Hand Drama

So Monday started out by it snowing extremely unusual amounts in the SLC. Evidently this is the latest in the year it has snowed measurable amounts in the valley in recorded weather history. Awesome. I love being part of history. So, the day started out bad...and ended badly too.

I got home from work and started making dinner while Helena watched Wow Wow Wubbzy (the current fave). I was very excited about dinner...one of my new favorite recipes from The Pioneer Woman -- Chicken Fried Steak with Gravy. Yummy yummy gravy.

Anyway, things are going well...and I go to pour the grease from the pan into a measuring cup over the sink to start making the gravy. A small bit splashes onto my finger and my reflexes kick in and I drop the entire pan of searing hot grease all over my hand.

As one can imagine, what immediately ensues next is a combination of screaming, cussing and crying. I immediately run my hand under cold water while attempting to stay relatively calm. Which I did a bad job of doing. Helena's wondering what the hell is going on. Ash is still at work and I figure I need to go to the ER most likely. The pain is pretty bad and not getting better. So, I call Ash's cell phone. First try, no answer. So I dial again...seriously...he answers to me bawling that I burnt my hand and that he needs to get home STAT. Poor guy, I about gave him a heart attack. I hate it when you receive or have to make phone calls like that.

So, I'm still crying and freaking out and I have my hand in a bowl of cold water now waiting for Ash to get home. Helena comes up and asks me what's wrong. I tell her I hurt my hand really bad. She says "Can I have dinner now mommy?". OK....I manage to get her set up with the potatoes and chicken fried steak sans gravy that was cooked. She eats, keeps watching TV, completely unsympathetic to what is going on. At one point she tells me, "Mom, my teachers say you shouldn't cry." Sure. Right. Eat your dinner, kid.

Ash gets home and we get everyone and everything together to go to the ER. We get there, I walk up to the check in and the nurse is all "Labor & Delivery? You can go upstairs." I'm like..."Well...no...I'm here for my burnt hand. See?? Thanks." I'm going to try my best not to have the baby in the middle of all this.

Anyway, we are at the hospital for about 45 minutes before I see a doctor and they tell me that since my hand and fingers are burned that they will treat me here but that I need to go to the Burn Center at the University of Utah the next day to make sure I will still be able to use my hand, etc. if I end up having major scarring. And, they'll peel off my dead skin and blisters while I'm there. Great. Completely freaked out now. They wrap up my hand with super duper expensive burn cream and gauze and now it hurts worse than it did before. Here's me very excited about the situation, and obviously looking my very 9 months pregnant best:


So, we go home, the pain meds finally kick in, thank god, and I go to sleep wielding my giant golf club, q-tip hand.

Yesterday we head up to the burn center at the University and while we're checking in Ash tells the lady that I hurt my hand making him a "hand sandwich". Great. Keep 'em coming, Ash. She thinks this is mildly funny. We get up to see the doctor and good news...after taking the bandages off, my hands do not have any super duper bad blisters or skin peeling! My hand is not nearly as bad as they thought it might be the night before. Relieved, we leave the hospital with no gauze on my hand and no follow up appointments to make. Today, I'm doing well and my hand hardly hurts at all. I can't believe how painful it was when I did it and how little it hurts today. Either I'm a giant wuss (possible) or I have super skin!

Ash tells me in the car on the way home after the 2nd doctor visit..."You know, honey, when you make me country fried steak, you don't actually have to fry your hillbilly hand as part of the recipe". Good, I'm glad you're joking. Let's just all be glad that I don't have a scary, scarred claw hand after all of this. I have a feeling taking care of a newborn would be a challenge if I only have one hand to use.

Moral of the story: fried foods are really bad for you and if you do spill grease on yourself, put your injured part in cold (not iced) water for inordinate amounts of time and things will turn out better than expected. The doctors all said I did a really good job of this. Oh, and we need to work on Helena's empathy skills.

-Emily :)

Best Birthday Ever!

I turned thirty last week. I know, some of you can't believe I'm already this old. Others have been taunting me for weeks. It actually didn't feel too bad. But as I've mentioned recently, I'm still going to type in 29 on the treadmill at the gym.

I decided a few weeks ago to take Thursday and Friday off of that birthday week. Because working on your birthday doesn't ever make your birthday better. :) My actual birthday morning started with some McGriddles from McDonald's with Helena and then off to my scheduled spa morning. My massage was fantastic and the facial and pedicure weren't bad either. I left feeling awesome and totally relaxed. Then I downed an entire pizza at California Pizza Kitchen by myself (low point...lol). After that I did some solo shopping and then headed home, took a nap and went to pick up Helena from school. All in all, a great day.

So, I call Ash on my way home and ask what time he's going to be home, what's the plan for dinner (because I'm not cooking!), etc. He says he'll be at the house at 5:20. Wow, that's a very specific answer for someone who usually says 'eventually' or 'once I get all my work done'. We have this exact conversation every afternoon. OK, I think, he's being nice to me on my birthday by giving me an exact time. I like exact times.

So, Helena and I settle in and watch some cartoons on the couch while we're waiting on him and sure enough, he shows up right at 5:20. A birthday miracle! I look down the hall and see Ash and then immediately hear more people coming in behind him from the garage. Um....weird. People don't come over to my house...ever! ;) Then I see Aimee's face...then I start to cry (as I'm about to now as I'm recounting this...lord, stupid pregnancy)...a lot...then I hear even more people behind her and before I know it I've practically thrown Helena off the couch to get to them (Aimee, Erin, Tracee and my mom!) to give out teary birthday hugs. I scared the crap out of Helena...she was crying sad tears because I was crying and weird people were in our house and her mom had just thrown her on the ground.

Anyway, Ashford's really the best. Flew everyone in for my birthday for the weekend and I had no idea. I think that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I love you honey! He said keeping the secret from me for 2 months was one of the hardest things he's ever had to do. And I did think he was acting weird when I was making numerous plans for my birthday weekend that he was less than enthused about!

More photos, stories to come! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes last week! You all made a really pregnant lady who couldn't get drunk on her 30th birthday really, really happy.

And thanks to my mom for taking time off work to come, Aimee for taking time off her brand new job to come, too, and to Erin and Tracee for leaving their little ones behind for the first times to visit little old me. You guys are the best. I hope you had fun even though I made you go out to eat like 85 times in three days and you had to sleep in our 2-star-ish basement. ;) Even though we don't get to see each other all that often anymore, it's good to pick up right where we left off when we do. Love you guys!

-Emily :)

Bacon Brawl

This is a video I shot on my iphone a couple of weekends ago right after Helena and Ash had been literally having a fight over bacon at breakfast. The last piece fell on the floor, and they both lunged to grab it for themselves. Helena won. I'm a sausage gal, myself, so I don't fully relate. :) Highlights include Helena rubbing in her bacon 'win' by chanting "I eat it...uh huh..."

Emily :)

Aloha from Snowy Utah!

Sorry for the hiatus from the blog, folks. I just wrapped up our spring fund drive at work on the 23rd, so my free time is a little more abundant now than it has been the past month or so. I'll tell ya, working 60 hours a week as an 8 month pregnant lady is no walk in the park.

Other than working we are pretty boring around here, really. Just doing some nesting and nagging Ash to get the basement finished up so when people start visiting after the baby comes they actually have a comfortable place to sleep where they don't have to stare at piles of 10 year old computer equipment, hunting gear or Ash's office stuff from three jobs ago. We're getting there... It's a shame we had to move to Utah so quickly, because we never went through everything we should have before that big event. And we're paying for it now. :)

It's also been snowing a lot here lately. Like, I think it's snowed FOUR times this week. I've quit looking out the window because it's just depressing. If it snows on my birthday next week, I'm going to reschedule it!

I'm almost done with the nursery, so pics of that will be coming soon along with another much-requested belly pic. I know you can't wait!

-Emily :)

Easter -- A Little Late

Sharing some cute pics and a video of Helena at Easter. Being the heathens that we are, we just laid low, hunted some eggs after the morning's snow had melted, and had a really good steak dinner at home. Oh, and there may have been a shopping trip to IKEA. It was deserted; it was awesome.

Helena kissing her very cherished bunny.

It was too cold to just wear the tank top dress. She asked me if it was a swimsuit.

Attempting to smile for the camera.

Cheese!

Dying eggs with mommy.

Waiting patiently for the eggs to soak.

Hunting eggs was way more fun this year. She really got into hiding them for us to find inside the house. One time she put all but about 2 of them all in the same place right on top of the ottoman. It was hilarious. Here's part of our outside hunt -- hope everyone had a Happy Easter too!

March of Milestones

So when I got pregnant I had three things we needed to accomplish with Helena before #2 arrived. I'm happy to report we've conquered 2 of 3 this month, and both were easier than I thought they'd be.

The first was taking the pacifier away. Lots of opinions on this one, obviously, and I let it slide for longer than I originally thought I would because she only took it when she slept. But then she started waking in the night again...most nights...and getting ridiculous about pacifier related demands. Like washing it in the middle of the night...or three times before going to bed...just for stalling. Annoying. So, I was waiting until after our Colorado vacation to take it away. Then, on said vacation, she told me she didn't want it anymore...so, we "left it on vacation." The first night we were home she fussed for about an hour about it, but after that, just a couple of casual mentions ("Mom, can we go back on vacation and get my binky?") and now it's history. I felt completely fine about the decision, but Ash had a hard time with her initially being upset. So much so that I forbade him to help me get her to sleep for that week because I knew he would cave and during the first bad night I had to hug HIM and tell HIM it was going to be OK. (Love you honey!!) And - added bonus - less night waking. Helpful. I wake myself up enough at night as it is.

Next up, potty training. Helena has been going pee on the potty for awhile now...probably since before she was 2. But I didn't want to rush her into it...I wanted it to be easy on all of us when we finally made the transition. So, we put her in big girl underwear (I took her shopping special to pick some out), and she was elated! How cool are these Yo Gabba Gabba and Wonder Pets ones???!!! Her teachers also suggested that the first day we go it alone that we make a game out of setting a timer every 45 minutes or so and going potty when it goes off. She thought that was way cool. That, coupled with tons of M&M's and stickers as rewards and a distracting game on my iPhone or some drawing for the #2 times worked like a charm. She was down to no accidents after 5 days! We're so proud of her!

I will say that when it comes to potty training, we're lucky to have such an anal female child. She wants to follow the rules and doesn't want to make a mess AT ALL. About half the nights since we've started this she hasn't even peed in her diaper at night and two or three times she's woken up and yelled to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The first night this happened at 3 a.m. I said, "Really, Helena, it's OK if you potty in your diaper at night. Go back go sleep." Followed by her saying "But mommy, I need to go potty!!!" OK. Fine. Then flash-forwards to me telling her to please drink before she's 21 or sneak out of the house in high school. :)

Needless to say, mommy and daddy are very excited to have a small diaper break for the next 3 months!

All I have left is the transition to a big girl bed...which I may avoid until this fall. We'll see. I don't want to push my luck.

-Emily :)

Colorado Trip Report

We met up with my sister and her family, my mom and my brother in Pagosa Springs, Colorado to for a little spring break the beginning of March. Pagosa Springs is just east of Durango a bit and is a little sleepy, but nice. Everyone who was able got in two days of skiing, and then we hung out in Durango one day and also visited Mesa Verde National Park. A few pics from our trip:

My sister, Jessica & Helena cheesin' for the camera.

Ash at lunch on his last day of skiing. He developed some unfortunate sunburn marks...commas, we called them...from the gap in between his goggles and his face mask. :)

My sister, Ash, my brother Evan and his friend Nate loading up before skiing. And here, when I say 'loading up' I mean my brother literally pulled out jello shots from his ski coat pocket in the parking lot for everyone to share. Now THAT'S what I call prepared!

My sister, my niece Ellie (in the goggles) and my sister's nieces Maci & Cassie. All three kids went to ski school both days and did an awesome job. It was snowing too hard when I was there to get a good picture of them actually skiing...bummer!

One evening we took Kane and Helena to the resort pool since they weren't able to be in ski school yet. Kane LOVED the water (above) ...Helena, of course, was more skeptical. Of course, by the time we were ready to leave she didn't want to go.

She was very enthralled with the fact that after she got out of the water that it would drip down on the concrete. It was hilarious.

It was really nice to have a family vacation...seems like since we moved away we're always together either in Kansas or Utah, so the change of pace and scenery was awesome. Next time we see everyone we'll be a family of four!


-Emily :)


P.S.-- This is getting long, so I'll post Mesa Verde National Park pics in another post. :)