Fishing Fanatics

Since Johnny has a one week mandatory Rubber Gloving class this coming week we decided to head out to a fishing camp ground out closer to his school so he wouldn't have to commute. Lucky us this place is beautiful. There is a ton of grass, multiple playgrounds in including a water splash area (for the warmer months) and a nice lake. Daniel and Jaxon begged us for a fishing pole after a kid from a few trailers down showed them his tackle box and dead crawdads. The first day we were here I came out with lunch to find them sitting around a crawdad head on stick (anyone else thinking Lord of the Flies or is it just me?)

They have not caught anything with their little fishing pole but Daniel is determined and Jaxon just wants to do whatever Daniel is excited about. When we were at the lake yesterday for a few hours a man next to us caught a nice size fish which Johnny would like you to believe he caught. He even borrowed the man's fish to pose for this picture.

Daniel's little friend then saw a small fish swimming next to the edge of the lake and when dangling his bait in front of the poor thing didn't work the kid just reached in a grabbed the fish out of the water. I was surprised Jaxon would touch it but he was not nearly as scared of the fish as he was of dead crawdad claws.

I really wouldn't mind staying here for a while, but the lake kind of freaks me out. Daniel already fell partially in a few days ago. My dad was on the sheriff's dive team for a long time before Daniel was born. When he came to visit us the other day he said he recognized the area because they had to drag the lake for a missing child. They found the child, but it was too late. Luckily we are a good walk from the water and I am an overprotective and overbearing mother, but the open water still scares me especially with Wesley.

Triumph!

Since we moved out to a lake campground in Riverside we have been living like we are truly on a vacation. We have bonfires and make s'moores regularly. All of our clothes smell like smoke and we hear Coyotes yelping in the distance once the sun sets. It is beautiful here. With all the open fires we have been building Jaxon was able to have his first s'moore and it is now his favorite thing in the world. I used homemade graham crackers (the recipe is in the APFED cookbook), allergy free chocolate chips, and a giant marshmallow. He was in heaven as you can tell by the amount of chocolate all over his face and hands.

So far I don't believe he is reacting to corn, but the only accurate way for me to know is to wait for the results of our next scope, which with all the moving around and my disappointing first appointment at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego I have yet to schedule. He is coughing a lot the last few days but no one else is getting a cold and he just got over one a few weeks ago, so that could be a sign something is going on. Have any of my EE people had experience with coughing as one of the first signs of a reaction? Of course it could also be the gold fish he sneaks from Wesley, something he picked up from when he licked the front of the TV last week (yuck!), or perhaps the week old pretzel he found in Daniel's car seat. Who knows!

Big Morongo Canyon Hike

It was fortuitous that we came back down to Southern California on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning my parents were going on a hike to Big Morongo Canyon and asked Daniel to come along. He loved having one-on-one time with them and riding in my mom's convertible. My parents said he had more energy than anyone else and the three mile hike was a breeze (for him, not necessarily for everybody else due to some rocky areas and steep inclines). After the hike they went to the Joshua Tree National Park visitors center and Daniel picked out a large stuffed snake he now affectionately calls Rattly the Rattler. On the way back they visited my mom's work friend who breeds King snakes and Daniel was able to hold them. When they arrived home in the afternoon I expected a very tired boy, but he was wired. The first thing he wanted was for me to sew a red pointy tongue onto the mouth of his stuffed snake. I keep finding zip lock baggies of water next to Rattly because Daniel doesn't want him to get thirsty. I just hope he doesn't start to insist on leaving mice out so Rattly doesn't get hungry!

Thanks Mom & Dad! Daniel had a great time with you and I am sure he will remember it for years to come.

Fresno = Short Lived

Well we lived in Fresno together for a total of two weeks. Johnny was technically working there three weeks but the first week was spent up by the Oregon border on a storm work crew. The day after I found a new OB/GYN, registered at the hospital, confirmed the boys T-ball registration, paid for the first two weeks of preschool, found a pediatrician, attended my new ward's Relief Society dinner, and finished 7 loads of laundry the job ended. We found out Friday morning and were loaded up heading out of town before noon. The joy of living in a travel trailer.

We moved back down to Southern CA so Johnny can complete his mandatory Rubber Gloving class then we hope to be reassigned ASAP in April. For the first time ever I said to myself (and my sister) out loud "I hate living like this." BUT shortly after I reminded myself that the Lord blesses us every day and the hardest things we go through always end up bringing the greatest blessings. So, we are in limbo once more...anyone want to start placing bets on where we will be sent next? You probably have a better idea than I do.

Motherly woes...

Wesley has been sick for two days now, poor guy. Baby puke is not only disgusting, but oh so sad. They just have no concept of what is going on with their little bodies. Even worse for a family with an EE child is the worry that every time a child pukes (even if it is not the one diagnosed with EE) they might be reacting to something. At one of the conferences I attended it was said that 60% of EE patients are boys, only 30% girls. How does that statistic work out for my family? I will soon have 4 boys so it stands to reason half (or more) of them will end up having EE. Once the retching or diarrhea begins I immediately run a mental list of what was eaten recently. I tell myself I am silly; kids just get sick sometimes. Then my mom called and when she heard Wesley was sick she asked if he might be reacting to something he ate.

This just confirms I am not the only one that fears more of my boys will end up having EE, since it is not always triggered in infancy. Some people don't have any symptoms until they are teens or adults. When Jaxon was diagnosed at 7 months another mother at church had a 16 year old son who was diagnosed. I counted myself lucky at the time since I could control what my baby ate, which is not so easy with a 16 year old I am sure!

Isn't the "what if" game wonderful? Now that I have vented a little I feel much better and I am sure after a long nap Wesley will wake feeling at least a little better too.

We made it!

Johnny's youngest brother Ben was married on Saturday to a beautiful girl named Stephanie in the Mesa, AZ temple. Due to work schedules we paid almost $500 for Johnny to fly out Saturday morning and return Sunday night. Too bad for me it would have cost almost $2k to fly all of us which left me prego driving from Fresno, CA to Mesa with the 3 boys by myself. I was able to break up the trip by stopping at my parent's house both ways, but it was still over 800 miles and 24 hours of driving in 5 days, one of which was the wedding. I now can tell you some fun facts about myself and my boys.

1. Jaxon has the smallest bladder of any child on the face of the earth.

2. Daniel thinks my underwear are "HUGE." He made sure to tell me at the top of his lungs in an extremely full rest stop bathroom. I of course defended myself by assuring him it was because they had to fit over the baby in my tummy.

3. My boys will never tire of watching Scooby Doo or Mater's Tall Tales.

4. If I accidentally let the "D" word slip under my breath in a moment of complete frustration when the top button came off my son's shirt right before an important family picture it WILL be repeated.

5. Pregnant lady feet and ankles swell at an incredible rate when driving for long periods of time.

Being there for the wedding was totally worth the trip. Ben was so nervous he was trembling. It was cute. Johnny and I think the world of Ben and we plan on naming our 4th son after him.

Of course I am a dork and never thought to take my own couple picture of the happy couple, but I did get some cute ones of my boys at the reception. The decorations were brown and blue in a shabby chic style. It was gorgeous.

The whole wedding day was amazing, but the trip was totally and completely exhausting. We are glad to be back home.

Fresno - we finally made it!

We were a little delayed coming to Fresno, but we finally made it up here on Thursday. Johnny was supposed to go to work last week, which he did, but then he didn't came home. I was stranded in Ontario while Johnny was taken (on his very first day back to work) all over northern CA with a storm work crew. They were gone for a week working 24/7 in a few feet of snow and sometimes sleeping in the truck on the side of the road. My parents of course were called and came to our rescue. They moved us from Ontario to Hemet then up to Fresno to meet Johnny when he got back. We are settled in an older mobile home park near the railroad tracks that is basically on the edge of the Ghetto. After moving in we immediately went looking for another place, then realized this was the best it was going to get without moving much farther from Johnny's work. Luckily we are also on the edge of a very nice part of Fresno. Shopping is close, the temple is in the same parking lot as our church building, parks and water pads are close, the boys are starting preschool this week, and t-ball in April. So far so good. Tomorrow we explore!