what a week

This has been one busy past few days here in the brown house.  It was time for Erin's yearly MRI for NF.  Since the magnets are so strong, it requires the removal of braces.  So, hopefully temporarily, braces are off. We are now awaiting approval from insurance to put them back on. 

While Penny and I waited for the braces to be removed, she grabbed a Highlights magazine to read.  Penny has become abit persistant when she gets an idea in her head.  Kinda like me unfortunately.  On the back cover of the magazine was a picture of a squirrel.  She kept asking me about the squirrel's mother.  Where she was and didn't she miss the squirrel.  I read the back paragraph to her and explained that baby squirrels grow up faster than our babies and that they leave their mommies.  "WHY?!! WHY?!!" was her reply. "Miss her?"  This conversation went on for nearly 30 minutes.  The same thing over and over again about the squirrels. We were getting looks.

Then there was the actual MRI day.  Clyde hung out home to watch Penny (thanks S for being willing to watch her) while Erin and I drove to Duke.  I must make a note here for us, that Thursdays are the days to have an MRI @ Duke.  I could hear the nurses talking about how slow Thursdays were and I saw it.  They were checking their facebook pages and surfing the web.  Friday's are the worst to have anything done. Erin has teensy tiny veins and the nurse had to stick her 3 times to get the IV started.  The first try was in her hand.  The nurse got it in, but Erin wouldn't bleed out a bit into the IV, so that vein was unusable.  So the nurse moved up to her arm.  Again, got it in the vein, but the needle was WAY too big and the vein blew.  After 2 tries, the nurse called in the pro, another nurse, and she was able to use the needle size that they use for infants to start the IV.  Slid the needle right in, no problems.  Poor Erin though.  The numbing cream they put on didn't help when it came time to having the iv in 3 spots.  A few vallium later and out she went. Hopefully we will have results within a few days...another perk of going to Duke.  They have a Health portal and lab results are posted within days.  So for the past few MRI's since changing to Duke, we have gotten MRI results before our pediatrician.  I usually send our pediatrician the results and thus eliminating the wait for them.

For Penny's second breakfast this week, after speech,  she wanted to go to Chi-fil-a.  She loves the food, but hates the cow.  She kept looking for the cow to pop out.  Here she is signing cow in fear of him showing his ugly head.  She was so concerned with the cow appearing that she didin't eat.  I think I may be a rotten mother because I threatened that the cow may come out and check on her since she wasn't eating the food, so she had better eat, or the cow would come out.  She ate everything and I will go to hell.

Valentine's Day isn't one that we normally celebrate.  The kids send their valentine's to school, get candy yadda yadda.  Our anniversary is in 10 days and thus I'd rather celebrate our anniversary than a day that card manufacterers and florists say that I have to tell the people I love, that I love them.  This year Clyde surprised me with some ribs.  Oh how that man can cook some ribs...

Of course we only got a few, due to the Wardlings who all wanted their own rack, but settled to share mine ours.

Clyde also had this cookie made for me.  I love you too honey! Thank you...I hope you like your new scriptures and Dr. Marten's. :)

Ever get bored in sacrament meeting? That or have to find something to entertain that cranky/ busy/ tired/ hungary child?  Clyde likes to entertain them by taking pictures with his cell phone.  This is the masterpiece that he took last Sunday.

Friday night the girls had to be picked up in A'boro, since Clyde was at an away game.  A shout out to the Jessups who let them go home with them. Thanks again guys!!  The girls had plans...Erin had a friend coming over and Libby was going to a friends house for a sleepover.  To give E and her friend E a break from Penny, aka Stitch these days, I took them to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief.  It was a decent film.  I told my pal C, that in comparing it to Harry Potter, it was the Sorcerer's Stone quality.  It is good but hopefully will get better as the series continues.  I would take my other Wardlings to go see it.  It is clean and a good children's/ youth movie.

This week should be calmer in the brown house...let's hope.