New pages…

Loving life as a mom

So this is what it’s like to be a mother of toddlers:

Yes, those are peas.

Carson Rolls Over

Today Carson is 6 weeks old!  He has tolerated tummy time and today he found a way to avoid it all together-rolling over.  I put him on his tummy and almost instantly he rolled over.  Chris didn’t believe me, but soon saw for himself the second time he did.  He was such a Doubting Thomas.  Here’s the proof for the rest of you!  There’s one at the beginning and then a slower roll in the middle, almost like it’s in slow mo.  After that the video just goes on.  He gets tired and the performance is over.

Who does Carson look most like?

All these pics are around 1 month old.  Who does Carson favor, Ryan or AJ?  Don’t forget to cast your vote…scroll down.

Ryan

AJ

Carson

Vocabulary I never knew I’d know…

BBG-the name of the wall suction device that cleared the secretions.

Cap Refill-a small test that medical staff do on the nail to see how well the capillaries refill- a way to check how much oxygen they are getting.

Suction Catheter-a small tube about two inches long to suck out deep secretions that the BBG can’t reach-terrible to watch. 😦

Pulse Ox- a little monitor the staff put on Carson’s foot to monitor heart rate and oxygen level.

Nasal Cannula- The little devise that goes into the nose to administer the oxygen.

Carson caught the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) which caused him to get bronchiolitis-a lung infection of the tiny tubes inside Carson’s lungs.  The airways become inflamed which makes it difficult to breathe.  They also become filled with fluid and mucus.  The virus also causes your body to produce massive amounts of mucus in your nose and throat, causing even more breathing problems. 

We knew Carson was sick, but didn’t realize it had gotten so bad.  On Jan. 1 I called the after care nurse line and we counted how many times he breathed in a minute and we checked around his ribs to see how hard he was working to breathe-they said he was managing well and didn’t see any need to bring him in. 

The next day I took him into the doctor’s office to check to see how he was doing.  Lungs and ears were fine, and his oxygen level was 90%.  The doctor said he had a cold and we’d just have to wait it out. 

Two nights later we had dinner with some friends, the wife has some medical background and she noticed his nail beds were looking blueish/grey.  However, at the time they were refilling fine.  When we got home, I called the after hour care again and this time they sent us in to Urgent Care. 

Carson and I left Sunday night to be seen at the Children’s Hospital location off Hwy 7 & I-25.  They scutioned him out using the deep suction and the BBG.  They took a chest x-ray and gave him a breathing treatment.  They also tested him for RSV and I was told to check the results the next day with my doctor’s office.  His oxygen level there was 95% and the x-ray was clear.  We were told that he did have bronchiolitis and to continue using saline and the bulb syringe to extract the mucus.  We were sent home. 

I followed through the next day with my doctor’s office and we counted breaths again this time he was around 58/minute and the area around his ribs were pulling more than usual.  She had us come into the doc’s office and this time when he was eating, his oxygen levels were in the low 70’s.  The doctor started him on oxygen and sucked out his nose again.  Then we were on our way to the hospital in an ambulance.

Carson was monitored and suctioned every 3 hours or so.  He was kept on oxygen.  We were able to come home yesterday.  Carson’s still on oxygen, but his congestion is much better.  He also seems to be breathing much better.  We’ll go to the doctor’s for a check up tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers and support.  We appreciate our family and friends so much.  We love you and are blessed by your love for us.

Early Morning Adventure…

Would you panic if you woke up to this?

It’s 5:15am. 

Chris:  Don’t panic, but the house next door is on fire and we need to evacuate.

That’s really all I remember because I was woken out of dead sleep.  Chris said, and these are his exact words, that I got my crying on and said, “Oh, is our house is going to burn down?”  I, however, remember being disoriented and asking him if I need to grab the scrapbooks, the one thing I’d grab after my family was safe.  I was so confused.

I had the baby and he got the other two and we headed to the mom van (that’s what our 4 and 3 yr old call the super sweet ride I drive).  Although, there was really no where to go because in our small cul-de-sac there were two fire trucks and two police cars blocking the exit.  So we drove to the other side and waited.  I fed the baby and the boys watched in pure excitement.  We didn’t see any flames, but there was smoke pouring out of the door.  Everyone was safe even their cat.  It was really cool to see the firefighter hand him over to our relieved neighboor.  Two people were sent to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.  The captain said it was a small fire that started and was contained in the garage, but we still don’t know what caused it. 

There were a total of four firetrucks and three police cars.  It was pretty scary being that close to what could have been a huge disaster.  Thank goodness for smoke detectors.  Make sure your batteries have been swapped out recently.  Here are some more pics.  They aren’t great because it was cold outside and I didn’t want to mess with finding the correct settings on my camera, but you can see most of it pretty well.

The third firetruck and a bit of our mom van.

The boys watching the action.

The 4th firetruck, police cars, and maybe an ambulance.

The 2 firetrucks by our house.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you!  I hope that your 2009 is great! 

I’m so excited about everything that’s going to happen this year.  Ryan will be going off to Kindergarten.   AJ will hopefully be potty trained.  🙂  Carson will be walking and talking.  We will be going on our first official family vacation.  I will hopefully be doing more photography.  And Chris is looking forward to what’s in store for him at Northern Hills.  What an amazing year it’s going to be!  And what a great start to all of it when gas is $1.34/gal!  Did you ever think we’d see it that low again?   I sure didn’t!!!

Many of us make resolutions at this time of year.  Lose weight or take better care of our bodies, call home more often, be better parents, take up a new hobby…  I’ve never been much of a resolution making type of gal because when I fail (usually within the first week) I feel nothing but guilty.  I do, however, reflect over the last year and think and pray about the changes I can make to be more like the woman that God is designing me to be.  I think this year I’ll be focusing on using my time better.  With 3 boys, working online, and teaching Jazzercise, I think that’ll be key to keeping me on the sane side of life. 

I think another “biggy” when it comes to resolutions is spending money more wisely.  Which leads me to coupons…I’ve been a HUGE advocate of coupons for about two years now.  I started playing the Grocery Game in the summer of ’06 (I think).  When I was keeping track, I think that first year I saved over $1000 using coupons.  And recently I found another website that helps assist in keeping the grocery bills lower:  Coupon Mom.  We typically don’t spend over $200 in groceries per month and coupons play a huge part in that.  I also shop the quick sale items for meat, milk, and bread.  The deep-freeze is my best friend when it comes to stretching that dollar.  So just to give you an example of what our shopping bill looks like I’ll tell you what I saved and spent today.  This was only average when compared to how I usually do…

Today at King Soopers I spent $35.11 and this is what it bought me:

2 boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes

2 boxes of Life cereal

Jiffy corn muffins

A loaf of whole wheat bread-quick sale rack for $1.50

18 count lg eggs

1 package of turkey brats-quick sale for $1.29

1 package of turkey drumsticks-quick sale for $2.13

1 package of 16 chicken drumsticks-quick sale for $3.91

Dishwasher detergent

2 coffemate creamers

Laundry detergent

Bananas

1 pineapple

1 package of Jumbo hotdogs-terrible for us, I know, but the kids love ’em!

24 count Aleve

Skippy natural PB

2 boxes of mac ‘n cheese

6 individual servings of applesauce-quick sale for $.14/each

I brought my own bags and saved$.25.  I also saved $10.80 with my King Soopers card and I saved $8.80 using coupons.  So I saved a total of $19.60.  Usually I save closer to 50-75% of what I spend.  Today it was only 37%, but still not bad!

The biggest thing with coupons (imhp) is that you can’t be brand specific and just because you have a coupon for something does NOT mean you have to use it.  When I first started, I pretty much bought everything that was 75% off or more.  That included all the c-rap that is good to eat, but maybe not the healthiest of options.  I still tend to buy those things every now and again when they are $.50 or less, but I’m much picker than I have been in my earlier days as a couponer.  Happy shopping!

Coupons and Salvation  a devotional by Chris Green 

     Recently my wife has gotten into the rather surprisingly in-depth world of couponing.  She plans, organizes, and watches weekly for “the list”.  It’s really something to see.  The art of clipping, comparing, counting, cutting cost, and combining them in a cute little coupon cache is comparable to a crazy artist with his canvas!  She redeems these coupons for items at a reduced cost, sometimes even for free!  Great for the budget!

     As she dives into this endeavor, it made me think of the word redeem.  It made me think about how God has chosen to redeem us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  The Oxford Dictionary defines the word redeem like this:  Redeem: -to buy back;  -to recover by effort and/ or payment;  -make a single payment to discharge;  -to save from;  -purchase the freedom of;  -to save or rescue.  Look at the last two definitions in particular.  The words freedom, save, and rescue ring loud.  We need rescuing from our sin.  Like those coupons, we need to be redeemed.  The apostle Paul makes this very clear in his letter to the Roman church that this is just what Jesus has done for us.  “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all  have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:22-24 emphasis mine). 

     The cost to redeem our lives was high.  So high, in fact, that the only worthy payment was God sacrificing Himself as Jesus Christ, taking our sin and dying in our place, for us, so that we might be bought back.  And in so doing, receiving freedom and forgiveness from the sin that rules our lives.  Ephesians 1:7-8 says, “In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”  Christ has redeemed us!  You didn’t have a choice when you came into this world.  You were born a sinner.  But God’s greatness prevails over the dead-end that sin brings us to if we give our lives to Him.  “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”  (1 Peter 1:18-19). 

     If you’ve never given your life to Jesus … stopped living for yourself and started living for Him … turned from your way to His way … been redeemed by His blood, then I invite you to do that today.  Right now.  You just need to talk with the Savior.  Maybe you say something like this:  God, I know I messed up.  I confess my sin to you and I’m sorry that I’ve sinned against you.  I believe that you sent your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for me, and that he was resurrected to sit at your right hand.  I turn from my sin to you, Lord.  Amen.

     So, as you look at the ads in the paper or stroll down the grocery aisle and see those coupons, think about redemption.  When you redeem that coupon, remember that Jesus redeemed you from an eternity of separation from Him and don’t wait another day to share this news of salvation with others.   Amen.

 

Chris Green