I'm in a Funk

I have tried a lot of different approaches to treating my headaches over the years. About a year ago I started seeing a headache specialist and after giving her the rundown of everything I’d tried, she started tossing new ideas at me. In October I started taking a new medication. This doctor’s theory on medications is to give it six weeks and if there has been no improvement increase the dose and give it another six weeks. If there is still no improvement, that med is probably not going to help so it is time to try something else. So I started the new med and six weeks later there had been no improvement so we increased the dose. The next two weeks were rough. I had more headaches than usual, they were more severe and they were lasting longer. But I stuck with it knowing that sometimes it can take a while to adjust to a new drug. After two weeks, things improved. Instead of having a headache two thirds of my days, it was down to about half my days and the headaches I was having were much less severe and were not lasting as long. So after the first six weeks I did another couple of months to make sure that first stretch wasn’t a fluke. And it wasn’t. It really was improving.

With some definite improvement as a motivator, my doctor increased the dose again hoping to see even more improvement. Again, the first weeks were rough. For about a month things were pretty hard. And then it got better. In twelve days I had only two headaches, neither of which were very severe. In addition, I know exactly what triggered both of them. That hasn’t happened in years. And not just a couple of years, years in the double digits. I was feeling so good that I was able to finish Malia’s baby book, a project that got set aside two years ago because it got to the point where I could only sit at the computer for five or ten minutes before I started to feel the beginnings of a headache. (It’s all printed and everything. I think it turned out fabulous.) Unfortunately, I was also having some pretty severe side effects. They were severe enough that it warranted a change of medication.

Yesterday was my first day off the original med and I woke up at 4:00 this morning with a raging migraine. To say that I’m frustrated doesn’t really begin to express how I feel. I’ve been dealing with these chronic headaches for nearly twenty years. I’ve tried numerous medications, lifestyle changes, food eliminations, etc. I choose not to participate in activities knowing that if I do I’ll end up with a migraine. I feel like I plan my entire life around the probability of headaches. So I’m discouraged. I’m frustrated. I’m worn out from the rough parts of the mediation trials. My doctor has switched me to a new medication that is in the same category as the previous one hoping for similar results with fewer side effects so I’m back to square one. I expect the next little while to be rough. I’m usually pretty okay with that because I can keep the big picture in mind, but after having my life back for a little while, it’s hard not to see this as a huge step backwards.

So if I’m in a pithy mood for the next little while and missing out on more activities and gatherings than I have in the past few months, at least you’ll know why…

She's Definitely a City Girl

This morning Malia had a field trip to Wheeler Farm. She has been looking forward to it all week so in spite of her having a rough night and a juicy cough, we went anyway. She was super excited to see all the animals. We saw bunnies, cows, chickens, turkeys and pigs. Although petting the animals is not actually a part of this particular farm, she was able to quickly pet one of the sheep who was hanging out right by the fence.

We saw the milking shed and our guide showed us where the cows stand, where they have a snack for the cows to keep them busy, how they keep the cows from running away and even the trench in the floor where all the cow poop goes. And then she asked where the poop goes after that. Malia piped right up, “In the potty!” I totally laughed. And then the guide told them about how manure goes in the gardens to help everything grow.

We also got to go on a wagon ride and as we crossed the bridge that spans Little Cottonwood Creek, Malia told me there were sharks in the water. It took a lot of talking to convince her that there were no sharks in the creek, only little fish. I guess for a three year old who has never seen any water bigger than a swimming pool the creek looked like a big enough place for sharks to live.

Malia has really enjoyed all her field trips and while this was the last one for this year, she will have another full year of trips starting in the fall.

 Watching the blacksmith make a chain

 Looking at the pigs who were lounging in their house

In the tree house

You May Not Know This One…

Daniel has found himself a group of friends whose interests are similar to his. What that means is they are a big group of nerds. But nerds aren’t social pariahs like they were when I was in school. To be a geek or a nerd is actually pretty cool nowadays. One of Daniel’s friends likes really long words. Isn’t there always one of those in every geek group? My high school group had one and he is now an amazing linguist who is fluent in like nine languages or something like that. And I’m pretty that two of those are Russian and Cantonese which are both pretty tough languages. But anyway, back to the big word lover. He taught Daniel a big word and Daniel has taught that big word to the entire family. Are you ready for the big word? Here it is:

Floccinaucinihilipilification

Do you want to try and say that one? Here’s the pronunciation and the definition:

/fläksəˌnôsəˌnīˌhiləˌpiləfiˈkāSHən/
noun: the action or habit of estimating something as worthless. (The word is used chiefly as a curiosity.)

A doozy of a word if I’ve ever heard one. And it’s really entertaining coming out of Malia’s mouth.

Slimy Whites

After just over a year in braces (although he started orthodontic work when he was 6) Daniel is finally done! As all of you who endured orthodontics know, it is a huge deal! He has been anxious for the last month or so because the dentist started saying we were close to being done. Two weeks ago he got almost all the brackets off but had to wait for the retainer to arrive before the dentist pulled off the last four. After waiting another week, he was finally officially finished.

This has been a long journey for Daniel. He started what our dentist calls phase 1 of his orthodontics when he was six. Unfortunately for them, all my kids have inherited by small jaw. (Even after the palate expander, they had to pull my whole last set of molars because there was no space for them. I only have 28 teeth.) As Daniel’s permanent teeth started coming in there was no space and there were teeth coming in almost directly behind other teeth.

In addition, due to years of thumb sucking His two top front teeth were poking out at a pretty significant angle. When his jaw was closed, you could stick a finger up in between his top teeth and his bottom teeth. Our dentist was afraid that if he fell he would break off both his front teeth so he was anxious to get started in order to prevent bigger problems.

So here is what the last seven and a half years have done for his smile:

That’s one handsome kid with a great smile. When asked how it feels, Daniel will tell you that it no longer feels slimy. And he’ll be able to really enjoy corn on the cob this summer.

Another perk: we finished paying for the braces in the same month that they came off. That’s a definite bonus. However, we’ve told them to keep billing us every month because as soon as Nathan’s permanent teeth finish coming in he will be ready for his braces.

Walking in an April Wonderland

I don't know about all of you, but I think having the biggest snow storm of the season in mid April is crazy. Malia, however, it just thrilled.

Sometimes random things happen that don't warrant an entire blog post but are still entertaining...

Kev likes to tease Malia when he brushes her teeth and takes her hair out at bedtime. He’ll tell her that she needs to brush her hair and take her teeth out. She has informed him that teeth don't come out because they are glued in with teeth glue. And when asked what color teeth glue is, she’ll tell him it’s red.

Instead of a stuffed animal, Matthew sleeps with a football. I’ve even discovered him sleeping in his football gloves.

According to Malia, a dog days, “Barf! Barf!”

Malia has been learning about dinosaurs: the dinosaur rex and big-ceratops.

Nathan has discovered that he is fond of several songs from the opera “Carmen,” especially “The Turd-eodor Song.”

When Malia grows up, she wants to be Ironman…or Thor. It says so right on the poster she took to school to celebrate her half birthday.

According to Malia, this is a Star Wars elephant:

Daniel doesn’t sound like me on the phone anymore….but Nathan does. They have both been really good natured about being mistaken for their mother when they answer the phone.

A few days ago Malia was riding a light saber like a stick horse. She told Kev that she was the Wicked Witch of the Light Saber.

Daniel's mad origami skills are getting better all the time. In the last little while, he has been know to say, "It only has 159 steps..." Of course, the first of those 159 steps is to fold the paper into 256ths! 

A bit of visual randomness:

 

Happy Easter

With Easter and General Conference falling on the same weekend this year, we had a pretty low key holiday. We colored eggs on Friday, did a little egg hunt on Saturday and had Kev's parents join us for dinner this evening. Not having to worry about getting everyone to church on time or wondering if enough of my ward choir members would show up to sing was super nice. It was feeling so laid back that it didn't even occur to me to take pictures of most of our stuff so this is all you get:

Although we don't do the whole Easter Bunny thing, we do have fill the kids' baskets with treats and a chocolate bunny. I always make a bunny for Matthew using a chocolate mold a bought a few years back so he gets one as well. However, this year in addition to his chocolate bunny he got a 1 lb. gummy bunny. I kid you not. The thing is huge. And heavy. And it made everyone laugh. Matthew has discovered that it is pretty hard to eat. He'll probably be gnawing at the thing until the 4th of July.

I really enjoyed being able to stay home, listen to conference and spend time with my family. I think part of that is because Sundays definitely don't feel like a day of rest for me right now. So having conference let me actually take a breath and relax. And listening to conference all day was a great way to keep my focus on the Savior. Daniel and Nathan have both learned to love General Conference as well so it was a great day all around.

Everybody's Zooing It

Today was zoo day. Matthew and Nathan are off track and all the other kids are on Spring Break, so we joined Rachael and her kids and Esther at the zoo. Kev even took the day off so he could join us. It was pretty cold which meant that there were not a whole lot of other folks there. It didn’t start to get busy until around 11 a.m. when it started to warm up. We were done and headed out by then so we really didn’t have many crowds to contend with. That is probably a good thing because we had kids running all over the place. None of my boys have been to the zoo since the African savannah portion was completed and the train reopened so they were pretty excited about that. We also got to see the baby orangutan that was born a few weeks ago. Add in a stop for lunch on the way home and it was a great outing! (Just in case any of you are wondering about the peep in all the pictures, Esther assigns her students a project where they take pictures “hanging with their peeps” while they are on spring break. She does the same thing and then takes the pictures to school afterward to use for a writing assignment.)

Cousins:

A couple of monkeys

The big boys and the little girls

Riding the train