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Thursday, April 12, 2012
Something We Both Like
Today while Nathan was taking a nap, Kelsey and I sat down to watch something on Netflix together. Kelsey's only stipulation was that it be something we both like. I suggested "Knight Rider." She hates that show. She poo-pooed a few other suggestions reminding me, "We have to BOTH like it! Hey, how about that one?!" She was pointing to a Leap Frog video. I resisted the temptation to remind her about her rule and I said, "Okay." Watching a Leap Frog show was worth it to see the huge grin on Kelsey's face as we sat down together to watch a show that 'we both like.'
Dear Tooth Fairy....
A couple of days ago Daren had to teach seminary. He left early in the morning while we were all still sound asleep. When he got home, he found the following note on the doorstep:
If you can't read it too well in the picture, it says:
Front: From Mackenzie
To The Tooth Fairy
Inside:
(top, right corner says "Mackenzie rae Hardy")
Dear tooth Fairy
I would like to meet you very very very much.
I am 7 years old. My big sister Haylee said I could meet you wen I was 7.
Now she is saing I can't meet you.
Mackenzie does still believe in the tooth fairy. She's wavering on the Easter Bunny but I think she's still a believer in Santa Clause too. Daren and I thought this note she wrote was so adorable. She had stayed up late writing in her journal the night before and I figured this was what she had been working on. We were actually extremely impressed with her writing capabilities. We knew Mackenzie was very smart but she's actually smarter than we thought! She can spell hard words like, "would." And her handwriting was quite neat too.
Daren brought me the note with telling me it just had to go in the blog book. The next day I walked out and found it on the doorstep again. Apparently Mackenzie had found it in our bedroom and put it back out for the tooth fairy to find.
Yesterday, Haylee asked me if I had seen the note Mackenzie wrote to the tooth fairy. I said I had and she started to tell me all about it. "I wrote it," she said. "Mackenzie told me what to say and I wrote it down." Well that explains the above grade-level spelling and handwriting! It was still pretty cute though so it still gets blogged.
Big Boy Bed
While we were living at Grandma's house (about a week after we moved in, actually), Nate learned to climb out of his port-a-crib. We had to quickly buy him a mini-tent called a PeaPod that we could zip him into at night. It only took him a few days to learn to undo the zipper, but since it had two zippers that came together we could safety pin the zippers together so he couldn't get out. He only cried about it a few times and then he liked climbing into his PeaPod and even insisted on helping us zip it shut. :)
We finally moved into our new house a couple of weeks ago and we decided against setting up the crib. After all, with Nate's climbing talents we were sure that he would be able to climb out. We tried getting him to sleep in a big boy bed (the bottom bunk) but he just kept climbing up to the top bunk. We removed the ladder but he still wouldn't stay in the bed. So we set the PeaPod back up and he has been sleeping in there for the past couple of weeks. Last night when I told him it was time for bed, he pointed at my bed and said, "nigh-nigh." I laid him on the bed and he snuggled up and grinned. But he didn't stay in there so I picked him up and started to carry him to his PeaPod. He pointed at the bottom bunk instead so I laid him down and put the covers over him. I told Haylee to let me know if he got out and I would put him in the PeaPod. But he soundly slept on the bottom bunk all night long.
This picture was taken at nap time today. I packed up the PeaPod this morning and put him in the bed for naptime. I had to put him back in about 3 more times and he cried each time. But he finally stayed and I don't think it will take him more than a few days to adjust. He is such a big boy!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
*Ear Surgeries
This blog post has been a long time coming and I can finally write it. In April 2011, Mackenzie and Nathan both had surgery to get tubes put in their ears, and Mackenzie also had her adenoids removed. I didn't think to bring my camera with me so I used my phone to get some precious pictures of them before they went in for the surgery. The problem was that I couldn't figure out how to get the pictures off of my phone. Yesterday Daren and I activated a new phone service and I needed a new phone that would work with the new plan. It came with a USB cord for the phone so I thought, Hmmm, I'll just check and see if it works with my old phone. It did! So I could finally download all those phone pictures onto the computer. There will soon be another blog post with all of those.
Let me start by backing up. Mackenzie was in kindergarten and as a normal part of kindergarten, the school nurse did hearing tests on all the kids. They do other tests too but that was when we first found out that Mackenzie wasn't hearing 100%. They did want to redo the test before referring her to an audiologist because even a cold can give you temporary hearing problems. They repeated the test and she failed again. They gave us the referral and we took Mackenzie to see an audiologist. The audiologist discovered that she had a vacuum behind both of her eardrums pulling the eardrums tight towards her head. She also confirmed that she wasn't hearing clearly. She said it probably sounded to her like it would sound under water. She also most likely felt some pain at times as well.
The next step was to take her to an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor (ENT). Mike's little boy, Jake, had to go see a pediatric ENT to get tubes in his ears and Mike and Cindy told us what a wonderful doctor he is. So we decided to go to Valencia so that we could be sure to see a pediatric ENT. At the same time we were figuring out all of Mackenzie's hearing problems, Nate was having ear infection after ear infection, so our pediatrician suggested that we go ahead and take him to the ENT too. We made a double appointment with Dr. Vadapalli in Valencia. It turned out that he had an office in Lancaster too so from then on we would be able to start seeing him there. We also scheduled the surgeries to have the tubes put in their ears for a surgery center in Lancaster.
We had to do a little bit more with Mackenzie because of her age. Nate's problems were pretty common but Mackenzie's were unusual. We took her to get an x-ray to see her adenoids because Dr. Vadapalli said if they were oversized then they could be blocking her ear tubes and causing the vacuum. Because the x-ray wasn't 100% conclusive if the blockage was caused by the adenoids or not even though they were larger than normal, we decided to go ahead an have tubes placed in her ears as well as her adenoids removed at the same time.
Mackenzie was very nervous about having surgery. We tried to do some special things for her to make it easier on her. We took her to the store and bought her some special pajamas to wear to the surgery center. My mom got her a brand new stuffed unicorn. She and Nathan couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight the night before. The surgery was on April 28, 2011. Nate was 10 months old and he was so grumpy because he was so hungry. We changed them both into hospital gowns and they got hair nets for their head. Mackenzie started to get really nervous and I could see that she was about to tear up. Some sweet nurses brought her some coloring pages and some markers. That helped her get her mind off of things and she cheered up quite a bit after that.
Nate went first and he was done so fast! But he was very, very sad for about 30 minutes. Once he finally calmed down he was even smiling and being adorable to the nurses. Dr. Vadapalli said Mackenzie would only take an extra 15 minutes because of the adenoids. When it ended up being so much longer than that, Daren and I really started to get nervous. The nurses assured us that the doctors always think it's going to go faster than it is because they forget to figure in all the prep time. Because we had already gone back with Nathan, we were back there when they brought Mackenzie in. I think normally they don't bring the parents back until the child is fully out of anesthesia because that was pretty hard to watch. I couldn't even look and Daren couldn't stop looking. She finally woke up but like Nate, she was very sad for a long time. She said she was in pain so they gave her some pain medication and let her go back to sleep. Nathan fell asleep too so we just sat in there for a long time while Mackenzie slept off the anesthesia and pain med. We were so tired too because we had to get up so early in the morning to get to the surgery center by 7am. Daren fell asleep next to Mackenzie while we were waiting for her to wake up. Finally the nurses came in and woke her up and said it was time to get going.
It was hard to see our little babies go through this trial and have to be put under general anesthesia. But I am so grateful for modern medicine and that they were able to be helped. After the kids had completely recovered, we went back to Dr. Vadapalli so that Mackenzie and Nathan could get their hearing tested. We went to his office in Valencia because that's where he had the sound proof room for hearing tests. It was so great to find out that both of them were hearing perfectly again! And it was fun to stop by and visit Mike and Cindy and Jacob when we were there.
Let me start by backing up. Mackenzie was in kindergarten and as a normal part of kindergarten, the school nurse did hearing tests on all the kids. They do other tests too but that was when we first found out that Mackenzie wasn't hearing 100%. They did want to redo the test before referring her to an audiologist because even a cold can give you temporary hearing problems. They repeated the test and she failed again. They gave us the referral and we took Mackenzie to see an audiologist. The audiologist discovered that she had a vacuum behind both of her eardrums pulling the eardrums tight towards her head. She also confirmed that she wasn't hearing clearly. She said it probably sounded to her like it would sound under water. She also most likely felt some pain at times as well.
The next step was to take her to an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor (ENT). Mike's little boy, Jake, had to go see a pediatric ENT to get tubes in his ears and Mike and Cindy told us what a wonderful doctor he is. So we decided to go to Valencia so that we could be sure to see a pediatric ENT. At the same time we were figuring out all of Mackenzie's hearing problems, Nate was having ear infection after ear infection, so our pediatrician suggested that we go ahead and take him to the ENT too. We made a double appointment with Dr. Vadapalli in Valencia. It turned out that he had an office in Lancaster too so from then on we would be able to start seeing him there. We also scheduled the surgeries to have the tubes put in their ears for a surgery center in Lancaster.
We had to do a little bit more with Mackenzie because of her age. Nate's problems were pretty common but Mackenzie's were unusual. We took her to get an x-ray to see her adenoids because Dr. Vadapalli said if they were oversized then they could be blocking her ear tubes and causing the vacuum. Because the x-ray wasn't 100% conclusive if the blockage was caused by the adenoids or not even though they were larger than normal, we decided to go ahead an have tubes placed in her ears as well as her adenoids removed at the same time.
Mackenzie was very nervous about having surgery. We tried to do some special things for her to make it easier on her. We took her to the store and bought her some special pajamas to wear to the surgery center. My mom got her a brand new stuffed unicorn. She and Nathan couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight the night before. The surgery was on April 28, 2011. Nate was 10 months old and he was so grumpy because he was so hungry. We changed them both into hospital gowns and they got hair nets for their head. Mackenzie started to get really nervous and I could see that she was about to tear up. Some sweet nurses brought her some coloring pages and some markers. That helped her get her mind off of things and she cheered up quite a bit after that.
Nate went first and he was done so fast! But he was very, very sad for about 30 minutes. Once he finally calmed down he was even smiling and being adorable to the nurses. Dr. Vadapalli said Mackenzie would only take an extra 15 minutes because of the adenoids. When it ended up being so much longer than that, Daren and I really started to get nervous. The nurses assured us that the doctors always think it's going to go faster than it is because they forget to figure in all the prep time. Because we had already gone back with Nathan, we were back there when they brought Mackenzie in. I think normally they don't bring the parents back until the child is fully out of anesthesia because that was pretty hard to watch. I couldn't even look and Daren couldn't stop looking. She finally woke up but like Nate, she was very sad for a long time. She said she was in pain so they gave her some pain medication and let her go back to sleep. Nathan fell asleep too so we just sat in there for a long time while Mackenzie slept off the anesthesia and pain med. We were so tired too because we had to get up so early in the morning to get to the surgery center by 7am. Daren fell asleep next to Mackenzie while we were waiting for her to wake up. Finally the nurses came in and woke her up and said it was time to get going.
It was hard to see our little babies go through this trial and have to be put under general anesthesia. But I am so grateful for modern medicine and that they were able to be helped. After the kids had completely recovered, we went back to Dr. Vadapalli so that Mackenzie and Nathan could get their hearing tested. We went to his office in Valencia because that's where he had the sound proof room for hearing tests. It was so great to find out that both of them were hearing perfectly again! And it was fun to stop by and visit Mike and Cindy and Jacob when we were there.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
New School
Two weeks ago the girls switched to a school in town called Pierce. We had just decided to buy the Whitmer's house (located in the Pierce district) and it was the start of a new trimester so we decided it was the perfect time to change schools. The girls were a little nervous but also a little excited. Friday night, when they were tired, they cried about leaving their friends, teachers, librarian, and everything they loved about Inyokern School.
Luckily, all 3 of them LOVE their new teachers and new classes. They are making friends and they are learning to enjoy the positive aspects of attending a larger school. There were some neat things about the smaller school that we really liked, but now we get to experience the fun things about a big school. For example, yesterday was Jr. Olympics. The school went all out! Each class chose a country to represent. They spent time learning about their country and making flags. They were asked to wear their countries' colors on the day of the olympics and they had a parade of countries. After the parade each class did a cheer for their country and then there was a tug o' war. Since there are 2 classes for each grade, each class went against another class of it's own age. The kids had so much fun and I think they are really going to love this tradition.
Another new thing about Pierce is that the kids can wear school uniforms. They aren't required to wear them, but if they do, they can earn rewards. Natalee wasn't excited about it and since she only has 1 trimester left in the school, I didn't feel terribly inclined to buy her a new school wardrobe. She also said after the first day of school, that only one kid in her class had worn a uniform and it was a boy. Haylee doesn't seem to care one way or the other. Mackenzie is insistent on wearing the uniform. It consists of either navy or khaki bottoms (shorts, pants, skirt, skort, or jumper) and any solid-colored polo shirt.
A few days ago, Mackenzie climbed into the car after school and she was so excited to tell me some news. I forget their names but it went something like this: "Mom!!!! Today I was wearing the same pants as Susie and the same shirt as Laura!!! And yesterday I had the same pants as Betty!"...followed by a big giggle. She is going to have a great year if she loves wearing the same clothes as her classmates and she keeps wearing her uniform!
Luckily, all 3 of them LOVE their new teachers and new classes. They are making friends and they are learning to enjoy the positive aspects of attending a larger school. There were some neat things about the smaller school that we really liked, but now we get to experience the fun things about a big school. For example, yesterday was Jr. Olympics. The school went all out! Each class chose a country to represent. They spent time learning about their country and making flags. They were asked to wear their countries' colors on the day of the olympics and they had a parade of countries. After the parade each class did a cheer for their country and then there was a tug o' war. Since there are 2 classes for each grade, each class went against another class of it's own age. The kids had so much fun and I think they are really going to love this tradition.
Another new thing about Pierce is that the kids can wear school uniforms. They aren't required to wear them, but if they do, they can earn rewards. Natalee wasn't excited about it and since she only has 1 trimester left in the school, I didn't feel terribly inclined to buy her a new school wardrobe. She also said after the first day of school, that only one kid in her class had worn a uniform and it was a boy. Haylee doesn't seem to care one way or the other. Mackenzie is insistent on wearing the uniform. It consists of either navy or khaki bottoms (shorts, pants, skirt, skort, or jumper) and any solid-colored polo shirt.
A few days ago, Mackenzie climbed into the car after school and she was so excited to tell me some news. I forget their names but it went something like this: "Mom!!!! Today I was wearing the same pants as Susie and the same shirt as Laura!!! And yesterday I had the same pants as Betty!"...followed by a big giggle. She is going to have a great year if she loves wearing the same clothes as her classmates and she keeps wearing her uniform!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Baby Grandpa
 |
| Grandpa, a.k.a. Max Lee Moffitt, Jr. (1961) |
Last Sunday, Kelsey was drawing in a notebook during Sacrament Meeting. Then she showed me her finished product and said, "This is Grandpa when he was a baby." I asked her if she had ever seen Grandpa when he was a baby. She nodded while answering, "Yes, he showed the picture last time." (or something like that.) I realized she was talking about the picture he brought the week before. I think he was 10 or 11 in that picture but in Kelsey's mind I guess he was just a baby. And her picture was so adorable I had to share it. I especially enjoy the different eye sizes. :)
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Busy Birthday
Mackenzie's birthday is this Saturday, and unfortunately, it is one of the busiest days of the year for us. It is the stake relief society women's conference which Daren always has some responsibility in, due to his calling. This year he is responsible for the children's class and the luncheon following the conference. Then, later in the evening, one of Natalee's friends from elementary school, Nicole Martin, is getting baptized. We absolutely cannot miss her baptism. Her baptism is at 6:00pm, right about dinner time.
Yesterday I decided to explain the situation to Mackenzie. I told her what a busy day it was and said maybe we should go out for dinner as a family. Before I could finish my sentence she stopped me and said, "But I really wanted that special dinner that Haylee made one time." The dinner she was referring to is basically a hot dog surrounded by refried beans and American cheese, wrapped in a burrito shell and heated up. Another reason why going out to dinner sounded like a great plan. I told her we could go to John's Pizza and she informed me that she only likes the fun factory, not the food. So Natalee suggested we go to McDonald's and Mackenzie thought that was a great idea. We "talked her into it", she told us. So.....I continued explaining to her that because Saturday is so busy, we could go to McDonald's on Friday night. With a very concerned/disappointed look on her face she informed me, "But that's someone else's birthday."
Poor thing. Of all my kids, Mackenzie is the most likely to care if we don't celebrate her birthday on her actual birthday. It looks like we will be working around the baptism.
Yesterday I decided to explain the situation to Mackenzie. I told her what a busy day it was and said maybe we should go out for dinner as a family. Before I could finish my sentence she stopped me and said, "But I really wanted that special dinner that Haylee made one time." The dinner she was referring to is basically a hot dog surrounded by refried beans and American cheese, wrapped in a burrito shell and heated up. Another reason why going out to dinner sounded like a great plan. I told her we could go to John's Pizza and she informed me that she only likes the fun factory, not the food. So Natalee suggested we go to McDonald's and Mackenzie thought that was a great idea. We "talked her into it", she told us. So.....I continued explaining to her that because Saturday is so busy, we could go to McDonald's on Friday night. With a very concerned/disappointed look on her face she informed me, "But that's someone else's birthday."
Poor thing. Of all my kids, Mackenzie is the most likely to care if we don't celebrate her birthday on her actual birthday. It looks like we will be working around the baptism.
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