Mel's Rant

It's 1:00 AM and I'm still up. I'm tired and frustrated and I just want to go to bed, but I can't!! I've got a ton of work to do, Jason is a terror. He starts acting up the minute my fanny hits this chair.

I think the world exploded the minute Jason was born. I took my hospital stay and the weekend off after having him and then I started working again. I was actually on the phone to my sister, who worked with me at the time, telling her how to print some things for me while I was in labor. Then Jason has had all his problems and Tori had her retinal detachments. And because of my family traumas work starts to slide so as soon as the kids are better I have to jump in there and get that all sorted. Then, as soon as work is sorted something else happens with the kids.

My world is one trauma after the other and I don't ever get a break. I'm trying to be positive, but it's really hard when you only get 5 hours of sleep on average, and the world won't leave you alone.

Oh well, I'm done complaining for today, or maybe I'm thinking yesterday since it's after midnight. =)

Mel's Cross Stitch

The kids have had enough stuff lately I've finished half way. Hopefully Duncan won't be 20 years old by the time I complete it though.

Jason's Hearing Aid

We took Jason to the Audiologist on Tuesday to get his hearing aid. She walked us through everything and taught us how to use, put in, and take care of the aid. She warned us that he would not take to it as quickly as an adult. She said we needed to take it about 5 minutes a go and see how he does.

He did really well at the Audiologist so we did a quick hearing test to see if it was making a difference and he was hearing things that I didn't even realize she was doing until after he heard them.

Now the trick is getting him to wear it. He is doing really well for how old he is. For his firs day he has worn it about 30 minutes. It's kind of funny, because he gets tired after using it. I think he's a bit over stimulated.

Hopefully this helps him!!

False Alarm!!

We spent 5 hrs at the ER on Saturday night, for a false alarm. Samantha scooted backward off the toy box onto her head, and then advised me that she was seeing shapes. She kept looking to the upper corner of her eyes, so we decided to go have her checked out. She was really afraid that she would have to have surgery so she immediately changed her story and said she was fine. We spent a long time at the ER waiting for the Ophthalmologist and he checked her out and her Retina's are fine.

It was a good lesson for both Mom and Daughter because she learned that she really needs to let us know what's going on with her eyes. I learned to try not to jump at everything! =)

I do have to share the highlight of the evening though. The Nurses Assistant was a guy I went to High School with. Rob was great and did a wonderful job. They did a quick eye test to see if there is a difference in her vision with her glasses on.

Rob: "K Sweetheart, cover one eye."

Samantha: (Reads the chart ok)

Rob: "K, now the other eye."

Samantha: (Reads but only gets down to the 2nd line.)

Rob: "K, now let's do both eyes."

Samantha: (Promptly covers both eyes and waits patiently to see what Rob wants her to do next.)

I had to ditch behind a cupboard so as not to laugh myself silly!!!

Playing at the Park again.

We had a lot of fun at the park today. Daddy was off of work, and it was a lovely sunny day so we ran over to the skate park. Duncan mainly skate boarded, which is the best end to the park visit. Here is the video of Duncan's oops! =)

Recipe to Love

We are attempting to cook at home more often. Healthier, and what not. We preped as much as we could on Saturday and put it all together in the fridge in "dinner packets". Now we have no excuse!!! Loved this last night, thought I would share!

Orange-Crumbed Baked Chicken
serves 4

2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole-wheat cracker crumbs (I used saltines)
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 (3 ounce) skinless boneless chicken thighs (I used chicken breast since that was what we had in the freezer.)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees; spray a nonstick baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, combine the orange juice, mustard, and salt. On a sheet of wax paper, combine the cracker crumbs, orange zest, shallot, and pepper. Brush the chicken on both sides with the mustard mixture, and then dredge in the crumbs, firmly pressing the crumbs to coat both sides. Place the chicken on the baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes: turn over and bake until cooked through, 15-20 minutes longer.

( I think if we had used whole wheat crackers the crust would have been crunchier!!)

Jason the climbing fool!!

Jason has figured out how to climb ladders! AAAAA!!!!! We're in so much trouble! This was his first successful trip up the girls bunk bed. He should be a lot of fun at the park when it's finally spring. Ugh! Isn't there enough to worry about without Jason up on the ceiling??

VIP, that is Samantha!

Samantha has been the VIP in her class this week. She has talked about this week since the beginning of the year!! She gets to be the President of the class, line-up in the front all week, bring a show and tell everyday, and then Mom gets to come and tell all about her on Friday. Samantha loves her teacher Mrs. Wells!!

Duncan has killed the Bear

Duncan has successfully acheived his Bear Award in Cub Scouts. He is very thrilled! He's got quite the collection of patches and belt loops. Scouts is something that Duncan looks forward to every week. Even after he's completed this years award, he still gets excited for scout night!

What goes on in her head?

Samantha: "Mom, Katie at school sings all the time, and she has a terrible voice!"

This girl doesn't hold back!!!!

Jason's Eyes

My last appointment for the week!!! (Knock on wood.) Jason and I went back out to Dr. Dries today. He was a crazy boy and wanted to get into anything he could.

Long story short, Jason is near-sighted but not bad enough to need glasses yet. His Retina's are great!! Pretty standard, good visit!!!

Tori without glasses! Sooner than we expected!!

I took Tori to see Dr. Dries today, the kids ophthalmologist. Her eyes were looking pretty good. She is seeing just fine out of her left eye through her glasses. She does, as stated previously, have the cataract, etc.

I asked Dr. Dries about the possibility of her having the nearsightedness fixed along with the cataract surgery. He said he would look at her chart and get back to me after her eyes dialate. I also advised him that Tori's Uncle Stan had Hard Contacts and they think that might be one of the causes of his issues now. He looked through her whole chart did some further research online, and YES Tori can have her implant!!!! He said the big thing will be more of an inconvenience for me since I will have to be putting in and taking the contact every day.

I told Dr. Dries that whatever is BEST for Tori I will do. If that means making her continue with the glasses, or not. His statement was, "In my heart of hearts, I think one contact and one implant would be the best thing for Tori."

Gotta like that statement!!!

So Tori will be having the cataract surgery sometime soon along with receiving an implant and then she will be getting the contact for the other eye.

I can't believe what they can do with modern medicine!!!!!!

Here is the cute little audiogram again!

I took Jason to the audiologist today at the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind. He did so much better then last time. Well, his mother actually prepared him better this time!! I made sure he was fed, and we set the appointment earlier so he didn't get tired so quickly. As you can see from the audiogram above he did much better. The audiologist was able to test his left ear this time, and that is normal. All of the ABR's he's had done have shown this so it was not a surprise, but always nice to see. His right ear does have the hearing loss but he tested at a 25-35 DB loss this time, instead of 35-45 DB as before.

He's funny in the booth because he hates his ears messed with. After all the poor kid has been through I don't blame him. They put the ear phone in his ear and he immediatly starts shaking his head to try and dislodge it. (Mom learned last time that you have to hold onto the "monkey-pants" hands or he is really quick to pull it out.) But, we got him paying attention and were able to see a vast improvement in response.

We then took him out of the booth and they took a mold of his ear. I thought that would be traumatic but he just played with the peg board and let it set up. They will be shipping that off to have his ear peice made and he will be fitted for a hearing aid in 2 weeks, probably. I'll fill you in on his response to that when it comes. That should be lots of fun!!! =)

Sledding at Cheese Park

Tori

Samantha sans sled.

The Crowd...Duncan, Tori, Samantha, and Curtis (Duncan's Buddy)

We took the kids sledding at Cheese Park today. We were supposed to go to Powder Mountain with my family, but we're trying to get Jason to stay in his own bed which is turning out to be quite a pain.

The kids had a ball, and I now know why my parents used to take us sledding here. Great hill, good long space at the bottom for slowing down...loved it!!!