What a day

Well today didn't turn out quite as well as planned.  I can't say it was a total loss, we had a pretty good morning & afternoon, but the evening I could have done without!  Thanks to MLK day, we had Nate home which always makes for a better day.  We got TONS done (a definite maker of a good day for me) :) including major organizing, de-junking & spring cleaning.  The girls are on the mend with only minimal colds & Makenna even ate a bagel for breakfast. Not too bad. 

Then about 4:00, Nate shut the garage & we heard a loud banging noise.  He ran down to check it out, but all looked fine...that is, until he tried to open it again.  Only one side raised for about half a second & then it crashed down again.  Great.  After some internet research & valiant attempts at repair, Nate determined that the spring had broken & we were forced to call around for garage door repair bids.  Goodbye $120, I can think of a lot of ways I'd rather use you!  The joys of home ownership. Oh and did I mention our van is stuck in the garage?  And I have work in the morning, Nate has his first day back to school & the girls have daycare?  Yep, shaping up to be a good day already! 

After that we determined we needed a little boost (and it was 5:30 & we hadn't even started making dinner), so we headed out to Chili's for family night with an awesome gift card from my Grandma.  All started out well (minus our waitress who had about an inch of make-up on & didn't smile once), but again it didn't turn out quite as planned.  Nate was sharing his fajita with Makenna when too much of the tortilla got stuck up in her retainer and she started to gag.  (Remember the previous note about Makenna's gag reflex?)  Panicked, we started giving her drinks & Nate tried to help her spit it out into a napkin...but we were too late.  She started to throw up everywhere.  Poor Nate was sitting next to her trying to catch it all in a napkin but it mostly just pooled in his hands.  I thought she was done, but Nate hurried her off the bench to head to the bathroom & round 2 started.  She threw up all over the floor leaving a trail to the restroom with Dad running while carrying her.  It was a pretty sad sight.  Her shirt was covered, but luckily she had a vest on that took the brunt of the mess.  After about 10 minutes in the bathroom, they came back & Kenna wanted to keep eating dinner like nothing had happened.  It wasn't quite the family night I had in mind. :)  (In fact I think Chili's is cursed for us.  We love it, but the last time we went there, Sage had an accident & we ended up having to take her home going sans underwear & tights. Taking kids out to eat is awesome!) 

Anyway, I'm going to focus on the fun we did have today & hope for a less adventuresome day tomorrow.  It's Nate's LAST first day of school, EVER, so it's gotta be good, right?!  And what is life without a little adventure...

Hang in there Kiddo!

This past week sweet little Makenna has been put through some no fun changes.  She has been sick with a cold & fevers and on top of that had a spacer retainer placed in her mouth.  Life hasn’t been super fun.  At her first dentist appointment last July, the dentist noticed that her top palate is too small, so her top teeth actually rest inside of her bottom teeth rather than the other way around (mostly in the back - she doesn’t have an under bite).  Over the course of several appointments they took a mold of her mouth, had a retainer spacer made custom for her & that retainer was recently cemented to her back molars.  Over the next couple weeks it will push her back teeth out, splitting her top palate apart so that it’s wide enough.  Then the retainer stays in place for 6 months (bummer!) over which time her body will rebuild new bone to fill in the gap.  That way by the time they take it out, her teeth will stay in place & hopefully avoid bigger problems in the future.  I’m crossing my fingers that by taking care of it while she’s so young, it won’t be as big of a deal as if we had waited. However, the hard part of her being young is that she doesn’t really understand why she has to have it, what it is doing & how long it has to stay in. 

I now have a brand new appreciation for anyone who has had a child with medical problems - it is so hard when they don’t understand!  When we went in to have the retainer placed, it wasn’t the most pleasant experience and it took a lot of effort for me not to cry.  It started with the assistant testing the fit of the retainer in Kenna’s mouth.  Anyone who knows Makenna knows that she has a VERY over-reactive gag reflex & when the assistant’s fingers went a little too close to the back of her mouth, she threw up.  Unfortunately she was laying down so the vomit pooled by her neck, in the back of her shirt & in her hair.  We ended up having to take her undershirt off leaving her in a short-sleeved vomit-smelling shirt.  Afterward Kenna kept whispering to me, “I don’t want them to put it in for real.”  It broke my heart!  When the dentist came & officially cemented it in, he had to do a lot of shoving and it was pretty painful.  That’s when I just about lost it.  I was holding Kenna’s hands & as tears rolled down her cheeks she was staring into my eyes with a look like “why don’t you stop them, Mom?”  It was awful!  She was very brave through the whole thing, kept her mouth open & only cried briefly, but I was sure choked up. 

Since then Makenna’s mouth has been pretty sore.  Anyone who has had braces tightened can relate to the pain with chewing when your teeth are in the process of moving.  Poor Kenna has been on pretty much a liquid diet since Wednesday and mealtimes have been quite the challenge.  After many tears & trial and error, we’ve found some foods that she will eat; cottage cheese, yogurt, applesauce, jell-o, mashed potatoes etc.  Pretty exciting, huh?  And unfortunately the soreness will probably last a couple weeks.  I can imagine those foods are going to get old really quickly!  The other bummer is how it effects her speech.  Again, if you’ve ever worn a retainer, you know how funny it sounds at first!  Kenna can’t say the “ch”, “sh”, “s”, “g” sounds or anything else that requires your tongue to be against the roof of your mouth.  It’s so hard when your daughter says with tears in her eyes, “Mom I can’t sing with this thing in my mouth”.  I sure hope she gets used to it quickly & that it ends up being worth all of this!  We’ve tried to make it a more “special” experience with treats like chocolate milk & Nate took her on a special date the night after she had it placed.  They went to the grocery store & he bought her flowers and let her pick out a special treat.  What a sweet dad! 

Anyway, I just want to say how proud I am of my brave little girl.  She’s been a trooper and I’m very grateful that she is so patient and trusting.  Hang in there Makenna, we love you!!

The culprit of all of this fun

Our happy girl with the flowers she picked out

  Makenna with her daily dose of jell-o

Living up the last week of vacation

Well we definitely didn’t slow down to close out our vacation…we only partied harder as we tried to fit in as much fun as possible before heading home!  The last 4 days have been a blur, but a fun blur nonetheless.  Wednesday night we got to celebrate my sweet Grandpa Ron’s 80^th birthday!  My mom’s whole family met at the Bountiful Rec Center for dinner & activities and it was so good to see everyone.  After dinner we took the girls swimming at the awesome pool there and they had a blast!  We definitely have 2 little fish, they LOVE the water!  Thursday & Friday we did a whole lot of shopping and had game nights both evenings with Nate’s whole family.  Sage was a bit under the weather again so we tried to keep the girls lying low as much as possible (although that seems to be really hard to do while on vacation & we ended up going swimming again Friday afternoon!).  Thursday she gave us a bit of a scare as she had very rapid breathing, fevers and was wheezing audibly.  We called the InstaCare only to learn that no one in the state would accept our insurance except the ER.  Wonderful.  I don’t know how safe of a decision it was, but we ended up borrowing an inhaler from my sister-in-law Kirsten & gave her some respiratory treatments on our own.  (Don’t worry, we checked and double checked the pediatric dosing about a million times before we gave it to her!)  Nate and I ended up having her sleep with us that night because we were so worried…therefore neither of us slept hardly at all.  Thankfully after only one more treatment, Sage woke up happy, breathing well & with only a harsh cough and runny nose remaining.  Experiences like that always amaze me with how much a sick child can scare you.  Nate and I both found ourselves stressed, second-guessing ourselves and each other, watching Sage like a hawk & wondering what the heck we should do.  It’s no fun for anyone!  Thankfully the breathing difficulties resolved by morning saving us a painful trip to the Emergency Room. 

By Saturday we were all well and woke up a special surprise…lots and LOTS of snow!!  We had packed all of our snow gear for our Utah trip, but ended up not needing any of it…until our LAST day!  Go figure.  Well we weren’t about to let the opportunity pass us by (even though we were supposed to be packing), and we spent most of the morning outside playing in our white winter wonderland.  The girls bundled up and bounded outside, eager to help Grandpa & Dad shovel the walks.  Although they weren’t very effective, it was pretty cute!  They also got to tube down the sidewalk & afterward we headed to the backyard for some awesome snowman building!  I was amazed how into it Kenna was.  Even after the snowman was completed, she refused to take pictures until she packed a little more snow here & there, putting on her finishing touches.  We had a lot of fun!  And of course Grandma had hot chocolate waiting when we got back inside.  Gotta love winter! 

Saturday afternoon/evening we celebrated Tyler’s birthday – one last bash before heading home.  The girls went to squeeze in some final Grandma & Grandpa Evans time while all the Wolfley adults headed to Toads for some fun of our own!  We did some awesome glow-in-the dark miniature golfing and played around in the arcade.  Then we headed to Ruby River for dinner where we ate till we were sick.  It was a really fun night!  When we got home we got the girls to bed and packed up for home.  It is amazing how much stuff a little family can accumulate over one vacation!  I guess I must have let the whole “van space” get to my head with the shopping, because between the stuff we packed, Christmas gifts & shopping bags, Nate had a little Tetris match fitting it all in.  Nevertheless he was successful & we all even had our feet space free, something you definitely don’t take for granted on a 12 hour road trip!  Thank you minivan! 

So now that brings us to tonight…safely back home in Eugene and very bitter-sweetly happy to be here!  We woke up at 4:30 a.m., were on the road by 5 and pulled into our garage just before 5 p.m.  It was a LONG day!  While I can’t say it was super fun (and my legs are still a little crampy), it was a very bearable drive.  The girls were patient for the most part and very cooperative considering they were strapped in one place for twelve hours with only 2 short breaks.  Quite the feat for 2 & 3-year olds!  When we got home the girls were nearly giddy seeing their forgotten toys, “big-girl beds” and everything else at home-sweet-home (of course I’m sure some of the elation was simply due to no longer being in the car!)  It feels really good to be home for all of us & we are excited to see the friends and neighbors we have missed for 3 weeks.  On the other hand, we already miss our families dearly and look forward to seeing them again – most likely in April/May for a baby & graduation.  Wohoo!   We definitely want to send a HUGE thank you to both of our families for spoiling us, taking care of us and putting up with us for such a long time.  And when I say spoiling, I mean spoiling rotten!  I swear I only cooked a couple meals our entire vacation, we got to sleep in a ton & the girls were nearly constantly entertained.  It’s gonna be rough getting back to the real world with responsibilities. :)  Thank you Evans’ and Wolfleys!!!   Now on to work, chores and various appointments this week, it’s going to be a busy one!  However we are happily entering an awesome “last” stage in our lives.  Last few months of pregnancy before welcoming a much-anticipated handsome little boy into our family and LAST semester of our law school journey.  Hooray!  Bring it on Spring, we’re ready…

SNOW FUN!!

 Makenna was an awesome shoveler.  I think we know her new chore in the winter if we ever move back to Utah. :)

 Sage was also a good helper & tried really hard...but let's face it, how effective can you be when you get a garden spade to shovel with?!

 Our awesome snowman!  (Okay so the oranges for eyes turned out a little creepy, but he was sure fun to build!)

 The Wolfley women rocking it up at glow-in-the-dark miniature golfing

 The whole clan at Ruby River - Happy Birthday Tyler!!

Happy 2012

Welcome 2012!  We put another adventure filled year behind us and look forward to a REALLY adventure filled year ahead!  2011 brought the Wolfley household many blessings and fun family times.  We were very busy with work and school, but were able to enjoy a lot of time with each other, great friends and our wonderful families.  2012 brings us a lot of unknowns and excitement with a new baby boy, Nate’s graduation, job hunting, the ever-looming BAR exam and a big huge question mark of where we’re going to be for the last half of this year.  It’s a crazy position to be in not knowing what’s next…and it’s the second time we’ve been here in our marriage.  Of course last time it turned out to be just perfect for our family and I have no doubt we’ll end up where we’re supposed to be this time, too!  Keep us in your prayers and wish us luck as we have many life-changing decisions ahead. 

Alright now for the fun we had to kick off this crazy new year!  My entire family met up at my parents’ cabin again for a family photo shoot.  I think the last time we had pictures taken with everyone together was 2005, so it was definitely time!  With my sister Natalie & I both living out of state, it’s hard to find a time that we’re all in one place, but we finally made it happen.  All 22 members of my immediate family were there - it’s AMAZING how fast a family multiplies.  We had pictures taken (always an adventure with 10 kids under 7!), and then stayed a couple days to celebrate the New Year and enjoy time together again.  Unfortunately a little flu bug was passed around leaving Nate feeling pretty miserable New Years Eve, but we had a great time nonetheless.  We played a lot of games again (our favorites: Up & Down the River, Wits & Wagers & Scattergories) and we also had several pool tournaments.  Nate & I had some pretty good family representation with him winning the 8-ball tournament & me winning the 9-ball tournament!  Can’t complain about that. :)  The girls had a ball with their cousins and are going to miss them terribly when we have to go back home.  I swear I hardly saw Makenna this weekend as she was constantly off playing somewhere with Sydney & Lauren.  I love how when we’re all together the adults can spend a lot of time chatting & playing games as the kids mostly keep themselves entertained.  It is wonderful!  On a side note: I wrote down a couple more funnies from Makenna and Sage that I didn’t want to forget.  They never cease to put a smile on my face!  The first happened after Nate inspected a bag of candy that we had brought to the cabin to share with everyone.  He teasingly said “Kenna, who decimated our candy?!”  Makenna immediately ran over to me and exclaimed, “Mom, come look!  Andrew (her oldest cousin) ‘destimated’ our candy!!”  :)  The second was Sage making me laugh with how proud she was of a small sore she got on her foot.  She went around telling everyone about the ‘blisterd’ on her toe.  No matter how many times I told her it was a blister, it remained a ‘blisterd’ to her.  What a cutie.

After the new year came and went, Nate and I got a special vacation of our own!  My mom took the girls home with her from the cabin and kept them overnight so that Nate & I could have some “couple time”.  Nate’s mom also watched them the next night so we had 2 responsibility-free, relaxing nights & days all to ourselves.  It was heaven!  We soaked in the peace and quiet at the cabin and got to just enjoy being together.  Thank you so much to our wonderful mothers for giving us a much needed get-away.  We loved it! 

New Year's Eve Partying!!

 The Evans cousins - minus Andrew (7), Ben (4) & Sarajane (almost 2)

Makenna (3), Sydney (4), Katelyn (5m), Lauren (2), Noah (4), Elizabeth (2), Sage (2)

 Kate sporting Nate's Utah hat...gotta start them young!

 Having fun with Grandpa in the morning

 We visited the neighbors horses at the cabin and the girls LOVED them!