Sasha - 23 months

 My cute little Sha-Sha turned 23 months in August.  Of course, the best part of having a toddler is listening to her attempts to speak (at speaking?)  She finally learned how to pronounce the "P' sound and say "Open" correctly, instead of "Omee."  For some reason Kaleb's name is a complete mystery to her.  She can say well over one hundred words, small phrases and even put a few words together to make a kinda-sorta sentence, but she still calls her brother "Ble-Blem."  Thankfully Kaleb finds it funny.  Sasha is also starting to distinguish letters (which are almost always "E" or "I") from numbers (which are almost always "4").  She surprised us by counting to 3 the other day, and sometimes she remembers the numbers that follow (like six is after five).

Some random things that she says includes whenever she sees something with blood (like a DVD cover) or sleeping she says "Dead."  And random sounds prompt her to pause and whisper, "SH!... noise!"  She also loves to say "kay."  A barrage of nonsense words will always be followed with "kay?" to make sure I was listening.  And of course she always agrees with "kay" even if she really doesn't agree.

Being a toddler, discovering other things your mouth can do is also a lot of fun:

One night she thought my mouth was super-entertaining.  Future in dentistry maybe?

She is a little too young to be sticking her foot in her mouth...

So she sticks it in daddy's!

This month Sasha showed us she could sing "Twinkle Twinkle" all by herself, hand gestures and everything.  I got a video, but for some reason it won't load, so here's a photo.  Her singing sounds something like this:

 "Tinkle tinkle ... star, how undie it are,
Up up up up up up pie, Ikey dimey indy sty,
tinkle tinkle ... star, up up up... you are"

 Since the melody is really repetitive she always repeats the second line over and over and over.  it makes me laugh every time.

In an attempt to get her over singing "Twinkle Twinkle" every night, we tried to introduce a few more songs to sing at bedtime.  This month her obsession became "The Ants go Marching" (or "Boom Boom" as she called it).  She just loved to march around with her brother.  This didn't help calm her down for prayer time and this month in particular she had a really hard time sitting still for it.  Thankfully things are better now!

Another obsession is the TV show word world.  Most days we eat lunch at home, we watch PBS, so after Martha speaks gets over, Sasha immediately yells "WER WERD!" 

It never ceases to amaze me how easy-going Sasha is.  She gets that from Daddy for sure.  She never has a problem making friends, although most days we're at the mall she would rather just climb and dance on my lap.  

 This girl is so silly.  She never gets enough fun and laughing.  This month, sneezing was the funny thing.  She would put stuff on her head and act like she was sneezing "achoo" and motion would make whatever it is fall off.  Classic toddler humor.  Funny faces are also always a big hit!

Another random funny for her is when I dress her in long-sleeved shirts (at bed-time). Her hands would get stuck at the very tips and i would go searching for them and act surprised when I found them.  She also liked it when i got her hands out by just shaking the sleeves really fast.

 Sasha also learned to do a bunch of new things this month.  She can now blow her nose on command and put her sandals on.  She can reach doorknobs now, but still can't open the door (phew!)  She even went potty a few times in the toilet.  One night she had a really bad diaper rash, so I figured we would test out her potty-training readiness... she peed about 5 times on the floor and once in the toilet in the course of an hour.  Needless to say, I got the feeling she just wasn't quite ready.

 

 No matter what my Sasha is capable of, she is always gonna be pretty super to me!

the MRSA Misfortune

Okay, as I have posted before, I have had a few experiences with the nasty little bacteria known as MRSA.  

Well, everything came to a head in early June when i got a super-nasty abscess...

And this is my story...

Firstly, I will desensitize you a bit by showing a photo from the abscess I had in January.  It was on my neck so I documented with a few good photos.  This one gives you a small idea of what I will be posting so if you don't like this just exit out of this window now.  This photo was taken near the end of the infection.  The big hole was what was leftover after all the puss got cleaned out. (if you ever want to know what it's like pulling solid green puss out of a hole in your neck, imagine pulling a tooth prematurely... it's a lot like that.  

It hurts.

That pretty little thing left a scar the size and color of a pencil eraser.  I had another infection in March, then Ammon got a decent-sized one on his face at the end of April (as we were leaving Las Vegas in fact)

****************WARNING*********************
Here's where it gets nasty and graphic!!!

Well, at the end of May, I remember scratching at an itch on my butt cheek, which sounds weird, but it's really something we all do without even thinking.  Whilst scratching I realized i had popped a little pimple.  you know how it is when you scratch a pimple.  It pinches then nothing.  Well, the next day the pimple got bigger.. and bigger... until about 4 days later it starts oozing and looks like this:

FRIDAY, MAY 31st

By the way, the opening was about the size of the tip of my pinky... the reddish part surrounding it  (the infection) was the size of my hand with fingers splayed out... it was big.  

Well, the doc prescribed me the usual antibiotics like she always did; I used a heat pack to "Draw the infection out" as recommended, like I always did.  But it didn't get better.  In fact, this is how it looked three days later:

MONDAY, JUNE 3rd

That nasty boil in the center is actually dead skin, not puss, and it was about the size of a silver dollar.  The infection (the red surrounding part) had taken over the entire cheek.  In order to contain the drainage, I had to put a 4" x 4" gauze over it with a folded up paper towel on top of that, strapped on with packing tape on all four sides.  I would change the dressing every hour or so (cuz it would soak through to my clothes) and when I did change it, I would have to let it drain for a full minute or two.  

Ironically, it wasn't sitting that was the most painful during this situation.  It was taking pressure off that hurt the most.  I'm not sure why, but if I changed position it was enough to take my breath away.  Anyway, needless to say, I checked myself into the hospital Tuesday evening (wanted Tuesday to make arrangements for babysitters, go bags and all that). 

Ammon has always been really good when i need to lean on him in these stressful situations.  That night, as I lay on the hospital bed, constantly having people poke and stare at my butt, it was nice to have him to turn to.  Ironically, the two other people I usually rely on the most (my mom and younger sister) were both leaving town the next day, which just added to my feeling of anxiety.

I had doctors and nurses confirm "Yep, you failed the antibiotics!"  After having Jeff the Vampire take some blood (that's our little nickname for him since no one else could get any), they set me up with a room and specialist consults the next day.  My main concern through allo fhtis was that I didn't want to end up like my dad did when the same thing happened to him... After his surgery, he couldn't go back to work for three months, and in fact, was practically chair-ridden the whole time.  I couldn't handle the idea of that, so when I got set up in my permanent room, the nurse asked what the staff could do to make my stay excellent, I answered, "Get me out of here without doing surgery."

Well, let's just say that didn't happen.  They put me on a really strong IV Antibiotic called Vancomycin and consulted with a surgeon, Dr. Horne (the same doctor my dad had).  She was very good about listening to my concerns about surgery, and told me that I had two options.  Either we could do surgery and I would have a huge hole in my butt that would get treated but wouldn't be infected... OR they could keep me in the hospital longer, try to flush out the infection the 'old-fashioned' way with saline and cleanser (Imagine the world's biggest cavity being rinsed with cold water, it would be excruciating) and THEN i would end up with a hole the same size as after the surgery and still do the same things to help the would heal.   The faster, more anesthitized (?) treatment sounded better after all.  

Thursday morning I had the surgery and everything went well.  We were able to have the kids visit me at the hospital that night.  Ironically, my room was being quarantined until I left, but Ammon was allowed to drag me in a wheelchair downstairs to see the kids in the lobby.  When my mom-in-law (the primary caregiver of the kids during my hospital stay) asked how I was able to sit after surgery, I just explained how little it hurt compared to the infection.  

The next day, the surgeon took a look at my wound.  This is by far the most painful experience of my life thus far.  In order to keep the infection from regrowing, the body has to heal from the inside out, so no stitches allowed here, matey!!  Oh NO!!  They have to pack the hole with gauze then cover it with bandages, essentially.  SOOO, when the doc removed the gauze and repacked it, all of those freshly-cut nerve endings were getting rubbed and pushed on.  

IT WAS AWFUL!!!!

But, I was allowed to go home that night, the only hang up was that they had to find me a nurse to get home care (because the UNstuffing and REstuffing of the hole had to be done EVERY.SINGLE.DAY)  They found a nurse, and I went home with a  giant hole in my butt... and bruises all over both arms.  The antibiotics I was on can destroy the veins and really mess up the kidneys (great stuff, huh), so they changed the IV placement every day AND took blood samples every morning.  Since my veins are not the most welcoming, it would often be three or four sticks before they found a good spot... 

YEESH!

It took a few days for me to willingly look at the cave that had now been formed in my posterior.  Imagine a chunk the size of a Nerf Football.  4 inches deep.  5 inches wide.  3 inches tall.

MONDAY, JUNE 10th:

After the first week, the stuffing got a lot better.  Apparently it takes that long for the nerve endings to heal over.  I went from singing/screaming nonsense under the influence of two percocet to flinching and clenching my teeth with one percocet in about two weeks.  Ammon had the glorious opportunity to change out my dressing several days a week (mostly at the request of our insurance), and thankfully he was man enough to handle it.  

MONDAY, JUNE 24th

The craziest thing about having a giant hole in the rear is getting goosebumps.  The tingling sensation would stop on the inside of the wound... so funky.  Anyway, at that point I was put on the wound vac.  A little machine that sucks the wound toward the surface.  It expedites healing and minimizes infection since drainage gets instantly removed.  It's a few pounds and after carrying it around for a month, it got to be a real pain, especially during the peak of summer!!

This was the wound after about three weeks on the vac.  About 2 inches wide, 1 deep, 1 tall.  Big improvement.  

This is what it looks like while attached.  They apply a sponge to form a channel for the suction then attach sheets of super-tape all over my butt to seal it up.

The tape did a real number to my skin, and often the worst part about the dressing changes that were three times a week was the tape removal.  Gave me some nasty rashes.  

JULY 19th

After the wound vac got taken off, they used a silver-infused gauze that helps prevent infection.  That went on for another 3 weeks.  Then after that it's just been Neosporin and Bandaids.  Currently I have a good-sized scar, but only a tiny little spot I still treat.  

The bad news is I got another MRSA spot last week.  It was small, but still had all the same symptoms as before.  The theory was the nasty IV antibiotics I was on in June should've gotten rid of it.  After i got out of the hospital, we started using antibacterial EVERYTHING, using color-safe bleach in every laundry load, washing weekly with an antimicrobial soap and so on... For whatever reason, this is something H.F. wants me to have.  

Sasha - 22 Months

This was the month of water for Sasha... fortunately, since it was a hot month.  

She got to go swimming at Aunt Aabri's parents' underground pool, which is the deepest water she has ever been in...

And it has a rock slide, which was also a new experience.  

Plus she got to swim in Aunt Jessica's above-ground pool where daddy took her

 to the top of a roaring tsunami!!

All this swimming helped her gain her water wings.. or legs at least. 

 The deeper water encouraged her to kick!

Then there were the rain storms.  Though few, she did get a chance to play out in the rain once.  She LOVED it!!  After that, whenever we left the house she would scream "RAIN!!  RAiN!"  No matter how sunny a day it was.  

 So excited about the rain!!  Ironically, Sasha also experienced her first shower (instead of bath), and she hated it.  Go figure!!

She has finally mastered the spoon, which is a great relief for her mother!!  Plus, after she completed every meal she would say "Cookie."  We only usually give her a dessert after dinner, but no matter what time of day, she thought she had earned a cookie!!

This month Daddy taught her to squelch.  This means whenever you hug someone you say "Mmm...Mmmm MMMMMMMMMmmm" just like you are having a tasty treat.  She thinks its hilarious!

This is the month I had to wear a wound vac (more on that later), and so at first she called it my bag, but then she learned it was a "Vatoom."  She also thought it was noisy and would whisper "Nothey" every time she would hear it.  We realized this month that Sasha has a slight "S" lisp.  Thankfully, she calls herself "Shasha" instead of ThaTha for now.  She also learned to say yes, but it comes out "Heth."  Of course, most of the time her answer to every question was "Um.... No."

Other verbal tidbits:

**When she heard farts, she'd gasp and say "Beep".  We thought it wacky at first, but it turns out she thinks farts and burps are the same, so she was really just trying to say "Burp."

**When Kaleb was around 2 he used to call the color red "ELMO."  Well, turns out Sasha does the same thing, except she calls green "Hulk" and pink "Lilly" for her girl Teller cousin... who apparently wears a lot of pink.    

This month Sasha met her only living great-grandparent, Ammon's dad's dad.  He is Navajo and really doesn't speak a lick of English, but it was a cool experience nonetheless.  

Sasha is now in the loving-baby phase of life.  She just wants to be around them if their around.  It's worse than puppies.  We know that for a fact since my younger sister has a smaller dog and younger baby... Sure enough, she'd rather hug the baby!!

Here's an array of other random photos for the month:

Even just out of bed she is gorgeous!!

 If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't... well you get it!

Showing off those gorgeous stems!

Posing with her entourage.

Why do you look smaller, Mommy?

I'm ready for my closeup!

Hurry, quick, fake pout:

Pretty princess!

Kaleb's Birthday

 So with my MRSA issue, we delayed Kaleb's birthday party for an entire month.  He was pretty good about not holding it against us since, to him, it just meant his birthday was more like a birth month.  Anyway, so he got a kajillion presents.  We got him a few and then practically everybody in our families gave him one too.  He was super happy, of course!

 Tashina, who didn't get to come to the party (cuz of work) came afterward to play with him with the presents she had gotten him (a survival kit with binoculars).

He plays with all of his toys, but during his quiet time/nap time, he has gotten to play with his Tangoes/shapes that gramma Teller gave him.  

Back in May, I let kaleb pick his cake for the party.  He chose the 3D train, specifically the one covered in candy and cookies.  I was able to decorate it in bout 45 mins with the help of my sister's cake-decorating kit.  It was leaning a bit, but I was able to get some Oreos, M&Ms and special sour Twizzlers on it as well.  

It tasted great, but it turned everybody's mouths blue and green.  Good times!!

Sasha at 21 Months

My little angel is growing up!!

At 21 months, Sasha was really starting to be more predictable and easier to handle. However, there were still those little quirks that come with each kid that keeps life interesting.

Every morning, we would pass by the master bedroom door and Sasha would say, "Daddy at work."  Then we would sit down and she would talk about each item of her breakfast.  At night, she knew that we would read a book (and she would always pick Dinotrux, one of Kaleb's favorites) then sing a song (which would always be the ABC or ELMO >LALA< song) then say family prayer.  Well, whoever would say the prayer would have to put up with her mumbling along with them.  She never wanted to say it, but she didn't mind being a verbal shadow to everything that was said.  

With summer time in full swing, my kids were getting more TV than I usually liked.  

This was a common scene in our house, I love how Sasha takes up half the couch.  

There was the weekly trip to the mall to look forward to, which my kids do enjoy!

But Sasha loved swimming the most.  SHE LOVES WATER!!  If splashing were an Olympic Sport, we would have a future gold-medalist on our hands.  Thankfully, we know enough people with pools that it's been a pretty fun summer! 

Post-swimming baby burrito

I guess along with the splashing obsession came Sasha's sudden need to blow bubbles in her drinking water... like constantly.  Oy.  The worst was when she was eating and she would end up with the floaties. 

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!

Photos of Sasha and all the hats

And hats

And Kaleb's shoes... she has no problem putting his on, but hers are still giving her trouble.  

This month saw my 3-day stint at the hospital, and since Sasha didn't understand a bit of what was going on, she became extra-wonderfully-clingy to mommy after I got out.

 She had a habit of sitting at the kitchen entrance every night while I made dinner (cuz she wasn't allowed in the kitchen).  It was like she was afraid I would disappear if I left her sight.  

This is the month Sasha discovered her fake laugh.  She and I occasionally do laughing sessions where we would just throw our heads back and cackle like a couple of evil witches.  She thought it was great!  She also would do a fake laugh when all of us laugh at something on the TV (that she obviously didn't get).  

The words of the month, for Sasha became "Watch" and "See."  She realized that these words got Kaleb some attention, so being the cheesy little ham-bone that she is, she put them to good use.  

Last of all were the tiny little moments when she started getting afraid of things.  First it was our fridge (which randomly makes loud popping sounds), then it was the car-wash (which is super-scary with all the rags smacking her window) and then little surprise sounds became a bit of a bother to her.  Thankfully she hasn't had any big events or night terrors, so for now it's just fun to see that cute face and let her cuddle when she needs it.