Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day this year I made dinner for my mom and Jared's mom!  It was a lot of fun making a fancy meal!  When I was in the hospital a friend of mine brought me her February Martha Stewart magazine, and with all the time I had to kill I was able to actually read it from cover to cover!  I have always liked how Martha includes the recipe cut outs and when I subscribed to the magazine I always ripped them out and put them in my recipe box but never actually tried one.  Well this issue had the most delicious looking Chicken Pot Pie, I had originally wanted to make it for Armin's baby blessing but soon realized it would have been too much work for the amount of people we would be feeding.  Valentine's Day turned out to be the perfect opportunity!  One of the ingredients was cream, so you can imagine how yummy it was!  The pastry was just puff pastry and placed only on the top, it was soooo good, even Jared liked it and he isn't always receptive when I try something new!  I only made four individual pies because I knew Calum and Emry wouldn't eat one, so Emry decided to make Calum and herself something different!

For dessert I decided to make a pecan pie since I knew both my mom and Myrna really like pecan pie!  For some reason though I couldn't find an actually pecan pie recipe in the cook books Myrna has, but I was able to find a Praline Pie recipe, and it sounded really quite yummy.  In fact it turned out to be better than any pecan pie I have ever had because it wasn't so sweet.  In this recipe you only put pecans on the bottom of the pie in a brown sugar type sauce, and on top you mixed vanilla pudding with whipped cream.  It really was one of the best pies I have ever had, well except for the coconut cream pie we had at The Firestone last night!!

I did have another side dish besides the salad, but I completely forgot about it and it got a little crispy under the broiler!  I totally didn't mind because it was sliced mushrooms with melted fontina cheese, and I absolutely HATE mushrooms!  But it was intended for those I love and they all happen to like mushrooms!

This is what the mushroom dish was supposed to look like....

.....And this is what mine ended up looking like!!

 It really was a nice Valentine's Day, Jared gave me five roses and Emry one!  His usual tradition, Emry absolutely loves getting a flower from her daddy, and I must admit so do I!!

Because our anniversary is only two days after Valentine's Day we usually just celebrate them at the same time, though our anniversary this year was celebrated a little differently!  I took Calum and Armin to Lethbridge with me that morning and we went to Weight Watchers, got groceries and visited my Grandma, then we picked Emry up from school and took her to ballet.  For supper we picked up pizza from the New Club Cafe and brought it home.  I did pick up a slice of cheesecake for Jared and I to have after the kids went to bed while we watched a movie.  After supper though we played Disney Princess Yahtzee with Emry and Calum, and we had a lot of fun!  I told Jared that it was actually a really nice way to celebrate the day we started our life together!  It was neat to look back and see what we have accomplished over the last nine years, I am so looking forward to what the next nine years will bring!

Calum not understanding taking turns!!

He ended up winning the game, lucky little bum!

Ski Bunny

On Friday Jared took Emry skiing for the first time!  It was the first time back for Jared since he broke his knee snowboarding two years ago, and they had an absolute blast!  The Champion School has always given the kids the opportunity to go skiing, it is so much cheaper when they go as a group, this year however, was the smallest group the school has seen for quite some time.

It is mandatory for the kids from grade one to six to take a lesson, so while Emry was in her lesson Jared took to the higher slopes on his snowboard.  I think he was happy to be back, in fact he is already thinking about the next time he can go, only he has decided a half day is all his knee will be able to take.  After Emry's lesson Jared put his skis on so he could help her better!  She was a real natural, I was so impressed when Jared showed me the video!  He made sure she used the whole hill, and really had her concentrate on turning, something she really caught on to fast!  Some of her friends were maniacs going down the hill, their feet in a permanent snow plow and straight down!

Jared said that their lunch was rushed and relatively short because Emry was itching to get back to the slopes!  They skied right until four, even though her feet were hurting her!  Jared told me that when they were on the chair lift at one point, she said, "We're just hanging out, just me and dad!"  That night when they came home she was asking if they could go again tomorrow!  I think they are going to try and go again on Family Day!

I am happy Jared can ski again even if his new ski buddy is slightly slower, although a little more suited to the new pace he has to set for himself!  His knee was really hurting him when he came home that night, it probably won't hurt him as much when he can just snowboard!

Date Night Gone Bad!

Jared took the afternoon off work yesterday so he could go to the city to pick up his new cell phone!  The Telus place he ordered it from is only open from 8am-5pm Monday to Friday, so we made a date out of it!  Since we were done our grocery shopping by 4, we thought it would be nice to go to an early movie, something we haven't done for such a long time because by the time we usually get to the city it is after 7pm and all we can catch is a late show and an even later night home!  We really wanted to see "The Tourist" and it happened to be playing at The Movie Mill.  Well usually Jared will not see a show at The Movie Mill because the sound is so terrible, we could always hear the movie playing beside us better than we could hear our own!  Well The Movie Mill just did a bunch of renovations and so we decided to give it another try!  The seats were so comfy, leather (or pleather, I'm not a leather expert!)!  The sound sounded better to me but I forgot to ask Jared what he thought!  Anyway, our experience last night was quite humerous!  First, Armin was a little fussy so I stood with him for about half an hour, when I sat down again I was able to feed him and he fell fast asleep!  Just when the movie started to pick up a bit we heard a strange sound, I seriously thought it was part of the movie, until the screen went black and nothing happened for about 30 seconds.  The film strip was toast!  The staff informed us that they were working on fixing it and not five minutes later they came back and told us that it could not be fixed before the next showing started.  We were all given two free passes for another show.  Jared and I weren't totally sold on the idea of going back, and then when the film died we determined it was a sign that The Movie Mill wasn't for us, however we have to give it two more chances before we can truly rule it out!  It is half the price of the other theatre in town, the only downfall is we have to wait a little longer to see the show if we want to see it at The Movie Mill.  A trade off I think I can live with especially since the price is right, now if only they can keep the film rolling for the duration of the show I will be happy.  We will have to wait for "The Tourist" to come out on DVD if we want to know what happens, because last night was the final showing at The Movie Mill!  I am thinking 2011 will not be our year, so far it seems like our luck has run out :)  I am only kidding, it is just funny to see how bad luck seems to happen all at once!  At least we have to go out on two more dates before May 14th if we want to use our free passes to The Movie Mill, something to look forward to!! :)

Those Poor Little Cows!

 On Saturday, Dave and Char came out to help Jared separate the calves from their moms!  They had wanted to do it the Saturday before but the weather turned quite cold and Jared was worried about the fence, so they waited one more week and Jared was able to tweak the fence to perfection!  It was another busy week for him though!  Monday I came home from the hospital and he stayed in that night to help me get the kids to bed; Tuesday he had Young Men's; Wednesday he drove up to Red Deer after work for a transmission course he was registered for on Thursday; Thursday night when he got home from Red Deer he fed cows and took a look at the fence to see what exactly he had to do to make it better for Saturday, he got the tractor stuck feeding, was able to pull it out with the Jeep and finally came in at 12:30am!  Friday night after he got home from work and had some supper he went out to hook up the electricity to one of the wires and also strung the fifth wire around half of the corrals.  Again he came in after midnight!  It was all worth it I guess because sorting the calves from the cows went very smoothly!  They had a great system going, Jared and Char would round up a small group of cows and calves and push them into the alley, Char would go back to her post and Jared would calmly take one or two animals at a time, Dave manned the gate to either let the cows "by", or the calves "in"!  The only problem they had was when two cows decided they didn't want to follow the rules and they climbed over the fence where the snow had drifted, three calves followed them.  The four of us were able to get them back into the field with little difficultly, however, Char did disappear to her thigh in a snow drift while Jared was manning the gate and Dave was standing his ground so the cows wouldn't go by him!  They finished the separating around 2:30pm and then they sprayed the cows and the calves with Ivomec, to treat for ringworm.  They were also able to finish stringing the fifth wire the rest of the way around the corrals and through the alley.  It was a busy day, one I wish I was able to help with more than I did.  I really like working cows and I am thankful that there will be plenty of opportunity for me to help.  I did have a good time in the house with all the kids, Cora, Leah, Blake, Emry, Calum and Armin!  Cora was put in charge of her sister and brother and did a great job taking care of all the kids when she needed to.  Calum helped me make cheesecake for our dessert on Sunday, he mostly licked the mixing bowls and utensils when I was finished, but he was cute when I told him how thankful I was for his help!

The two cows and three calves that jumped the fence cooperated nicely the next day, well except one, she is out in the field and Jared will get her tonight, he'll feed her alone, spray her and then let the rest of the cows out of the corrals back into the field!  I have a feeling this cow will be sold sooner than later!  I was told by Char that Jared was so polite to all the cows when they cooperated, he would thank them as they went by him, and when I was out there to see how it was going he would gently call them "momma"!  I really admire the way he treats animals, and it seems to pay off, because with the barbed wire set up that they have for the cows there could have been a lot more fence jumping or worse, cows going through the fence and destroying the wires.  The noise of the crying calves isn't even that bad, though it is easy to feel sorry for them when you hear the odd chorus of mooing.

It turned out great and I think fun was had by all!  A real adventure is at hand and I know working together will be a blessing for all of us!

Favourite Outfits!

I always seem to have a favourite outfit for our kids, one they wear until it doesn't fit them anymore! Myrna gave Armin this shirt for Christmas, Rachel picked it out!  Anyway this is my favourite, and I am afraid that he may only be able to wear it one more time!  He is growing so fast, too fast for my liking!  Although at his 8 week check up he is only in the 10th percentile for his weight!  Honestly I don't really care about these facts because as long as he stays on his own growth curve he is doing just fine, and the slower he grows the longer he will stay newborn-ish to me!

So Handsome!

When Calum was a newborn we discovered that telling him he was such a handsome boy would make him smile from ear to ear.  We started doing this with Armin and he too just beams!  Whenever Emry is holding him I have noticed that she will talk to him just like we do, and say "What a handsome boy!"  The day after I got home from the hospital Emry was holding Armin calling him a handsome boy when Calum came and sat beside her, put his arm around her shoulder and he too started calling Armin a handsome boy in his cute little voice!They actually started saying it together, in a kind of sing song style!  The joys we experience as parents truly makes the chaos worth every minute!

Not What I Had in Mind!

I am so thankful for my little family!

Last sunday I had an annoying pain in my shoulder and when I would take a deep breath the pain would shoot down the left side of my body.  It continued to do this monday but wasn't bad enough to worry about, in fact I was sure it was just a pinched nerve from carrying Armin's car seat or nursing him or a combination of the two.

By tuesday the pain was constant, still just annoying but much, much worse when I would breathe in or yawn.  Emry and I had dentist appointment's that morning and laying in the dentist chair was just a little unbearable, when the hygienist flossed my front teeth I didn't even cringe...my three front top teeth are a bridge and when I floss I have to thread the floss through and the feeling of it reminds me of finger nails being scraped across a chalkboard.  After the dentist we took Jared to Dairy Queen for lunch and while we were sitting eating I let out this totally involuntary little scream because of this insanely sharp shooting pain in my chest, and then it was gone.  Again I just thought it was a pinched nerve.

By tuesday evening the pain was more persistent and I found myself taking shallow breaths to prevent the real intense pain.  That night was full of so much to do, Jared had Young Men's, Myrna was in Lethbridge for an appointment, my dad was bringing our hardwood flooring down from Calgary, and Catherine, my Visiting Teacher was coming to give me the January message.  Before Catherine came out I phoned her to see if she would mind sitting with the kids while I helped my dad unload the hardwood, of course she didn't mind.  When my dad came he could see I was in pain and called Buck, my super, always there when we need him, as well as always willing to help us out, brother-in-law, to come over and help him unload the flooring.  I still went over to the house to turn the lights on for them and to look at the flooring we bought well over a year ago.  I was strictly instructed not to lift anything so I just stood there and watched, I did however open one box and pulled out one board, and it is as beautiful as I remember it being the day we picked it out!!  I carried the one board back to the house with me to show Catherine, and by that time Myrna too!  When I walked in the door I was telling Myrna something but could hardly get my sentences out because of the pain in my shoulder whenever I had to inhale.  She asked if I was okay and I said I think so.  I sat down in the living room to talk with Catherine, only the pain started to get much worse, I found if I stood up the pain was slightly less intense so I would sit back down.  It got to the point where I couldn't get much air in, I could still breathe it just hurt really bad.  Finally Catherine convinced me to go to the hospital and she was taking me.  I told Myrna what was going on and she didn't even hesitate to help me get Armin in his seat or take care of Emry and Calum.  On the way to the hospital I did start to get scared, I was finally feeling like the pain was probably more than a pinched nerve.

Myrna called Jared for me and told him to meet me at the hospital.  He was already in Vulcan with the boys so he beat me there, as soon as I walked into the hospital and saw him I lost it, I started to cry and the look on his face when he saw me made me even more scared.  Trying to tell the nurse what was wrong when I could hardly breathe was quite the challenge, but they were so good and so patient with me.  They quickly put me on oxygen, which I think did help, they also got an IV going with some morphine, they called in the x-ray tech and the lab, while we waited for them the morphine started to kick in.  The chest x-ray went well, the pain was tolerable when I was standing, but when he asked me to lie down on the x-ray bed to do an ECG, the pain was totally unbearable so I sat in the wheelchair for that test.  Both of the tests came back negative for anything serious, heart attack or stroke, so the blood test would be the deciding factor for what would be done next.

My d-dimer was through the roof, so instantly they knew I had a blood clot.  The next step was to give me cumodin as well as an injection of fragmin.  Since I was feeling so much better, the pain was just annoying, I was sure I would be going home, I was surprised when the nurse told me they had my room ready.  Wednesday I was sent to High River by ambulance for a CT scan of my chest and legs.  That test showed that there was indeed a clot in my left lung and it had most definitely travelled from my leg.  I am at a high risk of developing blood clots because I have Factor V Laden, a blood disorder that makes the blood clot a lot easier than it should.  While I was pregnant with Emry I did have a superficial blood clot in my left leg, but with superficial clots there really is no treatment and they are not dangerous or life threatening.  While I was pregnant with Calum and Armin I was put on fragmin to prevent any blood clots from forming, during my pregnancy with both boys the fragmin did its job and I was fine, not one superficial clot.  After I delivered the babies I had to stay on fragmin for six weeks, again I was fine with Calum but not so lucky after Armin.  A week after Armin was born I found red splotches on the inside of my right leg and it hurt to walk on it.  The ultrasound showed that it was only superficial, so I continued taking the shots of fragmin for the prescribed six weeks post partum.  Only a few days after I was done the six weeks of shots, I noticed the same red splotches and pain in my left leg, so again Jared took me to emergency and I was given a big shot of fragmin and a tablet of cumodin.  I was instructed to take the shots for five days, and the cumodin indefinitely until further tests were done.  Well, the next day Armin fell and the doctor at the Children's Hospital told me not to take the cumodin because it could be harmful to Armin while I nurse him.  I also saw my baby doctor that week and he too suggested that I not take the cumodin because I would have to have surgery in the next few weeks to remove the IUD that so conveniently escaped out of my uterus and is free floating in my abdomen area.  Too many risks involved with surgery and blood thinners.  Well, only a couple of days after I finished the fragmin I started having the shoulder/chest pain.  So it was determined that my body developed a deep vein clot since the superficial clot in my left leg was diagnosed.  That superficial clot was quite a big one, the ultrasound tech showed me that it was a solid clot from the middle of my thigh all the way down to my ankle.  I can still see the lines on my leg where the superficial clot was, only it isn't red anymore, it is greyish and looks more like a bruise.  Once that initial dose of intravenous morphine had worn off the pain was back, the ambulance ride and laying flat on the bed for the CT scan were extremely painful.  And again I say I cannot believe how bumpy ambulances are!

I was very well taken care of at the hospital by all the staff, and even little Armin was able to stay with me the entire time.  We had a great time together, whenever I would talk to him he would smile so big and cue and gurgle!  It was nice to be able to spend the one on one time with him, and the nurses absolutely loved having a baby at the hospital.  Since Vulcan no longer delivers babies they rarely see infants.  I am so grateful for small town hospital's, I don't think the city hospital's would have let me keep Armin there with me.

Well I am doing much better, the pain sneaks up every so often, but as my body absorbs the clot the pain will go away, and my breathing is much, much better.  When Jared told the guys at work what had happened and why he needed to leave work early on Wednesday, they asked him if I was going to make it.  And one of the young men at church asked Jared the same thing when he found out the doctors let me come home.  When a blood clot travels to the lungs it is called a Pulmonary Embolism.  Usually, on t.v., when someone dies unexpectedly it is usually due to a Pulmonary Embolism.  What happened to me was indeed very serious but the clot was still small when I went into the hospital and they were able to act fast and prevent it from growing or anymore forming, I do consider myself very lucky.  I was able to laugh at the comments about me making it because everything did turn out good, and the concern really was genuine.

I truly feel blessed!  I have such a wonderful husband who really was as scared as I was, I could feel his love for me radiating through him when he was just standing beside me holding Armin.  I am so thankful for all he did while I was cooped up in the hospital.  He took care of two very busy kids, cleaned the entire house when he really needed to be getting the calves separated from their moms.  I think Heavenly Father sent that really cold snap just so Jared wouldn't have to worry about separating the cows.  He thinks he and Dave could have still done it, but it would have been a lot more work than they needed with Calum, who always takes his mitts off even when it is minus 30, also having the kids out there when this is their first time doing this could have ended in a disaster, and another trip to the emergency room!  I am also thankful for the rest of my family... Arren took Calum when she already had a house full watching two other little boys; Myrna who got Emry off to school each morning, did my laundry and chased after Calum, she even took him Visiting Teaching with her!  And my mom for taking the kids for a day to give Myrna a much needed break.  I am also so grateful for wonderful friends who take Visiting Teaching to the next level, if it weren't for Catherine telling me she was taking me to the hospital I probably would have waited another hour and a half for Jared to come home, or made Myrna take me with all the kids.  Again I am so grateful for all I have been blessed with, without these wonderful people in my life I truly would not be the person I am today!  I am also so grateful for the many prayers I felt on my behalf and for the love and concern of many other family and friends.  I felt bad on Wednesday I had to call my dad and tell him I was the one two facing him.  He had planned on spending the day with Calum while I worked for Myrna at Weight Watchers!  I could tell he was extremely worried about me, and all he truly cared about was that I get better.  I am thankful for my dad, and for the love and concern he shows me, whenever he calls he always asks if I am taking it easy, well dad, for having one perfect daughter, one super busy boy and a new born I think I am taking it as easy as I can!  I do however have a lot of help and a truly wonderful husband who has developed a constant pain in his tummy from all the stress he has been under.

I should explain the title to this post!  I told Jared that the way I received my breakfast in bed for the six mornings I was in the hospital was really not what I had in mind when I pictured getting breakfast in bed!  I also told him I probably shouldn't be complaining that I need a holiday or a break anytime soon after being in bed, in quite a quiet hospital watching the shows I wanted to watch for six whole days!  All in all it was an adventure, another one I can check off my list of things I never want to experience again, but everything is good now, I will be seeing a blood specialist and eventually this wretched IUD will be taken out, but since it isn't bothering me at all, later will be better!