Neighborhood Park

We took a walk to our neighborhood park yesterday. The weather was in the 80s (I think) so very warm but not too bad.

The kids had a lot of fun and I felt even more excited that it's November.


Brooklyn picked a ton of wild flowers and kept giving them to the rest of us.

And Payson had the time of his life. A tumble on the sidewalk didn't even slow him down.

K is for Kite

Yesterday we did a kite craft.

The girls really loved making them.

And then pretending to fly them all over the house.

I was thinking of making some that can really fly.

I don't think we have much wind this time of year, though. So it'll have to wait.

We got the idea to make a kite from one of Brooklyn's new file folder games.

Which came from the first grade file folder book I bought Saturday.

I bought a Kindergarten one for Sierra. That girl is learning so much lately. I'll have to do a post just about her sometime.

My Darling Desert Dwelling Daughters

It amuses me that my children have spent most/all/all of their lives in hot weather climates whereas I spent most of my life in colder, rainy climates.

More Stuff To Do

Today we only had a couple errands to run. Thank goodness nothing major or I might not have survived the day.

I was at the post office today and realized as I was getting out of my car that I had left two things, that also needed to be mailed, at my house. Don't you hate that?

We went to Michael's. My daughters were pretty darn hyper. I kept telling them to mellow out.
But do they ever listen to me?

Driving Me Crazy

Life seems so freaking easy on the weekends. I always wonder why in the world I get stressed out during the week when on weekends I magically have the ability to keep up with EVERYTHING.

And then I realize. Allan's home on the weekends and takes care of this boy while I take care of everything else.

This bouncy chair was sitting in my front room from when my sister was here (my nephew used it).
Today Payson was literally running around my house destroying everything he could get his hands on (which is his daily routine) and I was getting so frustrated trying to just FOLD LAUNDRY that I stuck him in there just so I could leave the room to carry the folded laundry away without him getting into something while I was gone.

And obviously he disagreed with my idea. After all, there was garbage to get into. There were books to rip. There are toys to color on. There are shoes to lick. There are desks needing to be emptied out onto the floor. There are sisters eating lunch with full bowls to be stolen......

Toe Walking Sierra Visits the Neurologist

My mom and sister went back to Washington last night. This morning I woke up and everything seemed so quiet and mellow and lonely.
I was actually a little bit glad that Sierra had a neurologist appointment today just because it took my mind off of having no adults in the house again.

I spent the morning google mapping, making phone calls, bathing children, getting a bag ready with snacks and diapers and a bottle full of rice milk.

2 hours before her appointment we all headed for the car. No carseats. All the carseats are in Allan's car.
Oh great.
How fun.
I should've known at that second that it was a bad omen. But I didn't.

I went into my garage and retrieved Payson's old infant carrier along with an extra upright carseat we have for Sierra.
I didn't have a seat for Brooklyn and I wasn't sure of the laws. I texted my friend, Jordan, who told me she thought Brooklyn was plenty old enough to ride without a booster. I texted chacha (love that!) and I guess the law is you don't need a booster after the age of 5.

But being the paranoid mom I decided we'd stop at Babies R Us for a booster.

It was around 1 at this time and I hadn't eaten a single bite of anything and I was pretty darn hungry. I also realized that though the kids had a decent breakfast it was now passed lunch time!
So we drove through at McDonald's. Which we've eaten way too many times this week! And I forgot to order something for myself. Oh well.

Sierra got mad when we got to the Babies R Us parking lot because I took a bite out of one of the chicken nuggets before giving them their happy meals. She ended up throwing a fit and throwing her nuggets onto the street.

While in Babies R Us Payson screamed, Brooklyn whined and Sierra wandered. I stressed out and tried to hurry.


Brooklyn's new booster has flowers on it which she thought was pretty darn special.

I picked up a baby carrier while I was there so that I could have something to contain Payson in at Sierra's appointment.

By the time we got through with Babies R Us shopping, it was ten minutes to Sierra's appointment and we were 15 minutes away. *sigh*

So we did end up getting to the office five minutes late. Which sucks! I hate being late!

We walked in... it was a place we'd never been to (Phoenix Children's Hospital) and seeing the bright colors, toys and movie playing, Payson decided this was the perfect place to scream hysterically.

Which he does really well.

As I held a writhing, screeching toddler I started to fill out paperwork, paid a copay and pretended to hear what the receptionist was telling me.
The girls sat happily glued to the television set.

I gave Payson a bottle near the end of the paperwork. The bottle was new and leaked EVERYWHERE. I cleaned up with baby wipes but Payson's clothes were just too saturated to be saved.
He went without pants for the rest of the appointment.

I heaved a sigh of relief when the receptionist stopped talking and said I could go sit down and they'd call Sierra in a few minutes.
I sat down and glanced from the paperwork to my children- back and forth the entire wait.



They called Sierra back and I attempted to carry the clipboard, Payson, the backpack carrier (which I hadn't figured out yet), my camera (yes I'm way stupid), my purse, and Payson's bottle. It wasn't pretty.
We got to that place where they weigh the child and check their height and blood pressure.

This is where Brooklyn started in with the whining.
"Why does Sierra get to stand on that? I want to check my weight. How tall am I? Why does Sierra get to do that? When is it my turn? I want it to be MY visit! It's not fair! I want to try that! I want to stand on that! I want a sticker with my name on it! I want to take my shoes off! Why isn't it my turn?! Why can't I do it? Is my turn tomorrow? Am I next? Mommy! Mommy I want to do it next! Mooommmmmyyyy! Mommmy I want to talk to the doctor! Can I check my feet? Mommy! I'm walking on my toes too!! I can stand straight! I want to sit there! I want to sit with Sierra! I want my crackers! I'm thirsty! I'm SO thirsty! I can't waaaaaait until after! Mommy I'm too thirsty to wait until after! Mom? Mom? Mommmmmmmmyyyyyyy!

And on and on and on. She literally did not stop talking for 2 hours. In that awful whiny voice. Oh my gosh it was horrible. I tried the sternest look I could muster, whispered threats, timeouts in the waiting room, she was just gone. There was no returning to the land of sweet for Miss Brooklyn.

And Sierra during all of this? Listening and following directions. Like an angel.

And Payson? Screaming. Whining. Kicking. Squirming. Being as wretched as he possibly could.

There was a point where I swear I couldn't go on another second. It was too much. I was completely losing it... too many things to carry, too many children to deal with, too much information, too much paperwork.

I was cursing myself for bringing all the things I brought and I was cursing myself for not bringing enough!

We finished the height/weight/blood pressure test and were sent back to the waiting room. You read that right. All that stress was just dealing with Brooklyn and Payson in the hallway! 30 minutes in and I was so wanting to go home.

I called Allan to vent about not having paid babysitters. I vowed to never take all three children to a doctor's appointment again. Poor man got an earful.

After a while they called us back. I picked up all of our stuff (better organized with the extra fifteen minutes of waiting) and headed to the exam room.

Sierra was so cute during her exam. Her big eyes fixed on the doctor, trying her best to do exactly what the doctor wanted her to.


Meanwhile, Brooklyn sat sulking. Payson screamed. Brooklyn got into my diaper bag. Payson started kicking. Brooklyn started whining. Payson drooled in my hair. Brooklyn spilled crackers and then stepped on them. I feel Payson's diaper get awfully warm. Brooklyn turns on a loud toy right when the doctor speaks. Payson threw his binky on the floor.

Brooklyn and Payson are both whining as loud as they can.

Intermittently there is crying.

Oh and that carrier I bought? It lasted for all of five minutes before Payson decided it was the worst place on Earth.

After what seemed like an eternity the hellish appointment was over. I was ready to cry from joy at the thought of going home.

But life isn't that simple. Never for me, anyway.

We had to do blood work and x-rays today. Ugh.

So back to the waiting room we went. Payson's diaper was bulging at the seems with piss even though I'd changed him twice in the last hour and a half.
Luckily I brought an extra diaper.
After a quick visit to the ladies room we all sat down to watch some monkey movie while we waited. I stared vacantly ahead while the kids were transfixed to the screen. Well, the kids minus Payson... he was running full speed around the waiting room. Stopping only to give huge grins to each and every person also waiting.

They finally called Sierra's name for her blood to be taken. I gathered our stuff, called the girls over and picked up Payson. And I smelled something pretty darn bad.
As if this visit hasn't been fun enough Payson has crapped. And at a perfect time, when we really needed to be getting Sierra's blood drawn right then.

I embarrassedly told the technician that he crapped but I'd just wait to chnange him until after because I knew they needed to keep the people in order.

And then she told me that if it's the child's first time having blood drawn the child must sit on the parent's lap. Makes sense. Not to mention I wanted to be holding and comforting Sierra. Which meant Brooklyn had to hold Payson.

Sierra getting her blood drawn went well. She is such an angel and very brave and had no idea what was going to happen so she sat there smiling and talking and watching the needle go in.... and then she cried and said, "that hurt me" and my heart broke.

And then the technician asked what color of bandage she wanted and she immediately said, "orange" (the girl is SO decisive). They didn't have orange so she picked pink. Then she got to pick a toy. The lady opened a drawer and Sierra immediately grabbed a stuffed blue bear (did I mention decisive?).



Then I took Payson from Brooklyn. Payson had been trying to escape from her and whining the whole time.
Brooklyn had Payson's poop on her and had a breakdown because of that. Can't say I blame her for that, really.

I took the kids to the car to clean up Brooklyn and Payson. I'd only brought 3 diapers from home for the 2 hour appointment. Thank freaking goodness I'd bought some large sized g-diapers today!!!

Then we had to go back in and wait to be called in for x-rays.
The girls returned to staring at the TV and Payson returned to running at full speed around the waiting room. And once again smiling at everyone he saw.

When it was time for x-rays Payson was pissed at being taken away from the waiting room. Actually probably more pissed that he was being carried and not let free to run.

I distracted him from his tantrum by looking at these marble displays they had along the hall.

In the x-ray room Brooklyn resumed her whining over how not fair it was that Sierra was getting all the attention.

Sierra sweetly followed directions and looked so so cute up on the table waiting for the pictures of her tummy.


Brooklyn whined as they did the x-rays. I swear you could feel the jealousy in the room. Brooklyn views doctor's appointments as a similar experience to Disneyland rides. No I'm not joking.

And so she whined and whined. All the way up until I pulled out my camera and said, "I'm going to take a picture of you crying and show it to daddy and what do you think he's going to do?"

Sierra's x-rays were done and she got a sticker and then the x-ray techinician gave her two more to give to Brooklyn and Payson even though clearly they deserved no stickers.

I gathered my children and headed, exhausted and overjoyed to be done, to my car.

And now that you've pretty much experienced the whole visit with me I'll let you know what was earned from it.
No clear understanding of what might be going on with Sierra. But some tests that will come back with some answers that hopefully cross off a few things it may be.
Appointments to schedule with physical and occupational therapy. A checkup in 2 months to go over her muscles and tendons and talk about the results.

So... getting some answers. The doctor is leaning towards it just being a habitual thing that is causing the tendons to tighten which then makes it painful to walk flat which furthers the cycle:

She walks on her toes> her tendons tighten> it's painful to walk flat> she walks on her toes> repeat.

If this is the case the physical therapy will take care of it. If this isn't the case the tests should reveal what it is.


And that my dear friends who've read this entire thing, is Sierra's visit to the neurologist. Unfortunately it was a part one segment. lol