Two Week Menu

 The past two weeks were CRAZY at our house and 

I made it ever crazy by not making a menu/ not making "real" dinners.

15th (Saturday) - {New Recipe} South West Roll Ups... Bonus, I'm gonna freeze some for later.

16th (Sunday) - Super Salad  (grilled chicken, boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, beets, tomatoes, etc)

17th (Monday ) - Breakfast Casserole

18th (Tuesday) - Hamburgers on the grill with frozen french fries

19th (Wednesday) - {New Recipe} Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops with Rice... Only has 3 ingredients.

20th (Thursday) - Lexi's pick... Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

21st (Friday) - {New Recipe} Breakfast Burritos... I'm also gonna freeze some of these for later!

22nd (Saturday) - Lazy Left Over Night

23rd (Sunday) - Super Nacho's (Taco meat, tomatoes, olives, etc)

24th (Monday) - Crockpot Italian Chicken and Rice

25th (Tuesday) - Lexi's pick... baked potatoes and grilled chicken

26th (Wednesday) - Lexi's pick... "A Wyoming Pizza"... since I don't know what that is...
                                   How about we try... {New Recipe} Homemade Pizza

27th (Thursday) - Lazy Left Over Night

28th (Friday) - Lexi's pick... Rice, Beans, Peas and Carrots ...I think I'll try to cook beans in the crockpot

Eli Update

 It's been a while since I share a picture of my ever growing side profile.

I'm just over 35 weeks and due one month from Saturday!

I'm in denial, for sure.

Last week I started going to some midwives in Murray and my first appointment went great.

I loved the midwife that I saw and now I just have to try and meet all of them 

because who ever is on call will deliver.

But I have weekly appointments now so that will make meeting everyone a little easier.

I have a clinic of high risk pregnancy doctors assigned to me as well.

The MD's and the midwives work together as a team.

I got an ultrasound this week and talked with an MD about my history and my goals and he said I was a great VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) candidate and gave me the official okay for another VBAC.

Eli is head down and is weighing about 6 lbs right now.

Which is crazy because that's how big Lexi was when she was born at 38 weeks.

We might have a big boy in our near future, if that estimate is correct.

In the past two weeks I've really started to like being pregnant less.

Eli is just so strong and is taking over every inch of my mid section. 

He kicks out to the side of me and up into my ribs.

I've been sleeping with an ice pack every night on my lower back to help with the nerve pain.

And since Sean's surgery, I've been really active trying to take care of everyone 

and I've started getting swollen feet, something I've never experienced before.

               Above is a picture of the changing table that we redid. We painted it and add new knobs.

I should have taken a before picture but just know that it looks more amazingly awesome now.

We also set up the portable crib in our room and I washed the car-seat.

And in a few days I'm having a baby shower and after that we'll hurry and buy everything else that we need.

It's time to get ready for real because I'm nearly full term.

Although, I am ready to not be pregnant anymore I don't want Eli to come until his due date 

because Sean will be in a sling and won't be able to drive for at least the next three weeks!

Sean's Surgery and Begining the Recovery Process

 Just over a week ago, on Wednesday September 5th, Sean had his shoulder surgery

 that I mentioned in a previous blog post.

He went in at 8:30 am and left the Out Patient Center at 2:30.

The girls and I stayed with him while he got into this hospital gown and got his IV.

Lexi was really scared of the IV.

We tried to teach her about veins and give her a little anatomy lesson.

We left right before Sean got a nerve block.

They did an ultrasound on his shoulder and then "blocked" the nerves so he wouldn't feel as much pain.

It basically was like an epidural for his shoulder.

His surgery took about an hour and a half.

...

While he was in surgery we went home.
We live just a few blocks from the hospital.

And we made Sean a big poster.

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When we saw him after he was in a lot of pain.
We think that his nerve block didn't take until after the surgery.

Sean was also really tired and out of it.

See for yourself...

 The nurses were really great with the girls.
They gave them gloves and snacks.

Avery insisted that I take her picture too.

The nurses told Sean that he needed to wear these "stockings" on his legs 

for three weeks to help prevent blood clots.

He also had three different prescriptions that I needed to keep track of.

And he had to stay hooked up to this "Cold Therapy Machine" continuously.

...

When Sean first came home he was exhausted.

He just laid on the couch and slept a ton.

I just had to share this picture of Avery playing in our bed.

She was so excited to lay in Sean's spot since he was on the couch.

Sean is a great patient. He is pretty easy going and isn't a wimp or a whiner.

And he is a great sport and let me take pictures of him and then blog about him.

A few times I left Sean to go run some errands. I would leave Lexi home with him so he wasn't a lone.

I told Lexi that she was babysitting him and she was really excited to do that.

In these pictures Lexi is reading to Sean 

 and keeping an eye on him while I tried to get some stuff done around the house.

Sean was given a really nice sling to wear 

as long with the gray shoulder pad that hooks up to his "Ice Machine."

We had to purchase the gray shoulder pad for $40 and we are just renting the machine for $10 a week. 

I had no idea how much work this system would be for me.

About every four hours I have to dump out all the cold water in the cooler 

and fill it with about seven pounds of ice. 

So that means that we were going through about 40 lbs of ice a day!

After just one day I realized that I couldn't fit that much ice in our freezer 

and I couldn't run to the store several times a day so  we ended up buying a small chest freezer. 

And to date I've bought 260 lbs of ice! Which is about $50.

$50 was our copay amount for the surgery!

Sean enjoyed watching lots and lots of football while recovering.

Some of the highlights were the BYU  vs. Weber State game and the Utah vs. Utah State game.

 

The Sunday after Sean's surgery I sent the girls to church with a friend so Sean and I could nap 

(mainly, me because Sean could nap whenever he wanted).

Here's a picture of the girls kissing Sean goodbye.

And I just had to share these pictures of our two little cuties all dresses up for church...

Four days after the surgery, Sean got to take his first shower and I got to change his bandaging. 

You can see the two spots they went in and did the surgery.

I'm wondering what all those markings are all about.

This week Sean slowly started working again.

Just from home and just for a few hours a day until today when he worked a full 8 hours.

And just because he's so cute, here's another picture of Sean sleeping...

I just thought I'd add this picture of Avery napping in our bed the other day.

 

Yesterday, Sean had his post-op appointment. 

He got his stitches removed. 

Lexi was scared but the nurse let Lexi help put bandages over the  incisions 

and even gave her pink latex gloves to wear.

Sean shoulder is looking great, he has no swelling or bruising 

and he's slowly reducing his pain medication at a good schedule.

Sean was giving two different exercises to do until he starts physical therapy in three weeks.

And since yesterday, Sean has been doing the exercises several times a day and is already improving!

We were also told that he doesn't need to use his ice machine 24/7 anymore

 just as need for about another week.

And he doesn't have to wear those horrible thigh high nylons anymore either! Thank goodness.

...

On another note, we got a statement this afternoon from the hospital (that didn't take them long)

and the total so far was $15,361.53! Are you kidding me? That's crazy!

I want to call the hospital and ask them what "SUPPLY/IMPLANTS" are

 because they are charging $5,611 for it!

I'm just glad that we have great insurance, but still, this seems ridiculous to me.

...

Anyway, I'm happy to say that Sean is finally on the road to recovery and I'm so proud of him.

He's been a great sport through all of this and kept his sense of humor and still been his cheery old self.

Pictures from Lexi's First Three Soccer Games

 Game One

The Red Dinosaurs vs. The Ninjas

Lexi's coach tried to teach the kids about offense and defense at practice.

So for their first game she tried to put three kids on offense and three on defense.

She told the ones on defense to stay in front of the net, Lexi was one of them.

The team they played against were all bigger and had clearly practiced/ played together before.

They were good.

And scoring wasn't difficult for them because our kids on defense just stood there in front of the net 

as the other team ran behind them and scored, as seen in the picture below.

After that first game it was obvious that we needed to talk about going after the ball and being aggressive.

The Ninjas would stand all lined up shoulder to shoulder and tried to block our team or charge at them.

They were intimidating for our team.

 

Lexi is shy and takes a while to warm up to new situations and people so she spent a lot of time observing the other kids while on the field and staying out of the way.

Can you find Lexi in this next pictures? 

She the little girl on the far left watching the other kids fight for the ball.

And here's Lexi not even trying to follow the ball. She's just kinda in her own little world.

She really didn't have much clue as to what she was suppose to do.

And another picture of Lexi trying to avoid the ball and the mass of kids.

 Whenever the kids ran down the field Lexi would follow in last place.

Sometimes she just walked and kinda watched what was going on.

 

After the game Lexi discovered one of the best parts of soccer: the treats!

 

We were so proud of her!

 

As a side note, we lost that game but we did keep up pretty good for a while thanks to #9, Hunter. 

He's the one kid on our team that has either played before or is just a natural.

...

 Game Two

The Red Dinosaurs vs. The Cheetah's

 

 Before the game Sean talked to Lexi a lot about being aggressive 

and not being afraid of getting near the other kids.

And that it's okay if you touch each other or kick each other.

In this first picture you can see that Lexi is actually watching the ball and wanting to participate.

But for a good portion of the game Lexi just played with her arms and her hands and her jersey.

Look at Lexi on the far left, she doing some sort of shoulder shrug.

And Lexi really had a booger she just couldn't get 

because she spent a lot of time that game digging for it.

Look at her. Going in there. Running towards the ball!

Again playing with her outfit and doing some sort of little dance.

Roaring at her coach.

Lexi loves her coach. In fact, she stayed by her most of the time.

When it was time to switch players Lexi just stood quietly by the coach and ended up always staying in the game just because I think she wasn't noticed. She played more than any other kid for sure.

Lexi does the funniest run. She moves her arms a lot and looks straight down at the ground.

We'll have to work on that.

The other team was hilarious. They had clearly never practiced and had no clue what they were doing.

They only scored one point and our team scored at least seven 

(I can't remember anymore and no one keeps track of scores).

The other coach was so entertaining. He was so peppy and once told his team, 

"These are the Red Dinosaurs and they're our new friends."

The kids were so entertaining this game. Several kids were doing somersaults and at once point 

all the kids keep running after the ball half way down the next field.

...

Game Three

The Red Dinosaurs vs. The Mighty Machines

Here's Lexi just practicing by herself before the game.

Avery has been such a good sport during all of these games and at the practices.

She really just wants to be out on the field though.

Lexi actually touched the ball a few times during this game.

She is improving with every game.

Although every time she touched the ball was because it pretty much got kicked to her.

She's about to get the ball in this next picture.

One boy on Lexi's team was picking dandelions so Lexi did too and brought me one.

Lexi and her funny run. But look she's actually running by the other kids!

 The other team had a lot less players show up and 

had several kids who needed their moms to be out one the field with them the whole time.

We won by a lot.

But our team did have trouble remember which goal they were supposed to go to.

The kids practiced at one net before the game and then were supposed to go for the other net when the game started. Luckily, #9, our star player knew where to go and kept taking the ball from his team mates and directing to the correct goal.

And just as they were figuring it out we switched goals at the second half.

Soccer Pictures

 Lexi's soccer team decided to do our own team pictures. 

The coaches have a really nice camera so they just took the pictures at no cost.

Anyway, here's Lexi's individual pictures.

They all just make me laugh.

This girl is not naturally photogenic.

So if you ever see a great picture of her smiling,

 just know that it was a lot of work/ several tries to get that picture!

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1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9... Seriously Lexi?

And the team picture. Now Lexi looks normal!

Well this is going to be fun deciding which ones I want to print.

Which ones are your favorite?