To the Doctor We Go...

Monday evening John and his uncle were in the backyard working on the garage. I had Ginger on her leash walking through a grassy area between our fence and the neighbors yard. Ginger was running around enjoying the nice evening. Joshua came up behind me right as Ginger decided to make a u-turn and run behind us. The leash caught Joshua across the neck pushing him backwards into a concrete pillar sticking up out of our neighbor's yard. (It used to be an old clothesline pillar). I rushed over to Joshua to help him up and saw blooding pouring, yes, pouring out of his head. I immediately called for John and had him take Ginger as I helped Joshua in the house. My heart was pounding as I processed what to do. I had surgical first aid pads in my cupboard and grabbed one to start putting pressure on the wound. Joshua's hair was matted with blood and his shirt completely stained down the left side. Horrible thoughts were entering my mind causing fear to race through my body. I stopped and starting to pray. I prayed for God's healing hand to be upon my son and prayed that the injury would not be as serious as it appeared. I knew that head injuries, like mouth injuries, can bleed a lot without there being a major cut or opening. I was praying for this to be the case. After John took Ginger back inside he joined me in the kitchen with Joshua. Once the bleeding had slowed down and the wound started to clot, Joshua, Joey and I went to the ER. It was packed. Thankfully the triage nurse had us seen fairly quickly because it was a head injury and because I had two young children. John stayed at home with Trinity and Brenden. (He actually COOKED them dinner and everything; I was so impressed!). The doctor looked at Joshua's head and said that it was only a puncture wound and wasn't actually cut. To error on the side of caution they put a staple in Joshua's head to secure the opening and ensure it would not open back up and start to bleed again. The doctor also explained that the wound was on a "harder" area of the head that is more protected so that's good. They didn't do any scans do to his age and radiation exposure risks. We were in the ER for over five hours and during this time he showed no signs of concussion. We finally arrived home at 1:30am. After that he was back to being himself and has been fine since; praise the Lord!! I have to admit that normally I'm quite calm when my kids are injured, knowing I can't panic and cause more confusion and chaos, but this time was rough. I was a bit frantic and it was hard to control my fear and keep my worried expression hidden from Joshua. Thankfully the Lord was watching over my little Joshua as He always does. :-) 


Early in the day Monday we had Ravioli for lunch. Brenden didn't want to eat anymore Ravioli because he said it hurt his throat. That was VERY unlike Brenden. His voice had been kind of raspy but no other symptoms. About 20-30mins after we ate lunch, Brenden started breaking out in a rash all over his hands and feet. His feet started to swell like balloons. Since he has a severe nut allergy I ran through in my head what he had eaten in the past 24hr to make sure he couldn't have accidentally been exposed to any nuts. His breathing was fine and he was acting like he was going to vomit, so I gave him some Benedryl and kept an eye on him. Other than the rash he seemed okay. 


Tuesday morning (after Joshua's ER trip), I checked Brenden. The rash spread up his legs and back. Even though when I asked him if he was itchy he said "no", he was scratching everywhere. It was time to call the doctor.  Brenden tested positive for Strep Throat and they believe he also has Fifths Disease/Parvovirus B19 which was causing the rash. My poor boy!! An antibiotic was called in for him and I gave him an oatmeal bath last night to help with the itching. He's still scratching a bit but I can tell he's more chipper and less cranky (and BOY WAS HE CRANKY before). :-) 


I know it may seem like a rough week, and yes, it had it's challenges, but I am so thankful to have a God who loves me and my family enough to watch over us and protect us from even greater evils that we can't see ourselves. I pray for God's continued protection and healing over my family. 

Homemade Yogurt

03-21-12 **I'm editing this post and adding pictures. I changed a couple things but I mostly stick to the original recipe. 

I made homemade yogurt for the very first time last night. :-) It turned out great. I used the recipe at Simple Organized Living. I also made her homemade granola. I substituted 2 cups of chopped dried dates for the dried fruit and used Walnuts and Almonds slices. :-) It should taste GREAT with the yogurt. I used Dannon's all natural plain yogurt for my starter yogurt and Great Value low fat organic milk

Homemade Yogurt

Ingredients:

1/2 Gallon of Organic Low Fat Milk

1/2 Cup Organic Greek Yogurt (PLAIN)

Photos Added: 03-21-12

All you need is a crock pot, organic milk, and organic yogurt.

 Add the milk to the crock pot.

 Set on low for about 2 1/2 -3 hours.

 Turn off heat and let stand covered for about 3 more hours. Measure out your yogurt starter...

Add  your yogurt...

 Whisk the yogurt into the milk....

 Cover with a large towel and set aside for 8 more hours. 

Original Pictures: 06-16-11

You can divide this up into smaller container or in bigger containers if you're like us and go through a lot of yogurt at a meal. I divide mine up into three containers. Then just use one container per meal and divide it into bowls. :-) 

You can sweeten this with honey (or sugar....I'm trying to stay away from sugar as much as I can), mix in vanilla, frozen or fresh berries, nuts, granola, etc. Keep a 1/2 of this batch to make your next batch and you'll next have to buy yogurt again. 

Andrea states in the original recipe that this will last 2-3 weeks in the frig. I have never seen it last that long in our house only because it's been eaten too quickly. LOL Enjoy! :-) 

                                 

Cradle Cap Treatment

All of my kids have had cradle cap while they were babies, including Joey right now. The best treatment I've found for it is this:

 

When the cradle cap starts to look "scaly" I find a fine tooth comb and GENTLY (remember a baby's scalp is very sensitive so do not press too hard and dig into the scalp) loosen the dry skin and comb it out of the hair. Once all the skin is loosened and combed out (the scalp will look very dry but that's okay) then I use a tissue or paper towel and apply Burt's Bees Apricot Baby Oil to the scalp. I only apply the oil onto the tissue and then massage it into the scalp, don't apply the oil directly to the scalp or it will be too much. It will absorb into the skin and the cradle cap will be gone. :-) You may have to do this every so often (when you see the scalp becoming scaly again). 

My Big To Do List

Okay...I wanted to write everything out so I could keep track of everything. My brain is starting to get frazzled. I did so much today everything has been a blur. But I'm thankful to have gotten so much accomplished. I've been thinking about all of the other things I want to get done this summer and needed to type them out before I forget them. :-) I'll edit this post and cross things off as I complete the task. 

Things to do by bedtime tonight (06/15/11): 

Give Brenden dose of his antibiotic CHECK

Feed kids Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner CHECK

Make 8 Cups of Homemade Granola CHECK

Make 3lbs of Sloppy Joe meat to freeze for later use CHECK

Make 1lb of Taco meat to freeze for later use CHECK

Make Chili meat and sauce to freeze for later use CHECK

Chop bag of Sweet Onions to freeze for later use CHECK

Chop remaining stalk of Celery to freeze for cooking use CHECK

Make "Uncrustables" to freeze for kids (using 2 loaves of bread) CHECK

Cut up Carrots into sticks for quick snacks CHECK

Make Quadruple batch of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough to freeze CHECK

Make 1/2 Gallon of Homemade Yogurt (Will be done at 3am) CHECK

Cook 5lbs of Chicken Breasts for use this week for meals CHECK

Make 1 Gallon of Iced Coffee Concentrate (Pioneer Woman style!) CHECK

Clear off kitchen table CHECK

Wash five loads of laundry CHECK

Water seedlings CHECK

Put hooks up in closet room CHECK

Put shoes away in closet room CHECK

Pick up clothes and hangers in closet room CHECK

Take out the garbage CHECK

Soak Vera Bradley Purse in Oxyclean and Wash it CHECK

Give Brenden second dose of antibiotic CHECK

Bath kids CHECK

Put away five loads of laundry CHECK

Wipe down kitchen table & chairs CHECK

Wash TWO loads of dishes in the dishwasher CHECK

Hand wash TWO sinks full of dishes and put away clean dishes CHECK

Clear off kitchen counters CHECK

Wipe down kitchen counters CHECK

Clean stovetop CHECK

Sweep Kitchen Floor CHECK

Mop kitchen floor CHECK

Clean up living room/pool room area CHECK

Vacuum living room/pool room area CHECK

Things to do tomorrow (06/16/11):

Water seedlings CHECK

Wipe down sink

Clean bathroom

Brew 2 Gallons of Iced Tea

Bath Kids

Make breakfast, lunch & dinner CHECK

Wipe down counters, table and microwave

Sweep kitchen floor

Wash dishes

Fix/Sew Trinity's baby doll and Joshua's stuffed dog CHECK

Upload and edit photos from camera

Reschedule Joshua's follow up appointment

Organize craft materials

Finish washing the rest of the laundry

Clean bedroom

Dust bedroom

Vacuum bedroom

Wash mirrors in bedroom

Vacuum Rug in side entryway CHECK

Clean Ginger's water & food bowls CHECK

Sweep side entryway CHECK

Dust living room/pool room area CHECK

Vacuum/clean pool table CHECK

Put new curtain rod up in kids room and put curtain back up

Vacuum upstairs

Clean marker off wall in living room

Make Frozen Orange Bowls CHECK

Put Bananas, Oranges, and Mangoes in blender and freeze into cubes to make smoothies later 

Things to do Friday (06/17/11):

Make breakfast, lunch & dinner

Bath kids

Wipe down counters, table & microwave

Water seedlings

Sweep kitchen floor

Wash dishes

Vacuum & clean out van

Make curtains for desks in closet room

Install rods under desks to hang curtains

Take curtains down in closet room and put up blinds

Finish hanging house numbers above mailbox

Clean/Organize Laundry room

Give Ginger a bath

Pack diaper bag to go to Grandma & Pappy's

Make 2 dozen cookies to take to Grandma & Pappy's

Things to do this month:

Patch up missing paint areas in pool room

Make room plaques to hang upstairs

Design Book for Wedding Client

Design devotional book

Contact Wedding clients 

Things to do by the end of summer:

Plant seedlings

Tend garden/flowers

Remove old and recaulk stairway

Paint stairway & hallway

Paint attic stairs & attic hallway

Make craft projects on craft to-do list

Make matching photo frames to use in stairway

Okay that's all I can think of right now.