plugging along

another day, another dollar...well, not really.
it's been a ridiculously long week. Andrew has been working every day since last Tuesday with the exception of this past Tuesday off. Not has it just been every stinkin' day but it's been 11-13 hours+ every day with NO compensation. That's right...no paid overtime, no adjusted days after it's over. I'm am so frustrated at the whole thing. It's like, who's the peabrain who has nothing better to do than plan a motor school which averages 75+ hours a week? Obviously someone who does not have a disgruntled wife and who is getting paid overtime for being an instructor. Lame, lame and more lame! He's finally done this Sunday...making it a grand total of working 12 of 13 days and over 125ish hours. Again, lame!
Needless to say, the girls are absolutely sick of me and want Andrew to do everything when he's home for the hour or so before they go to bed. Grumpy wife+grumpy husband and attention-craving kids from an almost absent daddy=a not so fun two weeks.

On top of that, we've still trying to overcome another (almost month-long) road bump in the girls' bedtime/sleep routine. The girls were doing SOOO great in going to bed right away (around 8) and not needing to get up or be re-tucked in at all. They'd sleep through the night and it seemed my sleep-training nights were over. I should know by now though that kids just don't stay in one schedule for very long--especially when it comes to sleep. Lately Zoe has taken much longer to finally go to bed. She'll fuss a few times, needing me to go in there for a few seconds to re-lie her down every 10 minutes or so. The nighttime routine has gotten drawn out to an hour--again. And Lily has been no exception. She'll need to go potty like 3 times in a 15 minute period after she's been tucked in and then need a drink, and then a backrub...oh well, at least I got a couple months of bedtime bliss. We're working on re-establishing the former blessed habit, it's just taking a lot longer than I hoped. sigh.

Sorry to complain so much--just needed to vent.

On the plus side, Zoe is doing just great. Her foot looks very frankenstein-ish. A great big line with 20 or so stitches running the width of her foot with plenty of tender tissue and purply bruising. She walks on her tiptoes on that foot as I imagine the feeling of walking on stitches must be a little uncomfortable. Hopefully once the glue and stitches dissolve finally she'll start walking a little more normal. We hopefully get the pathology reports back tomorrow regarding what exactly it was that was taken off her foot. Should be interesting.

In the meantime, Zoe's been improving on her verbal skills and communication. In addition to momma and daddy, she says 'gaga' for baby while signing the baby sign, and started saying 'bubbo' for bubbles. She's been doing the eat and drink sign for months which has been quite helpful as well. It's so fun to see her imitate various sounds as related to words and meanings. She's not a baby anymore which is kind of hard to grasp. She gets along well with her big sister, and Lily does a good job with coaching her as well. Lily continues to say funny things almost daily, and I'm working hard at writing them down. She keeps me on my toes...that's for sure. :o)

Surgery

After anticipating a rather stressful day on Friday, I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be rather smooth sailing. The hardest part was waking up so darn early. 5:00 a.m. found me extremely tired and unrested, but nonetheless we were up at out the door at 5:30 to be at Primary Children's for check-in at 6:00. My worries that Zoe would want to eat were unfounded as she was still too tired to figure out what was going on. Andrew had to leave for motor school (yes, he's still alive and well...knock on wood), and I was left to do all the pre-surgery prep.

Here's little Zo in her hospital pajamas with her trusty thumb and lovey blanket.The before shot of her 'lump'.
Her ID tag made for a fun toy...
I waited in the parent waiting room for a little over an hour after talking with the surgeon and anesthesiologist. The time actually went by quite quickly. The surgeon came in to tell me it was over and she was doing well. The big surprise was that the lump ended up not being a hemangioma as was assumed but rather some fatty mass which was sent to pathology for further testing. We'll get those results in a week or so. The surgeon said he'd be interested to find out what it was (I guess that makes two of us).

From there I got to go into recovery where Zoe had just come out of the anesthetic. She was not a happy camper. She was still very much out of it and was flailing and screaming in attempts to get her IV out. They took it out despite the fact that it was supplying her with liquids and pain meds. She was able to calm down a lot more after that. I still had to rock her and try to get her to go back to sleep as she was very glassy-eyed and not herself still. We had a quiet hour or so where she was in and out of sleep. Finally, after a good 25 minutes of straight sleep, she woke to be very much more herself.

However, in order to be released she had to keep down some kind of liquid which, up to this point, she refused to drink. They initially tried a bottle before I got there, but I explained she never would take a bottle and they'd have to try a sippy. She didn't want either for a while. Then, after her little nap and another denial of the sippy, I gave her the bottle to play with. Lo and behold, she put it in her mouth and guzzled it. So she was given another bottle which she downed as well. I was extremely surprised. I guess comfort can come in unique ways during unique times.

Here she is with her bottle waiting to be given the okay to be released Her vitals were good and the juice stayed down, so we were free to go home--three hours after the start of the surgery.

Now she has a little purple souvenir and a long line of stitches the width of her foot. Surprisingly, she is acting so normal...she came home to find Lily and Grandma Allred and was all over the place wanting to play. She was walking on it, standing, crawling...it wasn't going to stop her. I guess when you're used to a gimp foot, it doesn't matter what hinderance is there. Luckily the doctor said that it's pretty low risk for complications even with her being pretty mobile. it's bandaged pretty tight and should do just fine. I mean, after all, how do you keep a 14 month old still for a few days? The answer is....you don't.

Thanks for all your prayers, concern and support for Zoe at this time. She is doing great, and we're so grateful that it was a minor thing which was somewhat easily fixed. There were plenty of other little kids and babies being treated the same day for things much more major, and I was full of gratitude for the blessings of health and strength which my little family has been given.

May flowers

April showers really DO bring May flowers! The prettiest of all is the Lily in the middle :o)

things a wife never wants to hear...

This is what Andrew tells me last night as he is getting everything ready for Motor School starting today:
Andrew: Hey, I'm not going to have my phone on me tomorrow. I will probably wreck several times and don't want to ruin my phone. I'll try calling you at lunch, okay?
Me: Say, what?! How about just not wrecking? Sheesh!

Needless to say I'm a little apprehensive about these next two weeks. He will be going through SLCPD's motor school and will be gone anywhere from 10-12 hours a day for about 11 days straight. I'm paranoid that he'll get in some horrific accident or something. I'm a worry wart that way. Being a policeman is one thing....your odds of getting into a deadly situation are really not that high, but being on a BIG motorcycle with little experience around lots of other stupid drivers on the road could very well increase your odds of a shorter life expectancy.

To top off that stress, I get a call yesterday from Primary Children's Hospital and said they have an opening to do Zoe's surgery this Friday, a week earlier than originally planned. Andrew will be gone at MOtor School, and so my mom has graciously agreed to watch Lily during the whole ordeal. I think being in a hospital waiting room for 1 1/2 hours by myself will be enough to drive me batty, but sometimes that's how the cookie crumbles.
To make myself feel a little better I bought a new (bigger) purse which I have been wanting to get for a long time. In addition, I also finally ordered myself a new pair of glasses, contacts and later on, happened upon a hot pair of jeans for only $14.99! Gotta love the stress-relieving benefits of retail therapy. :o)
Keep your fingers crossed! It's going to be a roller coaster week.

A day at the zoo...

A day at the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Fedor, Aunt Sarah, and cousin Logan...

starting out...ready for fun...
seeing the elephants, rhinos and bears...

sitting on a baby tiger...

What a fun day and week we got to spend with our visitors from Kansas City. It was so great to see you Grandpa Fedor and Grandma Arlette. We miss you and can't wait to see you again!

Mother's Day

The top two reasons why I love being a mom:

#1: Zoe

#2: LilyKudos to my darling daughters--the reasons why I get to celebrate Mother's Day.

I love you always and all ways my sweethearts, thanks for making me a better person and allowing me to feel your love and spirits each day.

Liberty Park Fun

We had a fun Saturday as we got to enjoy a barbeque at Liberty Park with my extended family. The girls enjoyed romping around with cousins and being in the sun. A very fun day. Thank goodness for springish weather!

After Liberty Park we got to go up to Oakley to spend the rest of the day with Andrew's fam. In anticipation and preparation for Motor School starting next week, Andrew asked his dad if he could take his Gold Wing motorcycle out for a ride. He convinced me to go for a spin as well, and we got to go out around the countryside for a few minutes. I'm always paranoid but willing to atleast try it. It was a fun time.

My handsome husband

I decided I needed to post this seeing as it is one of very few pictures that Andrew and I have taken of us by ourselves since being married. It's a rare occasion that we have reason to really pose. However, on Tuesday, Andrew had an awards banquet through his work for which he and his squad were honored for their extraordinary efforts this past year in doing what they do best. It was nice to have a few hours to ourselves to socialize and get semi-dressed up. (And no, I'm not really as tall as Andrew, I just happen to be wearing my 4 inch, red heels...a rare occasion indeed!)

I Scream...You Scream

I think Zoe likes ice cream---what do you think?

I don't think her eyes or mouth could get any bigger though, must get it from her Dad :o)

imp

imp
n 1: (folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous [syn: elf,
hob, gremlin, pixie, pixy, brownie]
2: one who is playfully mischievous [syn: scamp, monkey, rascal,
rapscallion, scalawag, scallywag]

The above definition is from the dictionary.die.net but the definition of imp in the Pedersen family is described by one word.....ZOE

this is just one of many classic examples of Zoe's handiwork. She has always been a very laid back child, meaning she does well with schedule and everyday routine. She is happy if she is fed and rested and does both very well; however, when it comes to free time or 'independent play time', she is the most mischievous little girl. Her mantra is 'let me do as many forbidden things i possible can while mommy is busy/preoccupied'. The word NO is merely a challenge. No matter how sternly i say it and follow through with moving her away from the object of trouble, she only works on moving faster. some of her favorite 'forbidden apples' include pulling anything out of anything that is full (ie my baggie drawer, kitchen utensil drawer, shoe basket, toy basket, etc.), the stairs, the bathroom/toilet and the garbage. We thought we had outsmarted her by turning our step-pedal/raising lid kitchen garbage towards the wall. This lasted maybe 5-6 days before she figured out how to turn it around. And the stairs are a total game to her because she knows it'll draw attention. She's been climbing them since she was 10 months old, and so by now she is very fast. If i'm lax about putting up the gate, she'll crawl over there and go up about two steps and wait until one of us sees her, and then it's off like a shot, laughing and climbing as fast as she can. She also loves to get Lily's goat...Lily's pretty, well, girly, when it comes to getting bugged. She fake cries and whines and doesn't do much to remedy the situation, and Zoe just feeds off it. She can be quite the little bully.

When Lily was her age we would say no once or twice and she'd pretty much leave whatever it was alone, so childproofing was almost unneeded. Zoe is the complete opposite. Lily wasn't very mouthy in that she didn't put things in her mouth past about 10 months---On the opposite side, Zoe puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Anything I don't want her eating...dirt, rocks, dirty diapers, garbage...only becomes more desired to eat and put in her mouth as quickly as possible.

I can't decide if it's a blessing or not that she isn't full-blown walking yet. She's very adept at crawling and is down where she can see a lot of trouble, but walking poses its own sort of trouble as well.

To oupdate: The steroids have not been doing a darn thing, so after 10 days I decided to take her into see the surgeon. He was basically the kind of doctor who doesn't really care what the parent thinks or says and blew me off in so many words telling us that the steroid dose given us through our regular pediatrician was not aggressive enough (even though 50% of kids don't respond at all to steroids). He wanted to do another regimen for 2 weeks at the stronger dose and possibly even do 2-3 more cycles of steroids after that in hopes it'd gradually go down. He even suggested at one point that we wait through the summer to see what would happen. That's when I put my foot down. I literally stood up and said, "i will not wait that long...she has been wanting to walk for months now but can't because of her hemangioma placement---we need this off ASAP!" I'm thinking, HELLO! You'd think any type of administered steroid, conservative or not, would show some kind of change after 10 days if it's going to work. Obviously she's a non-responder. This lump is affecting her gait, her stance and how she gets around, the longer we wait, the higher chance she has of being permanently affected by having to weirdly compensate. So then he hemmed and hawed and said, 'well, maybe we could de-bulk it and see if that helps.' But of course, his schedule is still out by a month, so he said to try the steroids for another two weeks and do the surgery come end of May. I am a quite irritated at the whole thing. It's like, don't tell me you understand my point of view as a parent if you're going to do whatever it is you were going to do anyway. That's not compromising or sympathetic...it's just being a condescending know-it-all whom people don't like. That being said, we're still waiting to see any change after 5 days on the higher dose....i'm not surprised and would love to tell him, "SEE, I told ya! @%*@!"