Eventful to say the least

Just a quick update on life at the McCoys.

Genevieve is recovering well from her UTI but is going to see a Urologist to decide if she needs further treatment (surgery) to prevent more UTI's in the future. She bounced back right away with the help of an antibiotic and some extra snuggling in bed with mommy and daddy!

Jocelyn was diagnosed today with the lovely "Hand, Mouth, and Foot" disease. Luckily, it is just a virus, but she has little red blisters all over her feet and sporadically on her hands and mouth. She will most likely give it to Jenna who will most likely give it back to Jocelyn. Since it is a virus, you can't do anything about it except let it run its course. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all and has been in a good mood, so we can't complain!

I am temporarily out of work due to a sprained thumb but don't ask me how it happened. I really don't know anything except that it happened while I was walking Zoe. I think she may have tugged away and I wasn't holding onto the leash hard enough which ended up pulling my thumb back. I have a splint that keeps my fingers from moving which has already helped a lot!

Here are some overdue cute pictures:

Jocelyn kissing her baby

The girls wearing my shoes

Jocelyn on her bike

Jenna on her bike

Mikayla and Jenna dressing up

Jocelyn showing us that she will do anything to reach my phone

Jenna with a goofy face

Beautiful baby...don't you think?

I can't go anywhere without my blanket

A day at the ER

My poor little Genevieve has yet another Urinary Tract Infection. And I wouldn't think so negatively of UTI's if they didn't have to be diagnosed through blood work and a catheter! My little 2 year should not have things inserted into her body like that! She was so brave, but it was heart-wrenching to see those nurses poking and prodding at my completely innocent little girl!
She has been having ongoing back and stomach pain and today came down with a high fever. I took her to the Medi-Center since her doctor was out today and the doctors at the Medi-Center wouldn't even see her due to her symptoms. They instead insisted that we go straight to the hospital.
So now she is on a round of antibiotics and may eventually have to have surgery to correct the shape and size of her urethra. This is a hereditary "malformation" of the urethra that a few of the females in my family have had to have corrected.
Although she was quite lethargic at the hospital, she said things that kept me laughing and knowing that she would really be okay.
About 5 different times while waiting for results, she said, "Mom, I want outta here!"
When waiting for her prescription she asked where her medicine was. I told her that it wasn't ready yet. She asked, "Is it cooling off in the fishy-fishy." (That means refrigerator if you didn't see the blog from a few weeks back.)
And when we were released from the hospital, she insisted on walking to the car (rather than being carried) the whole way saying, "hut 2, 3, 4!"

Ladybug Galoshes

Jenna was playing today with her ladybug galoshes from her Godparents- Ron and Sarah Hartley. She asked me to take a picture of her wearing them.

Here she is showing them off

Then she asked me to take a picture of the other one

Children, Children, Children

If any of you have talked to me recently, you have probably heard me say 1 or 2 negative things about my beautiful little girls. I have noticed lately that I get extremely excited at the chance to get away from them for a little while and I always seem to point out their faults to others.

For example:

Jenna always says she has to go potty, but after I take her diaper off, take her pants off, and sit with her, holding her hands for about 10 minutes, she will say she is done, and nothing is to show for it. This is very frustrating to me.

I put Jocelyn in her high chair, feed her, wipe every inch of her body off when she is done (because only 1/3 of the food she was offered went into her mouth-the rest made its way into her hair or down her clothes), and then wipe off her food-crusted sippy cup. I do this about 5 times a day.

And then I do that with Genevieve at 5 DIFFERENT times because they never seem to be hungry at the same time. Luckily, more of the food goes into her mouth!

I watch as Jenna shoves Jocelyn to the floor for no apparent reason at all.

What I don't say enough is the following:

Genevieve sleeps solid at night from 8pm to 7am. She shares a room with Jocelyn who sleeps solid at night from 7:30pm to 7am. Jocelyn takes a daily 2 hour morning nap and both girls take afternoon naps, at the same time, for about 2.5 hours. Basically, I have EXCELLENT sleepers!

If Jocelyn gets fussy, you will hear Jenna say, "It's okay Jocie, don't cry, what do you want?" And then you will see her gently stroke her.

When Jenna does something naughty and I ask her to come here, she comes on "1" (Most of the time) and if I have to get to 2 or 3, she comes running! And while she is running, she says, "I'm coming!" After I scold her for whatever she did, she says, "okay mom" she gives me a hug and then she says, "I love you so much mom!" All of this usually done without being asked!

If Jocelyn has a toy that Jenna really wants, Jenna will go get another toy, hand it to Jocelyn and then take the toy she wanted from Jocelyn. Luckily, Jocelyn is still young enough to be content with the new toy and hasn't realized that Jenna got the better one!

Both girls were born without any health problems.

The girls have 4 grandparents, 8 aunts and uncles, and 7 cousins, who ALL live in Yakima and that they get to see on a very regular basis.

With all of that said, I have to ask myself why I complain so much about the work required to keep them safe, happy, and healthy. My children act like all children do at this age. I have decided to relax and enjoy their company and not to take a moment with them for granted!

Dog anyone?

My dog is about to drive me crazy! Literally! She graduated from her obedience class last Thursday and was doing quite well until Friday when we took her to the vet to get Spayed. We picked her up Saturday after her surgery and were told that most dogs need about 1 week to recuperate after the surgery, but that Zoe would need 2 weeks due to her large size. They told us to refrain from exercise for that time because they don't want to disrupt the incision site. They also said that dogs are typically calm and quiet during this time.
Today is Thursday, less than a week after surgery and I am beginning to wonder what they did to her while out of my care. She is out of control crazy! Imagine 50+ pounds of pure adrenaline coming at you anytime you look at it! In class, we learned that dogs need 3 things in this particular order: 1) Exercise 2) Obedience 3) Affection. #2 can't come before #1 and #3 can't come before #2 or obviously #1. Now, remember that #1 can't happen for 2 weeks! So, can you see my frustration?
So, I am taking her back to class tonight to see if the so-called "Dog Whisperers" can help my dog!

Binki Update

48 hours straight with no binki! That's 2 naps and 2 night times without it! And only about 20 minutes total of crying for it!

Buck teeth vs. 10 minutes of rocking?

So, my oldest daughter is going on 2 1/2 and still uses a binki to sleep with. Okay, fine, she also uses it when she is cranky, and hurt, and tired, and sad, FINE...she still uses her binki a lot!

I don't want my kids to have buck teeth. Call me what you want, but I know that anyone can relate. What teacher parks their kids in front of movies all day and tells them not to play outside. And what Dietitian feeds her children Big Macs? So, as a hygienist, I brush my kids teeth twice daily (yes, this may be excessive, but that's another topic) and I won't allow them to have a binki in their mouth at preschool.

I decided that I haven't really been trying that hard to take it away from her, so today, out of the blue, I told Sam that I was taking it away starting tonight at bedtime. I even warned Jenna by telling her that tonight she will still get to take her blanket and her baby to bed, but that she doesn't get a binki because she is a big girl now! She thought that was pretty cool because about 5 minutes before bedtime, I warned her, "Jenna, it's almost time for bed" to which she replied with the hugest, sweetest, smile, "OK, and noooooo binki 'cause I'm a big girl!"

The result? I had to rock her for 10 minutes (which is 9 minutes more than before I took the binki away,) followed by 3.5 minutes of crying. And really, the only reason I had to rock her for so long is that she didn't have a plug in her mouth to keep her quiet which allowed her to ask 4,000 questions while she was being rocked. But that's it? Well darn, I would have done that a long time ago had I known it was going to be that easy!!!

Here are a few pics of all 3 of my girls! Oh yes, and one of Sam too!

"Jenna, you are choking me!"

Sisterly love!

Daddy and Jocelyn sporting their green and denim

Zoe at 17 weeks and 50 pounds!

Good stay Zoe!

Can't she stay like this forever?

Ditto!

"Refridgerator"

What's new?

I feel like I should be blogging since it has been a while, but I don't really feel like there is a whole lot to talk about. Let's see...

We had my sisters kids staying with us all of last week while they celebrated their 10th anniversary in Hawaii. That was, um, well, eventful! Their kids are very well behaved and did well away from their parents, but having 5 kids for over a week was pretty crazy! From making lunches, to bathing 5, to taking them to and from school, getting back in time for naps, listening to my name said more than I have ever heard it before, etc. Juliana was a huge help though with my little girls! It was all worth it though for a couple of reasons. 1) They brought us back 100% Kona coffee (yum!) 2) They will be watching our girls in return when we go on a "kid-less" vacation in February (destination is still unknown) and 3) it was a good confirmation that we are content with 2 kids! :-)

Zoe has been in Obedience classes for a couple of weeks and has actually really started catching on! We work with her every day for 20 minutes or so at a time and she is doing well with the sit, stay, leave it, and the check commands. Also, Sam has taken her on a walk EVERY night for about 40 minutes for the last couple of weeks. Sam says he likes it for the exercise, but I think he secretly likes the bonding he does with Zoe!

I am going to attach some pictures real soon of all of my girls so stay tuned!