broke his finger at school, playing catch with a football at lunch. Nice... His injury is called "Mallet finger"... the ball hit at just the right angle, at just the right force to snap his tendon, and break the first bone in his left hand middle finger. We ended up in the ER, and then in surgery with a wonderful hand surgeon... he got a cast, and as of yesterday, surpassed the hospital ER record for number of names & phone numbers of girls on a hand / wrist cast! LOL 26 names & numbers... gotta love it. We had a followup with Dr. Hijazi yesterday, and Eli's finger is looking pretty good. He has 2 pins sticking through the joint, and out the end of his finger... it looks pretty cool. I will have to see about getting the pictures up here so you guys can see it... it was gnarly to begin with, but is healing nicely. We go back in a couple of weeks, and then he will be referred out for physical therapy.

I got the hospital bill for my miscarriage last Thursday... $22,000. The OB's bill will be around $1000, the anesthesiologist will be about another $900, the lab, about $500... and I am sure that the bills will just keep pouring in. This all sent me reeling... but not as much as when I went to a followup appt with the OB, and having them tell me that my insurance says they won't pay. Just a little stress... They WILL pay... it's just going to be a fight. Something about that little "opposition in all things" thing... wishing it would pass me by on occasion... wouldn't that be nice?

Saturday night, Amelia came down with a fever again (she had just been sick about a month ago, right after my miscarriage). She has been spiking fevers up to 103 - 104 and beyond. That went through Monday, but finally no more fever... however, Sara is now also sick, and just really NOT feeling good. This morning, when I woke up, I heard Sara hacking and choking with the scary, and yet, very familiar cough of RSV. Dangit! So, we went to the doctor. After a whole lot of rigamaroll and runaround, both of the girls were finally seen. (More insurance problems... look for my upcoming blog entry about how awful our forced socialized medicine is going to be ... my kids have medicaid, and trust me, I don't care who tells you differently, it's no walk in the park to actually get the kids stuff covered!!!) Dr. was great, and when he heard the cough of both girls, he immediately said, "sounds like RSV.... " Yup. Nice. Flu swab & RSV Nasal wash done on Sara... Thankfully Amelia seems to be coming out of hers, and just has risidual cough. However, Sara... still VERY sick, and NOT doing well. Dr. says he will call me as soon as the results come back from the lab (should be tomorrow). In the meantime, it's breathing treatments every 4 hours, and some nasty tasting steroid (anti-inflammatory) liquid for both girls. Hopefully, Sara's insurance will get "fixed" so we can get her her own bottle of the medicine... in the meantime, we are just sharing. We also have both girls on healthy doses of Colloidal Silver ala Grandpa (my dad). The humidifier is going in their room, and they are propped up on pillows so they aren't lying flat.

We continue to work on the addition, and enjoy a visit with my dad & brother. Little by little, things are getting done. I have to tell you about our door... what a blessing! Originally, there was a bay window on the front, but we pulled that out, so we could have a front door actually be on the FRONT of our house... LOL Aaron went to Lowe's to find a door, and our funds are next to nothing for this project. But, we have figured that the Lord got us this addition (an extra almost 1,000 square feet!), so surely He will provide a way for it to be finished. So, anyway, he went to get a regular old 6 panel metal front door... $140 at Lowe's. He had the thought to check the clearance area, and lo and behold... a way cool door! It had been a custom order, but was returned, and they were selling it at a deep discount. Normal price, $778.14. Our price.. $10.99 That's right! ELEVEN DOLLARS! Aaron brought it home, and it's perfect! it's been such a testimony that Heavenly Father's hand really is visible in our lives... There are story after story after story like this... and it makes my friend Misty just shake her head. ;)

Let me go back a bit.. we took Josh to a new psychiatrist back in November. She is absolutely FABULOUS!!! We had a short interview with her med student assistant, and then she sat down with us, and basically told me everything about Josh that anyone ever wanted to know -- like she KNEW him! She'd never met him, but she totally pegged him!!! We totally love her, and have taken a few of the other children to her as well. His medications seem to working better than they ever have before, although we are still having issues with him doing his homework. We will just continue to tweak things here and there until we get it right. ALso, she had a brochure this last time we were there, for an after school program that would be TOTALLY Beneficial for Josh. She filled out the appropriate paperwork to get his Medicaid switched from HMO to full medicaid... so we are waiting on the decision from that. It may come down to us applying for Social Security disability for him, due to his severe mental health issues, in order for him to qualify for this program, but I am excited at the prospect of finding another place that can help us.

Tomorrow is Friday, and Fridays have become quite ominous around here with regards to Aaron's employment. The last several Fridays have been not so great... They took away his 401K contribution matching a few weeks back. Two weeks ago, they took away all paid time off -- no holidays, no sick days, no vacation days. If you don't work it, you don't get paid for it. Nice. There will likely be layoffs tomorrow, and hopefully, he won't be affected. Prayers on our behalf would be truly appreciated. We really hope that the economy will pick back up soon... we really need this job.

So, there you have it. my update. Probably alot more than I had originally planned on writing... but at least now it's somewhat caught up. Oh, we never did get our stuff back, that was stolen back in November... but the detective did tell me that he would press charges against the young man. The young man admitted to it... I don't know where we go from here. Guess I should call & follow up... I saw that young man tonight as I was dropping Eli off for his basketball game (don't worry -- he's just keeping score!)... made me sad all over again to have our trust broken like that. :(

Crying baby....... must jet. Breathing treatment time...