snowman time

It snowed!! And it was one of the best snows I've seen in a long time. Absolutely perfect for making a snowman - which is exactly what my husband (I mean husband and kids) did. We have the biggest snowman on the block!! Shawn (and the kids) had a blast playing out in the snow - building, throwing snowballs, sledding - what a great day we had yesterday! Here's some photos to recap...

The Hot Dog Extraction

So, did I catch your attention with that title? Some interesting things have happened at the Turners since I last posted. Some of you have heard this crazy story, but for those of you that haven't, hold on tight! Anyone that knows me very well knows that I can't swallow pills and often times get stuff stuck in my throat. I always thought this was because I have a huge fear of choking. Well, this past Friday Kim and her girls were over playing and we sat everyone down to eat lunch. We were having the usual 3-and-under lunch - hot dogs. I took a bite of hot dog and it seemed to get stuck in my throat so I tried taking a drink which usually cures the problem, but this time it didn't seem to cure it. I was too embarrassed to tell Kim I thought I had a hot dog in my throat so I kept trying to fix the problem myself which was only making matters worse. Eventually I ended up having to call my dad to come stay with the kids while Shawn took me to the ER. The ER was defnitely our last choice, but I called our family doctor and our OB who both told me to get to the ER as soon as possible since they didn't have anything to extract the hotdog with. For those of you that do not live here, we were in the middle of an ice storm on Friday so the roads were bad and there were lots of wrecks which meant I was probably not going to be the only one in the ER. This whole episode started around 11:45, we got the hospital around 1:30 and the hotdog was not extracted until around 5:30. So, for about 5 and half hours I was dry heaving and attempting to throw up. Throwing up is quite difficult when you are this pregnant since you have no ab muscles. They tried giving me a shot of glucose to relax the esophogus to let the hot dog out, but it didn't work. Eventually they had to call in a GI team (of course they had already gone home for the night and had to travel back out in the ice to get to the hospital). I had to have an upper endoscopy which is where they stick a camera down your throat and push the food into the stomach. Doesn't sound too bad, huh? Well, try doing that WITHOUT anesthesia!! Usually you are put out for a procedure like that but since I am prego they couldn't give me anything. It was absolutely horrible. I felt like they were trying to strangle me! Luckily it only took a few minutes and the hot dog was pushed thru. I do not ever want to go through that again!! One good thing that came out of all of this was that we found out I actually do have a problem with my esophogus - it is smaller than average and also has a lot of scar tissue around the base so that's why I always get food stuck and why I have difficulty with pills! And, the condition is actually treatable, but we can't treat it until after I have the baby so that I can have the anesthesia. As for now, I mostly stick to milk shakes and tomato soup. I am still paranoid to eat any solid food and have vowed to NEVER eat another hot dog the rest of my life. Somehow we got through it all - we are so lucky my parents are so close that they could take the kids at a moments notice. Since then, it's been pretty quiet around here! If you have any good soup recipes let me know...ha!
That's it for now - a word to the wise....Chew your food!!

Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

How does February 28 sound?

I don't know what you all will be doing on that day, but I will be bringing into the world yet another little Turner baby! Yes, we have now picked the official date and time the baby will be born - Feb 28, 9:30am. Now...let me explain this a bit. Since I have to have c-sections, we always get to pick the day we want to have the baby. I have always despised this process. Hate it, Hate it, Hate it. One, because I don't feel that I have the authority to say when this baby should officially arrive. Two, because I hate that I don't get to make that crazy phone call when you say, "it's time!", and Three, it makes it impossible to sleep the night before the baby comes. It's just the wierdest feeling to know for sure that is when the baby is coming. Now, of course, we could go into labor early, but I doubt it. We have the c-section planned a week before my actual due date and I have never had a contraction with either of my other children, so I doubt I will with this one either. But, if we do happen to start going into early labor they will just do an emergency c-section. I'm a little disappointed in the date, as most of you know I really prefer odd numbers - especially prime ones, so 28 really isn't one of my favorite numbers...although I suppose 7 is one of it's factors, so that makes it a little more doable. (am I boring you yet?) As this date is approaching all the exciting things that go along with having a c-section are coming back to me...the 2 hour wait before you go in for surgery with the IV, the FREEZING operating room, the first time you have to get up and walk after surgery (OUCH), and of course the nice long recovery. Mostly I'm worried about the pain at this point since I can't swallow pills. They don't make my pain meds in liquid or chewables so it makes it really hard to take pain medication! I had a bad run with that when Ashlyn was born - tried to swallow one because the pain got bad enough and it got stuck in my throat - ended up dry heaving for an hour - I thought my insides were just going to pop right out of my incision!! So, that makes it near impossible for me to want to try and swallow another pill. Oh well, luckily I have pretty high pain tolerance...hopefully it's gotten a little higher since the last surgery. Ha!
You will also all be happy to know we have finally decided on a girls name - and NO, we're not telling you what it is! We also have the boys name picked out, so now we just need to dig out all that baby stuff, wash it up and then get some extra sleep (yeah right) before Feb 28 hits.









Onto some other happenings...Here's my two little cuties...I was in the kitchen cleaning up and it was pretty quiet in the living room - I turned around to see my two little munchkins all snuggled up together watching Dora! How cute! Don't worry though - things went back to normal when a few seconds after this picture Austin threw Ashlyn on the floor - flat on her face.

And here's Papa Turner taking some time out to read to Austin. Grandma and Papa Turner came up for a day last week to give me some time off. I got up with the kids and came downstairs and Papa Turner says, "why don't you go back upstairs and get some more rest? I'll watch the kids". I just about sprained my ankle sprinting up the stairs to jump back in bed. It was so nice to lay back down for a little bit and then follow it up with a REAL shower! It was heaven!! Thanks Grandma and Papa!!

elephants and dinosaurs

For the past month or so we have been teaching Austin to say his prayers before he goes to bed. This basically consists of Austin listing all the people he wants to thank Jesus for. It very well could be considered my most favorite time with him. It always amazes me to hear who/what he wants to pray for. Last night in particular was a good prayer. I always start out saying I want to pray for Austin and then he chimes in with his, usually quite lengthy, list. Last night's list was quite short though. Here's how it went..."I want to thank Jesus for EmmaBella, James, elephants and dinosaurs." As I tried to keep from laughing, I said, "Is that all tonight? Are you sure there is no one else you want to pray for?" It took some prodding, but eventually he did say he wanted to pray for daddy. He seemed much more concerned with the elephants and dinosaurs though. I can't imagine a better way to end my day than by praying with Austin and blessing all the elephants and dinosaurs in the world. I just love being a mom!

Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

Is there really a light at the end of the tunnel?

This last month has been a rough one for me as a mom. Austin has gone through quite a bit lately and it has taken a bit of a toll on me. First it was taking away the binky which was no big deal - didn't seem to phase him (at first), then we took away the crib - wow was that monumental - you would think we cut off one of his legs and told him he could never have another hot dog. Then he was sick, then he had the spontaneous puking, then he was sick again, then yesterday we figured out that he had a double ear infection (which now explains the screaming for three days). Of course now I feel awful - I thought he was just being a two year old and not wanting to sleep or nap, but turns out he's been in pain! But, low and behold we got him some advil and he seems to be back to his jolly self. He even slept last night. Well, maybe I should define that a little - what you call sleep and what we call sleep are two very different things. Austin sleeping well means I only had to go in there between one and three times and as usual had to put his pjs back on for him. He seems to think that he should sleep naked (isn't he a bit young for that??) I think the craziness of the holidays has taken a toll on little Austin - my little man can only handle so much excitement I guess. I think we are all looking forward to getting back to some sort of normalcy next week. Although, that won't last long seeing as how I'm having a baby next month! Can you believe it's almost here?? Wow - the way things have gone lately with the kiddos I have been thinking maybe three kids is more than plenty, but I don't know - today has been a great day - maybe we will have five!! I guess we'll have to see how much humor God needs as he looks down on us - I think he's had a pretty good time watching over me lately - and having a chuckle here and there. He probably laughed pretty hard when we were at the mall and I looked over at Austin who had both hands down his pants and (stupidly) I asked him, "Austin, what are you doing???" and he responds with, "I'm playin' in my pants mom!" Nice. Gotta love kids.
Until next time,
Hope you are having the time of your life!
ST

Christmas Review

Are these the most innocent looking children ever? I just love them to pieces!! And so grown up - I can't believe how quick they get big - unbelievable. It almost makes me sad to see this picture and see how big our kids have gotten - seems like yesterday when we were bringing Austin home from the hospital in Texas (and I was terrified to change a diaper - ha!) My, how things have changed!

Christmas was so much fun this year! With Austin actually understanding a bit that Santa brings presents, it was pretty exciting to see him wake up Christmas morning to a million presents in the living room. And, yes, Santa brought him a football and a hot dog. That is all he wanted - just a football and a hot dog (yes, the edible kind - oscar meyer). He was so happy to see that Santa listened and remembered what he wanted! Ashlyn wasn't quite as into the present opening yet, mostly she just played with empty boxes and wrapping paper, but all in all she had a blast! Here's some pics of Christmas morning...

Annual PJ Picture

Another successful PJ picture - and it is one of my very favorites. Every year on Christmas Eve my mom gets everyone in the family a new pair of PJs which will all race to put on and then we take a family picture. This year we got a little crazy and took the picture out front of my parents house in front of the new rail that my dad built. I love how the picture turned out - and let me tell you...it is a challenge to get everyone to stand still for this picture. I am pretty sure there were a few neighbors peeking out their windows to see what the crazy Settle's were up to. And then, of course, we wear the pjs all night and all day on Christmas day. It's one of my very favorite traditions. And it's pretty amazing to see how the people have multiplied in our picture! It started out with just mom, dad, Craig, Blythe, Kim, me and Shawn....and now look at us!!

Hope you're having the time of your life!

ST