One day to justifiable crankiness!

Last call! Anyone else want to self torture?

So far there are five people giving up soda:
Kristy Langford Deans
Malory Madsen Moore
My mom
My hubby
and I

We're still open to more opponents, so sign up! We officially start tomorrow through the end of the year! Wish us luck!

Carbonation Challenge

I'm drinking too much Dr. Pepper.

Again.

And I'm trying to quit.

Again.

I'm lacking motivation to just quit, so I'm going to make a game out of it. Wanna play?

Anyone who wants to play needs to chip in $10 (a little added motivation). We'll go by the honor system, and the person who goes the longest without drinking soda (anything carbonated) keeps all of the money in the pot. I think 3 months is long enough for the contest, so if we don't have a winner by the end of the year, everyone who is still in the running will split the money.

I'm hoping for at least 10 people (then the pot is $100!) and have 4 signed up already. If you want to play too, shoot me an email or leave a comment!

PS - Can't decide if you want to play? Think of it as a savings plan. If you're like me, you'd spend way more than $10 on soda in three months! :)

The bionic leg

... is being installed October 27.

A whole month of waiting! Whaaa!

My heart is pounding a little faster...

and my leg is already starting to ache.

Some of you may know that I would be the perfect shoe model. If I had coordination, that is. You see, my right foot turns out quite far to the right - thus allowing you to see the front of the shoe on my left foot, while also seeing the side of the right shoe. Brilliant right? Think of it as half duck footed.

Anyway, we started to notice the problem about 14 years ago when my knee started to hurt. I was diagnosed with external tibial torsion and told that I would eventually need a knee replacement and to hold out as long as I could. My knee and hip have hurt every day since then. Pregnancy was a joy.

I'll spare you some of the boring details about a summer filled with tests, referrals and MRI's, and just tell you that they've made some advancements and I don't need a knee replacement. (Yay!) They just need to cut my tibia (shin bone), turn it, and put it back together. Unfortunately, the only doctor with experience is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. So... I spent my day at Primary Children's Hospital with my new doctor, Dr. Klatt.

It was perhaps the most uncomfortable time I've ever spent in a waiting room. On one side of me was a beautiful clubfooted baby. On the other, an 8 year old who fell off the monkey bars and broke his arm. Kids everywhere. And me, the 28 year old partially duck footed woman hobbling into the children's hospital. I lost count how many times I was asked if I was Stacy's guardian. Not to mention they were running 45 minutes behind schedule.

But, Dr. Klatt was really very nice and I felt comfortable right away. He reviewed the MRI's and x-rays I brought with me, and did a few tests himself. He found that not only is my right tibia twisted, but so is my left. And my right femur (thigh bone). He said that if I were a child he would break both bones in my right leg now, but suggested we start with just the shin bone for now.

He is going to make an incision in the front of my shin, drill holes in my bone and break it the rest of the way through with a chisel. Pretty medieval right? The bone will be turned, a long metal rod will be put in from an incision by my knee, and screws will be placed by my knee and ankle. I'll spend 3 days in the hospital and can't put much weight on my leg for several weeks. Obviously, I'm too old for surgery at Primary Children's, so we'll probably have it at the Orthopedic Center down the road. I'll find out the schedule tomorrow.

The good news is, this diagnosis is MUCH better than what my referring doctor had braced me for. Dr. Klatt thinks I can return to work in 2-3 weeks if I want. And, there is a chance this surgery will alleviate the pain I've been having enough that I may not need the other two bones broken. (Cross your fingers!) Hopefully I'll be able to run without crying for the first time. Ever!

While I was walking to my car after the appointment, I had a bit of an inner dialogue:

• 3 days in the hospital?! What am I going to do? If I get woken up every 15 minutes and asked if I need something to help me sleep I'll walk myself home, thank you very much!
• Maybe I'll have to take the computer and blog to entertain myself. I can see the post now: "8:38 - moody nurse is back. HELP!
• I'm surprised there's a problem with my femur, no one mentioned that before. Maybe I don't really need that bone broken? Or maybe I do and I should just get it done now? Who wants another surgery, really?
• He said he'd do the surgery with an epidural; that went okay when I had the kids. WAIT! I was AWAKE when I had the kids! I hope he doesn't want me awake! I CAN'T HANDLE HEARING MY OWN BONE BREAK!

About then, I started to panic. A lot. And I know I wont be able to sleep tonight. When they call me tomorrow to schedule, there are definitely going to be some questions! Until then, I'm going to be pacing. In my own little partially duckfooted way.

First Day of School

I dropped McKenzie off for her first day of preschool a few minutes ago. She has been SO excited! She woke up early and begged to get her uniform on, wolfed down her breakfast, and waited rather impatiently to go! When we finally got to school she asked, "Is it time for you to leave yet, mom?" Sniff, sniff! My baby is growing up and doesn't need me! It made me a little teary eyed as I pulled away, but I guess it's easier than if she were bawling and had to be torn away from my leg.

Here's to a good year!

Dinosaurs!

I was feeling stir crazy, so I took the girls to the dinosaur museum in Ogden for the first time today. Even though I wrote down the wrong exit number, we eventually made it, and the girls were WONDERFUL! It was a peaceful (and long) car ride, Alli happily rode in her stroller when we got there, and McKenzie didn't run off or misbehave. What more could a mom ask for, right?

Here's a few of my favorite snapshots:

McKenzie and her typical goofy pose.

She thought she was SO cool when I took this picture!

The girlies riding a big lizard-dinosaur thing in the park.

Allison on a turtle. She was so proud of herself, isn't it adorable!

Ride 'em cowgirl!

I wish I had my video camera when we toured the indoor museum. But, to tell the story, I have to provide a little background... This summer, Cris and the girls toured the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Pointe with some of Cris' family. While they were there, McKenzie heard some of the dinosaur noises in the background and asked Aunt Ashli, "Did you hear that? Maybe some dinosaurs are still alive!"

So... today when McKenzie saw the animatronic dinosaurs that moved and made noise, she was a little frightened. She inched up closer and closer to the fence. Then, she muttered, "I told Ashli some dinosaurs are still alive!" I think I laughed the rest of the way through the park! I love that girl!

Chatterbox

Alli is becoming more and more vocal lately, which is so much fun! (Mostly because she hasn't learned to tell me 'no' yet!) She can mimic noises so well that sometimes it's hard to tell when she knows a word, or is just parroting it back! One of my favorite things is watching her hold her hand up to her ear and see her pace around saying "Daddy!" and "Hi!" while she pretends to be on the phone. Total girl, right? (And in case you are wondering, she adores jewelry and shoes, too. No joke!)

She also cracks me up when Cris is in the car with us. She can't stop saying "Daddy! Daddy! DadDEEE!" over and over again. I'm not quite sure if she thinks it's a game, or if she's frustrated she can hear him talk, but can't see him.

For my own documentation, here's the words she's been saying:

• Daddy
• Mommy/MomMom
• Hi
• Hello
• Bye bye
• Doggy
• Thank you
• Banana
• Kiss
• and today, she started pointing and saying 'This'

Unfortunately, she's also perfected a shrill glass shattering scream. It's the loudest, most horribly painful noise I've ever heard come from something so cute. Sometimes, she squeals when she's frustrated. Sometimes when her sister pesters her. And sometimes I have no clue what causes it! All I know is that I don't like it. AT ALL. That noise grates on my patience like nothing else. Mix that in with an almost-4-year-old who is overly anxious for school to start next week, and we've had a fun week at our house. And it's only Wednesday! Now I feel like I need to scream! :)

Digital Scrapbook

A few people have asked what program I use to design the mastheads on this blog, so here's the scoop! The program is 'LumaPix FotoFusion Scrapbook Essentials featuring SEI'. (Say that three times fast - go on, I dare ya!) It was a freebie I got at an SEI class at the Scrapbook Expo. I'm just digging in to digital scrapbooking, so there is so much I don't know about it. But, I do know that this program is EASY! If you want it, check out http://www.shopsei.com/, and while you're there, check out club sei - it's the mommy scrapbookers friend.