Fartsy Smartsy

Those big fancy schmancy doctors think they are so smart! I finally decided to take the ER doc's advise and call the Urologist for my consult. He spent an entire hour showing me my CAT scan and explaining why I need surgery. He said it is between 6 and 8 mm. "I've seen some people pass some pretty big stones, but this stone is too big to pass on your own. You can call me next week to schedule surgery, or you can call me in a year to schedule surgery. It depends on how long you want to be miserable in pain." So, what do you say when an expert puts it that way? Well, I guess I need to schedule surgery....right? So, I scheduled surgery for next Wednesday. What a pain. I can't nurse for 24 hours, Todd is supposed to start his new job next Wednesday, and then leaves for Hawaii (sure it's "work"....ya, ya....paid Hawaiian vacation without the wife and 4 kids is what I call it) for 2 weeks. The whole logistics of surgery with a newborn, twin toddlers, (Bailey's easy), and a husband who is 1) recovering from surgery himself (4 kids is plenty), 2) starting a new job where he works 14-hour days, and 3) leaving to go TDY for 2 weeks is a NIGHTMARE! Anyway, if it has to be done, we'll find a way, right?
So, on my way to bed last night, I made my standard trip to the potty. That MONSTER kidney stone that "won't come out on its own" managed to find its way out alright!!!!!! Whew, I almost passed out when I saw that bad boy!!!!! He said it was 6-8 mm......it was 6 mm wide but 9.5 mm long. I was so happy to call the doctor this morning to cancel that surgery! The bad news is he wants me to bring it in so the lab can analyze it. Let me tell you, that thing is like my Medal of Honor or Purple Heart......I want to frame it or put it in a shadow box for the world to see. I need to take that thing to Vegas with me....what a unique lucky charm, huh? Anyway, it's gone, and I am one happy camper!!!! Those stupid doctors don't know anything........

Stone Soup anyone???

All these damn kidney stones I've been passing....I could brew up a nice stone soup! I was in the ER Friday night still trying to pass the same stone from 4 weeks ago. They tried to talk me into having surgery THAT night, but the urologist said he'd give me until Monday to try to pass it on my own. Well, it's been 4 weeks, so the chances of me passing it by Monday are pretty slim. No, not looking forward to having a camera shoved up my urethra, into my bladder, and into my ureter.....that CAN'T be fun! Well, I guess 5mm is the "magic" size to indicate surgery.....I have a 4mm kidney stone sitting directly on top of a 6mm kidney stone. Both of them are sitting right above my bladder and can't seem to make it through that little turn. I don't know.....it sucks though! I traded in the cancer 11 years ago just to have kidney stones for the rest of my life. Honestly, the cancer was a LOT easier....it didn't hurt at all. Anyone out there who has ever had kidney stones knows what I mean! I've passed 6 stones just during the last half of my pregnancy with Bennett. Gosh, maybe I had all these kids for a reason.....I'll need one of them to donate their dear old mom a kidney one of these days! Seriously, I could probably make a lot of money selling my body to medical research. Oh, I wonder if there is a market for kidney stones on eBay.....hmmmmmm...."LUCKY" kidney stones might be in high demand!

The Griswalds

The Betz Family at the Okinawa Pineapple Farm.......almost as bad as The Griswalds at Wally World!!!!!!!! Are we pathetic looking tourists, or what??????

Spud

Is it too late to change Bennett's name? I like Spud better...it fits him so well :o) He always snuggles up next to me to fall asleep when he's done nursing. He wraps his little arms around me however he can and curls up. When I grab his head to move him or lay him down, it is really warm and fits in my hand just like a baked potato! So, I call him my little spud. I think he likes it :o) Better than "Bean".....that's what Todd calls him. He says he reminds him of a little bean. No, the twins remind me of beans.....they always fart and laugh about it!!!! My little Spud still smells like a baby, not a miniature Todd. Anyway, not much to say except he is a wonderful baby. Eats well, sleeps well, doesn't cry much at all. The boys love him to death, for the most part. Every once in a while they'll get a little jealous. Cam is easily distracted....I just have him help me with the baby. Caden gets a little more jealous, and doesn't get over it as easily. They are doing better than I thought they would though. Cam has decided he doesn't want his milk from his "cup" anymore....."mommy booby milk mine" is what he wants......I was hoping he forgot about that!!!!!
Anyway, here are some more pictures. I know the family is dying to get pictures in the mail.....I'm a little behind on pictures these days. I'll get a CD together one of these days. Until then, you'll have to keep checking here for pictures. I'm sure you can save the pictures from the blog and put them on a disk or a CD though. Anyway, here are a few......

Caden and Baby Bennett

Cam and Baby Bennett

Bailey with all three little guys! My four little princes!

23 staples later

I'm hurtin', but he's finally here......
We sure think he is adorable. He looks just like Bailey did (minus Todd's nose) when he was born. Now I feel like our family is complete. He just fits right in around here. I can't keep Cam away from him. He is definitely a good baby....so far. He eats well, sleeps well, and hardly ever cries. Here is my little prince!!!!!!

Bennett Blake

6-11-2006

5:23 pm

7 lbs 4 oz 19 inches

More to come later. I'm exhausted. Everyone is sleeping EXCEPT me.....I need to catch a little nap before the chaos begins again. I just wanted to get a few pics up now :o)

Fatty Fatty

Okay, not the greatest pictures of me, but you get the idea :o) Yes, I am bigger with this ONE baby than I was with the twins. They were born early, so I wasn't as pregnant as long, but the two of their weights together was 9.5 lbs (plus 2 placentas and 2 bags of amniotic fluid)......so, there is no excuse that I've gained 8 lbs more with this one baby than I did with them :o( I guess it's just my old age.....Well, this picture was taken at the 10-days-to-go-mark......

More Randomness

I took the boys to the pool this past weekend.....NEVER again by myself!!! Well, I guess it wouldn't be as bad if I wasn't 8 1/2 months pregnant. They were monsters! One running one direction, one throwing rocks in the pool (gee, guess who that was?), going in the mud then stepping on people's towels.....geesh, it was horrible. Anyway, I got some cute shots when they were being good.....Right after Cam was done eating Bailey's ice cream, he went up and hugged this little girl and got chocolate all over the front of her....I could have died!

Caden looks so sweet just sitting there on the edge of the pool. There are probably still a dozen rocks in that kiddie pool though!

Mr. Take-off-in-the-opposite-direction looks pretty cute here too. He loves it when he has Bailey all to himself :o)

They LOVE this Curious George PJ set. I could only find one in 2T, so they have to take turns wearing it. Caden is acting like a "oooh oooh oooh ahhh ahhh ahhh" here.

Randomness

Here are some random pictures from the last couple of weeks. This top picture cracks me up. Bailey is so into his hair now. He's growing it out (sounds girly, I know), because he wants to look like a skater......like I'm going to let that happen!!!! Anyway, he came downstairs after his showe with his hair like this. He thought it was all slicked back....had no idea it was sticking straight up. We told him how "good" his hair looked and that we wanted a picture. After we took it and showed it to him, he was so embarrassed.......he'll be even more embarrassed now that everyone has seen it!

The babies LOVE to play with cut up bandanas. My friend, Liz, made a Hobby Lobby trip for us and sent us a bunch of bandanas. We make hats, shirts, masks, everything.....they love them! This is Caden peeking through these. I just ordered the boys a bunch of anesthesia caps with Sponge Bob, Curious George, animals, about 15 of them.....they will have a blast with those also!

Caden loves to sit on the couch and watch Monster's Inc, Finding Nemo, and Brother Bear....those are his favorites. He'd watch them all day long if we'd let him. Cam was still napping here, so he decided to watch tv with Sponge Bob. For a while, when he was "zoning" he was even holding his hand :o)

Todd took Bailey golfing last weekend. All I got was a couple of pictures. Bailey said he was glad they didn't keep score....wasn't his best day :o( Anyway, Bailey is signed up for golf lessons and tennis lessons this summer. He is excited about both!