Ear Infections

So, after a couple days of Ben and Josh having fevers, acting lethargic, puking, etc. I decided it was time to see the doc. They both have bad ear infections. I consider our family lucky though because this is the first time any of my kids have had one (of course it would have to be both boys at the same time!) Emma was also checked and thank goodness she is healthy (knock on wood!) The boys are on antibiotics for a couple days and should be good as new very soon. I decided to educate myself about the infection and here is what I found out:

Ear infections (acute otitis media) occur in the space behind the eardrum, which is called the middle ear. Ear infections are more likely to occur after a cold or other upper respiratory infection has been present for a few days.

During a cold, throat infection, or allergy attack, the tube that connects the throat and the middle ear (eustachian tube) swells and prevents air from entering the middle ear. This can create suction, which pulls fluid into the middle ear space. The fluid becomes trapped in the middle ear, allowing viruses or bacteria to grow and cause infection.

Ear infections are most common in children younger than age 7. Young children have shorter, softer, and more horizontal eustachian tubes, which are more easily blocked than those of older children and s.

Symptoms of ear infection can include ear pain, fever, thick and yellow drainage from the ear, irritability, loss of appetite, vomiting, difficulty sleeping, and trouble hearing.

Beautiful Day For SLEDDING!

February 26 & 27 are days we are dreading in our household. Jake is taking yet another bar. He took and passed Oregon's bar in '06. Now he needs to pass the Utah bar for his current job. His firm is giving him a couple weeks off work to study for it, but he has also decided to dedicate each Saturday to studying as well. This means the kids and I are going to be coming up with some fun things to do by ourselves over these next 5 Saturdays, to get us out of the house while dad studies.

Today was our first "Study Saturday" and I thought it would be fun to take the kids sledding up at the Eaglewood Golf Course, less than a mile from our house. I have only been there once with my aunt Andrea and her kids and I didn't go down the hill. When we got there I only saw two other families sledding. The kids and I got to the top of what I thought was a pretty easy hill. I brought three sleds for us to try, so we could figure out which was the best. As I was getting the sleds into position for the kids and I to ride them, out of no where Emma jumps onto her little round saucer-shaped sled and heads down the hill. I started screaming "YEA EMMA!" As I watched her closely, I realized she was going super fast down this icy hill. She was FLYING and she ended up going over another smaller hill (also very fast) and she rolled off her sled and landed on her tummy, face in the snow. She got up, cried a little, and then she was ready to come back up the hill (although, this time she wanted me to come with her.) Ben went on his sled a lot and felt really cool because his sled looked like his cousin, Kaden's, sled. BUT, when he saw some snowboarders go past him, he changed his tune and said THAT was cool and now he wants a snowboard. I told him he needs to go with dad skiing a few times before we start him down that route. The kids loved the snow and it was hard to drag them away. We were there almost two hours, and with the wind blowing and me huffing and puffing up the hill each time, carrying one or two sleds, I was ready to go. The only way I could get them to leave was if I promised we would come back again soon. Maybe if it's good weather, we will come again next Saturday.

It's nice to know there are advantages to living on a mountain, getting dumped on by snow over and over again. We have GREAT sledding hills! Come on over and we will take you!

Jesus Take the Wheel... Please!

We woke up to snow on the ground (again) and by lunchtime the snow on the driveway had melted so I figured we should pull out the Barbie jeep, since it had been awhile since it had seen the outside of a garage. Let me tell you, as I watched Emma take off, pedal to the metal, laughing her head off as she sped into the garbage can and the mounds of snow on the side of the driveway, I had this panicky feeling that she was enjoying this "freestyle" way of driving too much. I can already picture it in my mind: It's the year 2022. Some 17 year old kid named Jackson comes to pick her up for a date and she tells him "Move over, I'm driving!" She jumps into the driver seat and has this mischievous grin on her face (the same one she mastered from birth.) She revs up the engine and screeches out of the driveway, the wind blowing through her hair. Premonition... I think so. Of course, Ben was my cautious one, telling Emma to slow down, back up, take your foot off the pedal, etc. All kidding aside (at least partly), the kids had a ball. We were out there for about 40 minutes, even with the 26 degree weather. I thank my parents for this grand gift they gave my daughter, that has me scared out of my wits. This little jeep, in it's own special way, is preparing us for an adventure-filled future, full of fender benders, speeding tickets, and who knows what else. (Love you, mom. Love you, dad.)

Amazing!

My dad sent me an e-mail a few days ago, asking me if I could possibly find a hard copy of an old edition of the LDS Church News (Dec. 9, 1984.) He said he met a Malaysian man in their branch who was on the cover of this edition and was interviewed in it (he's the one on the left.) The man had only received a photocopy of the original paper and my dad thought it would be neat if he could get him an original. I was hopeful that I would find one, but figured it would take probably weeks of hardcore searching. Amazingly enough, I found one just 3 days after I read my dad's e-mail. I posted on freecycle.org and a man in Orem replied to it Wednesday night, saying he had one. I was very excited and picked it up the next morning, and then mailed it off to Malaysia today. What a blessing! Also, it turns out this guy who had the newspaper is actually related to me (through my great, great, great, great grandparents.) Crazy!

After I picked up the newspaper, we had to stop by Aunt Whitney's house, since we were so close. The kids loved seeing her, even though Emma did call Whitney "Grandma" probably 10 times. Don't worry, Whit, she knows who you are. :) Anyway, overall we had a great day.

Family Fun in Salt Lake & Provo

We had a great time while my parents were here visiting. (They live in Malaysia right now, so they traveled quite a ways to get here!) We showed them our new house, which they hadn't seen yet. They politely oohed and aahed, just like any good parent would and we appreciated that. We built gingerbread houses with them for FHE, had my Grammy and Grandpa Call over for dinner, went shopping for floor lamps (still haven't bought one... oh well), went down to Provo to visit my Grandma McDonald, played games, watched Mission Impossible 3, and went shopping to various stores in Bountiful and Salt Lake. We had a fun time with them!

Christmas 2007

Another successful Christmas has come and gone. The kids had a great time opening presents and Jake and I had a great time watching them get so excited. That has to be the best thing on Christmas morning, watching your children get all giddy as they open each present. Emma loved her Cabbage Patch doll and pink tent. Ben loved his "jammin' guitar" and Scooby Doo 3-D spook house game. Josh loved the wrapping paper, and anything else he attempted to put into his mouth. Jake and I didn't buy anything for each other because we figured buying a leather sectional for the basement was all the presents we needed (and could afford) for each other! We can't wait to curl up in it and actually have enough room for more than 3 people to sit down stairs. We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, as well.

Sledding with the Schipaanboord's

We had a great time on Christmas Eve, sledding at Sugarhouse Park. It was warmer weather when we got there and we took off our hats and gloves. Within 30 minutes though, a storm came in and we were all freezing. It was fun though. Jan made chili and also brought hot chocolate and doughnuts. By the end we were all shivering, except Ben. He was wondering why we were all wanting to leave. He was sad when we finally pulled him away from the hill. Also, it was a monumental day for Josh. Jake took him down with him... TWICE, against my wishes. Josh seemed to enjoy it, or at least tolerate it. We loved being together with family.

I have more pics to post, but my parents are in town for the holidays and then we are heading to Vegas for my brother's wedding, so I'll wait to post again until I have pics from their visit and our trip. We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas.