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Deep Thoughts

"Great things are brought about and burdens lightened through the efforts of many hands “anxiously engaged in a good cause.” Imagine what the millions of Latter-day Saints could accomplish in the world if we functioned like a beehive in our focused, concentrated commitment to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ." M. Russell Ballard October 2012 General Conference

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A Month of Ear Infections

On the Saturday of Cody's birthday in between lunch and cake Dr. Chris and Nurse Anne took us down to the hospital to see if Uncle Chris could look in Cayden's ear before we spent $100 at the Urgent Care.  Cayden  had been complaining about his ear hurting since the day before when we were on the way up to Provo and was crying at lunch because it was hurting.  Dr. Chris could not see anything with his handy dandy ear looker so Nurse Anne called up to the NICU to see who was on call.  It happened to be a pediatrician and he was nice enough to check Cayden out.  He could not see anything because Cayden's ear was too full of wax.  He told us to go home and clean it out and then come back and he would look again.  After 30 minutes of flushing Cayden's ear with hydrogen peroxide and water we thought we were good.  Well the doctor still could not tell a whole lot but he gave us a prescription for Amoxicillan to fill if the problem continued.   Cayden was still complaining about it on Tuesday so I filled the RX.  9 days later he said it was still bothering him so we went to the doctor here in town who said it was still really bad.  We got 2 new RX's and only paid $150 for them.  Thank you beginning-of-the-year deductible.   Later in the day I took Connor to the same doctor because he had started complaining about his ear the Saturday after Cayden and I had an Amoxicillan RX that we started him on.  His ear infection was not as bad as Cayden's but still not good especially for being on the meds for 5 days.  Plus his blood sugars had been horribly high all week since he had started saying that his ear hurt.  So he also got a $130 RX.  Because Cayden's ear was so bad we went back to the doctor once a week for 2 more weeks and THEN even though the bad infection part was gone his ear did not look the way the doctor thought it should.  We even used an ear cleaner kit a few times a day for a week to clean it out really good.  After the 3rd time to our local doc he sent us up to the ENT in Mesquite.  We went up there on Monday and the ENT used his magic sucky vac to clean out Cayden's ear for the billionth time.  He said there was still an infection in there but wait for it...............and skip ahead unless you want to be grossed out.........................it was a fungal infection.  Ok that is just yucky.  He said it could have happened because of the amount of antibiotics he had been on or that he had gotten water in his ear that never drained out.   He squirted a thick cream in there and said to come back in a week to make sure the infection was gone.  So let's add that all up
3 trips to the local doc for Cayden and 1 for Connor
2 antibiotics for Cayden and 2 antibiotics for Connor
1 antibiotic ear drops for Cayden
1 trip to the ENT and now
1 more trip to the ENT
So much for cutting down on our medical expenses this year.  I feel bad that Cayden has had to deal with this for so long.  He was so good about it too.  Poor boy!
Incidentally I got sick on February 7 and after flushing my ear it got plugged and I could not hear out of it for 2 days.  It was maddening!  I spent numerous times on Friday and the whole morning of Saturday the 13 trying to get it unplugged. Finally about 1pm it worked and I could hear again.  I only had to deal with not hearing for a few days.  Poor Cayden has had to deal with it for over a month.

Cody's Birthday

 
Cody turned 17 January 16 while we were in Provo for our late Christmas.  We took him to lunch at Texas Roadhouse with all the family and then he opened his presents and enjoyed his Lemon Bundt Cake at Grandma Penny's house.  The candles add up to 17.  8+2+2+5=17.  This is the way we do candles. 

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Late Christmas


To Whom It May Concern, 
We regret to inform you that the Adams family lost the coveted Gnomeholio due to majorly being in the hole and wagering Texas with a dollar sign.  During the 3rd Annual Gessel Family Christmas Jeopardy game Gnomeholio was savagely stolen right out from underneath them by the cunning and strategically placed Dr. Chris and Nurse Lola.  The special place on their mantle will now remain empty and gnomeless until you rue the day that you thieved it away.  Please remain from using ethnic slurs and keep your chump change in your pocket. 
Sincerely,
T. Ferguson

Since we did not make it to Utah over Christmas because of sickies, the dryer incident, and the weather, we went up over MLK weekend when the kids had a no school.  We left Friday morning and got there early enough for a Chic-Fil-A run before the festivities.  We opened presents and I became the newest recipient of the Quesadilla maker in a long line Quesadilla  maker as gifts.  The kids got giftcards and cash and Wii games.  Cayden was especially pleased with the child-size camcorder.  Don got the new Chad Lewis book from Suzanna and Mawmaw was able to get it signed by Chad.  Chad is a former BYU football player and a former Philadelphia Eagles player who retired a few years ago.  He also happens to have grown up right down the street from Mawmaw.  After we opened gifts we played the traditional Gessel family edition of Jeopardy. Suzanna has made up different questions every year so it is always lively.  We hope this tradition continues so that we can redeem ourselves and return Gnomeholio to his rightful spot on the mantle.

I Have Another Teenager


Connor turned 13 on January 11.  He couldn't hardly stand it waiting for his presents.  So he opened them as soon as Cayden got home from school.  He got a DVD player for his room-he got a small older TV  a few months ago from a man in our ward who he always goes and helps.  He has been begging for a DVD player since before Thanksgiving so we decided that we would accommodate him.  He also got a new scooter because he broke his other one.  He wanted Artichoke and Mushroom Chicken with Capers for dinner and then his favorite Skor cake for dessert.  Then we devoted FHE just to Connor.  We read his favorite scripture story and then played a game of Charades.  That was quite entertaining.  Grandpa and Grandma came over for the cake and ice cream part.  It just not seem possible that he is actually 13.

Roar

Cody got Lion King tickets for Christmas and we went on January 9.  I forgot to take my camera so this is our after the show picture with the bag from the giftshop.  We went to lunch at Red Robin first and then drove down to Mandalay Bay.  (Sidenote-that place is a den of evil-their idea of art and design is pornography to me, and a dance/stripper pole and stage WITH the dancer on it in the middle of the casino floor on the way to theater.  You have to walk through most of the casino to get to the theater.  Not exactly the place I want my 17 year old son or even myself for that matter.)  I digress-the show was pretty cool.  The costumes and choreography were AMAZING!  I was not thrilled with the music like I am for some Broadway productions but just to see what they could do was fabulous.  Cody really enjoyed it and Cayden wanted to go see it as soon as we got home.  There are some scary scenes in the show and so I don't know if Cayden would like that.  The show and the music he would love though.  After the show we got Cody a cool shirt from the giftshop.  It was a fun night.  I have tried to get a picture of him in it but no luck yet. That happened to be the night of the Reverse dance and I could not get the tickets changed so Cody didn't go even though he had lots of girls wanting to take him.  He got to go out with his mother instead.  Sidenote #2 The lady that sat directly in front of me had taken a bath in her perfume and I thought I was going to die.  I had to keep putting my arm up to my face so that I could breathe through my sweater to try and get some air that was not dripping with perfume. 

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Happy

1.  Rain
2. Pineapple
3.  Jack Bauer and his really dumb lines.
4.  George Strait
5.  Pink
6.  Flip flops
7.  Sour Patch Kids
8.  Junior Mints
9.  Tuesday is almost over.
10.  The Proclamation on the Family
11.  My own personal Instacare-Dr. Chris
12.  Rice Cozies
13.  Fuzzy socks
14.  Moonlight Path-Bath and Body Works
15.  Legos keeping Cayden occupied
16.  Thoughts of Maui

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Still Thinking Happy Thoughts


Reading makes me happy.
Fairy Tales make me happy.
My electric blanket makes me happy.
Cafe Rio makes me happy.
Cayden getting his braces off next month makes me happy.
Having Cayden and Caleb's braces paid for makes me happy.
Testing week means no homework week and that makes me happy.
No school Friday makes me happy.
Pictures of my nieces and nephews make me happy.
Pancakes for dinner makes me happy.