Boom!

Everyone has those moments in their lives that they can distinctly remember, as if a bomb went off in their lives as they knew it.

We had one of those moments at 7:38 p.m. last Monday.

I had just bathed the kids and put them to bed. I was holding the baby and was getting ready to bathe him, and I walked past the computer. I casually check my e-mail, hoping to get an e-mail from B about how his day was going. I see an e-mail from him with the Re: line as "Assignment in Houston."

Hmmm, I thought. This had to be the "gentle letdown" that the Air Force gives to those who DON'T get jobs that they want. We hadn't heard about this job in Houston for almost two months...there is no way that this could be good news.

I open it. The line from my husband is "FYI."

Okay...definitely didn't get it.

I let my eyes wander down the page and see a word that I didn't expect to see: "Congratulations."

HUH?!

Yup. You guessed it: we are MOVING TO TEXAS!!

These last few days have been a flurry of activity; but as of now, it's true: yes, we are moving to Houston, Texas sometime this fall. We are very sad to leave our friends here in Los Angeles, but we are also excited to be able to find a bigger house and have more land for the kids to run on. Texas seems very kid-friendly, so that's a definitely plus!

Giddy on up!!

California Dreamin'

Yesterday, I had a surreal experience. As I was making dinner, the kids started screaming "Daddy's Car! Daddy's Car!" I laughed. "Girls, that's not Daddy's car. I miss him, too. But that's not his car."
What I didn't say was that Daddy's car doesn't make noise. It's a PRIUS. lol.
Anyways, the girls kept yelling. Then they ran to the screen door, and my gaze followed. Just then, I saw it: B's boss' car, an incredible Mustang GT. Brent and my dream car.
They somehow knew THAT car!
The car turns around, and pulls in front of our house. Brent's boss jumps out, tells me that he is sorry but he has to catch a flight, and leaves me something that I didn't think I would hold for a long time: the keys to his car!
Mustangs have been on our "dream sheet" for, well, forever. Brent and my very first conversation EVER was about classic Mustangs. Seriously. He was impressed that I knew that I wanted a 1967 Mustang Fastback someday. I was impressed that he seemed to like how I knew what I wanted in a car. From that point on, I knew what I wanted in a man: him.
It may not be ours, but it's nice to dream.
But, for now, I'm happy to have this beautiful car sitting in front of my house. The girls are, too! ;)

Wait for it...

I am pretty sure that feeding your babies their first vegetables is nature's way of giving parents a good laugh.
Since this was my third time around, I knew to have my camera ready. Will, of course, liked the peas after about four bites. I will love these photos forever!

Bad to the Bone

Dani's clothes du jour....she is sporting biker chic fashion.

Reasons Why I Haven't Blogged Much This Week

1.) B came back for a few more days (YAY!)
2.) The weather was BBBBBEAAAUTIFUL outside. So, I wasn't inside much.
3.) We have had lots of guests and playdates, soooo...
4.) ..needless to say, I was too tired at the end of the day to blog. Sorry!

In the Trenches

..and now for the least fun part of parenting: illness.

It totally stinks to see your little ones ill. It is the closest that I have come to almost physically feeling my heart break! You realize just how vulnerable these little people who were entrusted to you, a mere human, can be. When their little eyes look up to you for answers, and you don't necessarily have them, it's tough. Really tough.

Especially when you have two other kids to tend to, and a husband who is traveling.

When Danielle got sick for the first time on Wednesday night, my mind raced. She had a fever a few days prior, but she seemed to have gotten over that. Until that point, there were no other symptoms of illness aside from the fever. Now, two days after the fever broke, I was holding poor Danielle's hair as she hovered over the toliet. This first bout lasted for about three hours. I am pretty sure that she and I only slept for about an hour and a half of that whole night.

I made an appointment the next morning for Dani to see our main family doctor. He checked her out, and after reviewing her file and seeing that she wasn't running a fever, I was given the typical prognosis: a virus. Keep giving her Pedialyte, watered down Gatorade, the BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet, and give her baths throughout the day to keep bacteria from getting into areas that I didn't want it to be.

I left, knowing that I had a feeling that Danielle was battling something more. But she didn't have a fever...so I was clearly being a mommy hypochondriac. Or so I thought.

Thursday night- around 10:00, Danielle woke up again. Same thing. Ugh. Another long night.

Friday- Danielle kept repeating "OW, OW, OW...". Okay, Danielle is usually my no-drama-mama when it comes to illness. She's my silent sufferer. So, if she's saying that something hurts, then..well, IT DOES! Brent happened to come home today for the weekend (which, is AWESOME and the topic for a future post), so once he got home, I called and got a referral for Dani to go to an Urgent Care.

This time, I had a plan in mind. I was GOING to have her urine tested. I didn't CARE that she didn't have a fever that was high enough- I knew that she had a urinary tract infection. I took her in, and as soon as I saw the nurse, I laid out my suspicions. She asked if Danielle could pee in a hat, and I said yes. I had made sure that she had drunk plenty of fluids before coming in. Danielle gave me a little sample to send to a lab; and sure enough, I was RIGHT!!!

Boo-YAH!

So, even though the doctor was suprised at the results because she didn't have ALL of the typical symptoms, I am so glad that I pushed the envelope and defended my "mommy gut." We now have her on antibiotics. Dani did get sick again tonight, but after the antibiotics, it was MUCH less intense than the previous nights' bouts. I am confident that she's on the road to recovery; and her "OW's" have greatly subsided already.

I am convinced that, while medical professionals are wonderful, "mommy guts" are NEEDED! If it weren't for those, I am no longer entirely convinced that we would have survived as a species!