Abby's Test

 Poor Abby had to have her ultrasound and voiding study the day before vacation. I think I was more nervous than her! I knew what it was going to entail and I knew that it would not be a pleasant day for her. She didn't get to have anything to eat that morning which didn't make her very happy and she couldn't drink after 8 am. We checked in at St Elizabeth at 10 and went to do the ultrasound first. She did great for this part. We had practiced with her doll and some hand sanitizer. About half was through they gave her the sedative Versed. About 15 min afterward I had one crazy Abby on my hands. She was laughing at everything and really wanted to walk around but she couldn't hardly stand up straight. Once they were sure that her sedative was at its max they started the study. I really can't say enough nice things about the group of people that did her study that day. The nurse was very nice and kid friendly not to mention she slipped Abby's catheter in without her even realizing it. The radiology girls were all very sweet to her and had a lot of things to distract her and the radiologist was quick and very nice to work with. I got to stay with her the whole time and from start to finish it only took about 20min.
After it was all finished they sent me to have Abby change. It was hilarious trying to get her dressed. She was like a little drunk person. I was trying to get her to stand up and she was laying on the floor laughing trying to put her pants over her head. When she did stand up she was weaving all over the place. It was a bit of a disaster but I managed to wrangle her into her clothes and we were done. They gave her a little bear for doing such a good job. On the way home she talked to Robb on the phone and she said "they gave me a bear" and then really seriously said "but its not real, that would be dangerous". I was cracking up and so was Robb.
A couple days later we got the results back and everything looked normal. Thank goodness! The doctor did give us some suggestions on how to prevent her uti's in the future and he also flagged her chart so we can bring in a urine sample anytime we are worried and we won't have to see a physician unless we want to and our doctor will handle all the medication administration for any urinary tract issues. I was probably pretty pushy about this but I don't like not being believed and then having it cost Abby days of misery until we finally get a diagnosis.

Picking Time

 We had helped Grandma Hansen plant the garden in May and she said some of the vegetables that we planted were ready to pick. The kids were excited to pick the items that they had planted. They picked beans (we may have and the curviest bean row Grandma has ever had in her garden), peppers, and then they got to dig potatoes.

 The kids loved the potato digging! I don't think they realized that potatoes grew underground. Every time grandma would dig another spot they kids would grab the potatoes like they had just found treasure. Abby only wanted the giant ones.

 Caleb and Bryce even did some of the hard work of actually digging them.

I love this picture of Abby and grandma by the flowers.

The boys went out exploring and found Tom and the older boys. They had fun tagging along while the boys did some chores and we all had fun playing with Tom's pet raccoon. Too bad raccoons are probably a bad idea in town because this little guy is really cute and fun.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July! We went to Waverly to the parade with the Keims. The kids loved it last year and I like the small town feel. Abby was really only interested in getting one piece of candy at a time and then she would eat it.

The boys enjoyed the parade also. Bryce was super serious about getting candy just like he was last year. His loot more than doubled Caleb and Abby's. Caleb was hot and frankly a little lazy when it came to getting candy. He only picked up the candy that he liked and spent most of his time drinking his water on the blanket.

After the parade we went to the BBQ at the Keim's church. I was really funny to see all of our children take up an entire kids table. It was so much different than years before. All the kids sat nicely at the table while us adults tried to bring back every ones plates. The kids all ate nicely together while we sat at the adult table and chatted. It was wonderful to have the kids be old enough to be slightly independent.

We weren't sure what we were going to do for the rest of the day, but I threw in the swimming suits just in case we decided to head to the pool. It was very hot out and the water felt great. The pool was free admission for the day and was a bit crowded but not too bad. All the kids had a great time. They jumped in over and over again. Once the pool cleared out a bit we let the boys take off the life jackets and practice their swimming. They have came a long way since last year. They don't have much fear and are usually able to get themselves to the side after going off the board or the slide. Abby wasn't that adventurous. We couldn't talk her into the slide but she jumped in over and over again with Finley, Ezra and Lennon. We spent most of the afternoon there and left with some very tired kidddos. They were all asleep by the time we got out of Waverly. Thanks for a fun day Keims!

Family Night

 Happy 4th of July

 You can't get more American than hamburgers and sweet corn.

 Chasing parachutes

 Bryce and Caleb were pretty good about helping Abby light all the pink and purple smoke bombs

On July 3 we just hung out in the neighborhood after Robb got off work. We a BBQ in the front yard and the kids played. After supper the boys got to light some fireworks. They had been waiting to light fireworks ALL day. We let them do some smoke bombs, black cats, parachutes and snaps. We had some pretty low key fireworks but the guy across the street had some huge fireworks and put on quite a show.

Girl Morning

Abby has been wanting to get her nails done for awhile now and so have I. Bryce and Caleb had camp this week in the mornings so it was the perfect chance for us to have a girls morning. Abby still wasn't feeling great but we decided that it would still be fun to get our nails done. She picked out pink and glitter and got flowers on her toes. She had never had the whole pedicure part done and she thought that was funny. Afterward she kept feeling her legs and commenting on how soft they were. She also got her nails done. She sat there really nice the entire time. We both left with cute nails.

Poor Sick Abby

A couple months ago Abby got really sick and we ended up finding out it was urinary tract infection, after a lot of appointments and lab work.
 She got sick again on the 21 but I didn't worry too much since I thought it was something viral. She seemed like she was maybe feeling a little better but then she started running high fevers in the middle of the night. I called the doctor on Tuesday, our Dr was out of town, of course so we had to see someone else in the clinic. Needless to say, I was not impressed. This doctor didn't listen to a thing I said and wasn't even sure that he wanted to do a urinalysis even after I told him I was sure this was a uti and we had brought a sample with us. He looked her over and even though she said she had a stomach ache he thought she had an ear infection. We left with Amoxicillin, the most worthless antibiotic you can prescribe and I angrily said" I guess I will just call back in 2 days when this doesn't work at all". I guess the claws come out a bit when my little girl is sick and hurting and the Dr won't believe me.

This isn't when she was feeling sick. I just thoght it was a funny picture.

The next day Abby was miserable! It was 101 degrees outside and she was running a 104 temp all day despite Motrin and Tylenol. I had called the Dr 2 times that morning and no one knew anything. Finally at 5, when I was ready to take her to the ER, they called back saying that it was in fact a urinary tract infection and they would need to start new antibiotics. WOW! Who would have thought? Glad that no one listened and the poor girl had to suffer for another day. The next morning Dr David called us apologizing for how things were handled. I really like our Dr and trust him it's just too bad that we almost never get to see him. He started her on new antibiotics and also said we would need to do further testing to find out why this keeps happening. She will have an ultrasound and VCUG study done in Radiology at St Elizabeth hospital next week. I really hope the results are normal but I am worried because it will be an uncomfortable test for her to have. Keep her in your prayers this next week. I will let you know what we figure out.

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to the Best Dad Ever! We didn't do too much on Father's Day but we had a good time. We went to Pawnee lake swimming and played outside in the little pool. I really couldn't ask for a more wonderful dad for my kids. Robb is great with them! He is way more fun than I ever will be probably because he is still kind of a kid at heart.