Halloween 2007

Mastitis, thrush, and things that go bump in the night.

These are just a couple of things I've been dealing with. When Toh-Toh was about a week old, I went to bed one night with chills and felt achy all over. When I woke up I had a fever of 102. I discovered that day that I had developed mastitis. I was given antibiotics for the mastitis. The antibiotics worked to treat it, and the fever & chills were gone within a day. What I wasn't told was that taking antibiotics increases the risk of developing thrush since it also kills off the good bacteria that keeps yeast in check.

So, between the antibiotics I was given during labor for GBS and the antibiotics for mastitis, I pretty much have no good bacteria left; and here we are with yeast/thrush. It is terribly painful to nurse, but I'm determined to get through this. Luckily, Toh doesn't have the white patches in his mouth (a sure sign of thrush), but we're taking all the necessary precautions to make sure I don't pass it to him & he passes it back to me, etc., etc. And hopefully within a couple of weeks we'll be back to normal again.

Here is a picture of Toh-Toh with purple lips. LOL We are using Gentian Violet (among other things) to help treat this, and it stains EVERYTHING it touches. So, his mouth will be purple for a few days.

Carving the pumpkin and some other random stuff...

Last night we carved our one little pumpkin... The big one ended up being rotten.

Mooch hates getting anything on his hands, so it was interesting.

At one point he had a seed on his hand, and he just sat there staring at it. LOL

This is how Toh enjoyed carving the pumpkin.

Mooch likes taking new "toys" to the bath every night.
On this particular night, he decided to take my laundry basket.

Here are some pictures from our camping trip this summer. It has taken me forever to upload them. Our trip was to the Ensign Ranch, and Uncle Shawn went with us. Thanks to him, we got some pretty great pictures of Moochismo.

The river was freezing, but Moochy didn't seem to mind.

He loved to run off down the dirt road in front of our campsite.

I could never keep up with him, so I let the boys chase after him.

Before we left, we went to explore the rest of the ranch.

Nothing can come between a boy and his sticks.

The Best Diet Around.

Have a baby!

Ok, really though... I know I still have a long way to go, but it's nice to see the pounds drop so quickly after having a baby. I've lost 10 lbs since I came home from the hospital with TW (and that's NOT including the 8 lbs I lost in the hospital). Unfortunately, though, I had to actually GAIN the weight first. I still have 10 lbs to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight, and another 15 lbs to be at my first goal after that. I know I'll probably have to actually work to get those off, but a girl can dream, right?

What Allen has learned so far...

Here's a little list of things Allen has learned so far in his classes. Obviously, we don't share the same views as his professors and classmates.

1. Communism is the purest form of government.
2. Having kids is reprehensible. (When TW was born, one of his professors told Allen he should be condemned, not congratulated!)
3. Mormons and Catholics should be forced out of the country.
4. We should not help starving children in Africa.
5. People should not be allowed to live past 65. (These last three are b/c of over-population issues.)
6. The amount of respect you deserve is determined by the number of times you're arrested. (One of his professors thinks that students today don't deserve as much respect because they're not out there protesting and getting arrested.)

These are just a few of the things Allen has "learned" in class. LOL No wonder he is miserable in this program!

Just a couple of new pictures...

Hayden trying out his new costume.

Toh-Toh found his thumb.

2 Weeks

Little Brother is 2 weeks old today, and things have been a lot better over the past few days. I think the "baby blues" are behind me now, and I'm starting to feel a little more normal. We're also getting into a routine that seems to be working for us. Two weeks has flown by, but at the same time it feels like Toh-Toh has been a part of our family forever. Big Brother is really starting to adjust well to having Toh-Toh around. I just can't wait until Toh starts to interact more. I think Mooch will LOVE having a little brother to pal around with. I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but Moochy likes to do "This Little Piggy" to Toh-Toh. He also like to mimic him when he sneezes or has the hiccups.

I'm also looking forward to all the little cute things that babies do. I really do like the newborn stage, though, so I'm enjoying it while I can. Toh won't take binky yet, but a couple times he has found his thumb, and I think it's just the cutest thing!

Allen has been working a lot lately. He's been working at the hospital for a month now, but they are still considering this "training" and "orientation". I personally think it's just an excuse for them to schedule him for more hours than they hired him to work. He's been working 40 hours a week, and they only hired him to work 24 hours, so it has been difficult for him to keep up on his school work. After this week his "orientation" will be over, and he'll be able to focus more on school. So, hopefully things will be less stressful for him after this week.