Hirschi Kissed

the Dr. office is my second home

2009-04-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know my daughter gets sick...a lot! All of my kids seem to be pretty tolerant of pain, so we knew when he heard her screaming Friday night something was up.

Imagine yourself sound asleep in your nice warm bed, when you are suddenly woken up by a child screaming at the top of her lungs. The kind of scream you would expect if she were being attacked and hurt by her older brother. She came in our room around 2 am, screaming that her ear hurt. We calmed her down, gave her some ibuprofen and got her to go back to sleep.

When we woke up the next morning we call the pediatrician and got her an appointment for later in the morning (lucky for us our pediatrician has an office about 30 min away that is open on Saturday). After the Dr. examined her she determined it was indeed an ear infection. As long as it wasn't another UTI then I was happy! She gave us a prescription and sent us on our way. Giving our daughter the OK to do whatever she wanted as long as she felt up to it.

We had previously planned to go hang out with some friends camping at Del Valle, we decided to still do that. We got up to the campsite and not even 10 min later her eardrum ruptured. There was nasty ear ooze everywhere! Lucky for us one of our friends who is a Pediatrician was there and he said it's common for that to happen, and that she would actually feel better since it did rupture. He was right, as long as she had ibuprofen and a a tissue she was fine.

Her ear oozed for the better part of 3 days, by Tuesday it had stopped. Now we just need to make sure she keeps her ear clean while the eardrum heals. Lucky for us this all happened during spring break. What an adventure for her to tell her friends when she goes back at the end of spring break!

the ER my second home

2009-04-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

Well it feels like it! I am so blessed to have a little girl who gets sick...a lot! I also have a little boy who has 2 left feet (literally)! So I better post my experiences as to "warn" parents of the perils of being an oblivious parent.

It all started on a crisp fall morning, my 9 year old was sitting in a bar stool balancing it on 2 legs. Now we have told this child multiple times not to do that, and this morning was no exception. Seeing that he is 9 and apparently knows more than me he did it anyway. Well he fell and hurt his foot. We figured it was just bruised and he would be up running around again soon. He screamed he wailed and thrashed around a bit in pain, but sure enough it went away and he was back to "normal". So we thought. I noticed the next day that he was limping, he said it still kind of hurt. Two more days passed and he was still limping, he swore to me that he was fine. He limped around all at basketball practice. Fast forward to Saturday, the day of his last basketball game, he was still limping but said he was fine. We let him finish his game and when he got home I insisted on taking a closer look at his foot. It was swollen to twice its size! There was even bruising on top of his foot. He would cringe every time I would touch it. By the time we noticed the injury it was too late to go to urgent care, I didn't want to pay the deductible for the ER visit (seeing as it probably wasn't life threatening). So we waited until Sunday to take him in.

On Sunday I decided that he maybe able to wait until Monday to see his regular dr. We happen to have a friend who is a Pediatrician he took a quick look and said he could wait but to take him in on monday. By now the bruising had spread to the bottom of his foot and it was still swollen. I got him into the Dr first thing Monday morning, she quickly got us a referral to a podiatrist. I went directly from the pediatrician to the podiatrist, with 3 kids in tow...not a fun experience for me! The Podiatrist took a look and assesed that he needed xrays and proceeded to order a boot for his foot. By this time I started to feel pretty bad that he really was not faking the injury.

I pawned two of my kids off to a super great friend (who let me do it at the last minute) and took the oldest to the hospital for xrays. I was SHOCKED at what I saw. His foot was not just sprained it was completely BROKEN!!! I felt horrible for making him walk, run and play basketball on it for a WHOLE week before figuring out the problem! Funny enough, he didn't act like it hurt him. Even the podiatrist was amazed at his tolerance for pain (this is quite unusual for a kid who cries over papercuts). He was sentenced to 4 weeks in a boot, thus prohibiting him from his usual jumping, riding and running activities. I'd like to say the boot slowed him down, but it didn't. It was quite the site to see him riding down the street on his scooter in his boot. I guess injuries really can't slow a determined child down!

Can you see in the picture where the broken bone is? Look closely!

How do you explain...

2009-04-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

How do you explain the death of another child to your children? Over the past week there has been a series of events unfolding in my town. A little girl vanished...into thin air! Literally, she was on surveillance camera one minute and gone the next. Without any clues as to where she may have gone. For over a week the town I live in has come together to look for her. People who do not even know this child have put countless hours into the search for her.

She was a student in another school in our district, her disappearance has been the topic of the playground discussion. "Where is she?" my 9 year old asked me. "I don't know, but I hope they find her soon". This brings us to today's events. A suitcase was discovered on the outskirts of town, in an irrigation pond. A 9 PM press conference revealed the worst case scenario. Her poor lifeless body was thoughtlessly stuffed inside. How do I explain this to my children, they have heard about what happened, they will ask in depth about how she died and who did this to her. I can only pray for the guidance to give them the answers they need.

Here I sit holding my sweet little 3 year old asleep on my lap, feeling heartache for the mother who will never hold her child again. I hope they figure out what happened so her parents can find peace with her death.

Blue and Gold

2009-04-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

This past week was the Blue and Gold dinner for cub scouts. The theme was what I want to be when I grow up, complete with a cake decorating contest. It was so cute to see all the different themes; including: baseball player, football player, astronomer, zoo keeper and lego builder. All of the career decorated cakes looked good enough to eat (and that we did!). There we fireman, policemen, Doctors, lawyers and even a gum sales analyst there to talk to the kids.

A big thank you to everyone who made the evening fun for my family!

Money to shred?

2009-03-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Kids are funny about money, they think it's a magical thing that appears from nowhere. My daughter had a couple of dollars sent to her in a birthday card. Well being the carefree person she is, she left them out where her little brother could find it. My youngest had just observed his Dad shredding old papers over the weekend. So he of course decided he would do the same with the "paper" he found on the floor. My daughter caught him in the act, and her once whole dollar bill is now only worth about 50 cents!

Birthday week!

2009-03-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week at our house, two out of 3 kids celebrated a birthday this week. We've had 2 birthday child birthday dinners, 1 family birthday dinner and coming up this weekend we will have 1 video game party and 1 day out with the girls. Are you tired yet? I am!

Happy Birthday to my Boy Wonder!

Happy Birthday to my Princess Paya!

We love you even more now than the day we brought you home!

a much needed break

2009-03-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

I've been having a bit of a hard time lately, I'm not sure why but I've been in this funk that has been really hard to get out of. I decided to take matters into my own hands and go somewhere to get away. I found a great deal on a trip to London and talked my sister into going with me. I can't tell you how nice it was to get away, to step back from being a mom and business owner. I tend to over analyze things and stress myself out easily, I can be so hard on myself that I just needed to relax and not sweat the small stuff.

Anyways, London was amazing! I went for the first time when I was pregnant with my daughter, I fell in love with the city then. Going back only reinforced how much I want to live there, it is such an amazing and beautiful city. I love wandering the streets, I love it that people don't work super long hours, that is a city of that size shops still close at 6 and have late night shopping once a week. I love it that when you get on the tube the men stand up and let the women sit. The city is clean even though rubbish bins are hard to find, rarely will you see a homeless person on the streets. I love it that the museums are free and always packed!! I love it that their version of a parade has nothing to do with clowns and candy being thrown out. It is really one of my favorite places!

I need potty help!

2009-01-31T22:13:00.000-08:00

So we took A to pick out a toy that he can have when he is finished with potty training. He finds the toy he wants and is all excited to get it. Then Jon says to him "you can't have that until you only wear underwear and pee in the toilet." He immediatly says "No, I don't want it. I gotta put it back". he puts it back and walks away. CRAP He knows exactly what we want...and still won't do it. So i'm leaving now to go BEAT MY HEAD AGAINST A WALL!! Dang smart stubborn kid!

So my question is, what would your next move be?

I have that kid

2008-10-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

yep you guessed it the one who does the unimaginable. My 3 year old pulled the fire alarm at my older kids school. I don't think I'll ever be able to show my face in the office again!

I wanna be a cho-cho train!

2008-09-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

Today as I was walking A to school we were talking about what his color of the day would be. It is his turn to be purple at preschool. So I asked him "Are you excited to be purple today?" He immediately responded "No, I wanna be a cho-cho train"

Oh the life of a 3 year old who is obsessed with trains! I wonder when he will notice that there are other toys out there, worthy of his attention.

The Scooter Bandit

2008-09-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday C wanted to ride his scooter to the park, so he came in side and asked if i had seen it. I told him no, it was right where he left it before school on Friday. I went outside to help him look after about 20 minutes of looking everywhere it was still not found. We came to the conclusion that someone took it.

The theft was my fault, normally I keep our gate closed (i've included a picture of the outside of our house so you can see how the gate is). I was a bit rushed on friday and didn't lock it back up. So the scooter decided to follow someone else home :(

C was devestated! He rides his scooter every chance he gets, so Saturday night I got off my tired butt and made a run to Target to replace the scooter. When he woke up this morning he was excited to see that I fixed my mistake. Life is good again in the Hirschi house!

Family Pics Take 2

2008-09-18T10:57:00.001-07:00

Family Pictures Take 1

2008-09-17T20:45:00.001-07:00

Family Picture Day

2008-09-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

We went and had some family pictures done by a very cool photographer in Sacramento. She was so good with the kids and was able to capture moments just the way I imagined! If you are in the market for a photographer I highly recommend her! Her site is http://www.monikaelenaphoto.com/

Asleep like their Dead!

2008-09-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have 2 kids that will sleep anywhere! Seriously! M has been know to curl up in shopping carts, parks, if she's tired nothing will stop her! Well it was no surprise that her little brother A does the same thing. Here is a picture of him at the park on Labor Day, curled up asleep under the blanket. You can barely see him there! It was easily 95 degrees outside, but he insisted on having the blanket over him.

Addicted to Thomas!

2008-09-10T09:32:00.001-07:00

My sweet little boy is turning 3! So we decided to take him to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, there they have Thomas the Train. My Thomas addicted boy ran as fast as he could to Thomas Town. Once there we couldn't get him to leave! He rode Thomas the Train, Harold the Helicopter and Bertie Bus. M was almost as excited as him to ride Thomas. His favorite part of the whole day...playing with the train table in the gift shop. He has more trains at home than they had in the gift shop, but that's where he spent the majority of his day. Thomas Town was a little small, but I provided hours of entertainment to our Thomas addicted boy!

Sickette goes to the hospital

2008-08-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

So to continue from the last post M woke up on Thursday at 6 am with a fever of 104.7 and was vomiting. I was able to control the fever and get her comfortable until we went back to see the Dr.

When we arrived at the Dr's office her regular pediatrician took a look at her right away (yay for no wait). Also, the pediatrician who saw her on Wednesday was there to take a look at her. Neither one liked what they saw. Apparently the 2 shots of Rosefen she was given on Wednesday did not work, our Dr. recommended that we take her to the ER for IV antibiotics. She called ahead and they had a bed waiting for her. So off we went to the ER where they gave her an IV for dehydration and antibiotics. The nurse had to try 3 different places before she was able to get the IV in. My poor little girl was such a trooper!

She was pretty uncomfortable Thursday night, all she wanted to do was watch Animal Planet. I guess there was something comforting about watching the ugliest dog contest on TV. When she woke up Friday morning she still had a fever, but she was looking better. Her highlight on Friday was a visit from one of her friends. He brightened her spirits and made her giggle! Laughter truely was the best medicine for her.

Finally Saturday morning they said she was well enough to go home, she had a low grade fever, but they pinpointed the infection and helped control it. She had such a good experience in the hospital, all the nurses and doctors enjoyed having her. I guess that's a perk to being the only pediatric patient on her floor.

J and I were so exausted from the whole ordeal. We were all ready to go home and sleep in our own beds!

Pics -

M with her sick animals.

M with her friend J.

The sickette and 2 monsters.

Sickette

2008-08-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

I swear 2 out of 3 of my kids are sickos! Someone breathes on them and they have a fever the next day. My oldest is like a workhorse, he NEVER gets sick. He could be in a room of sick people and still not come down with so much as a cold.

So I posted a couple days ago that A (my youngest) sick, well he breathed on M and she got sick. She was sick Sunday night, Monday I took her to the dr (she said her ears and throat hurt). They checked her out and did a urine sample, everything was fine. I kept her home from school on Monday, and again on Tuesday because she hadn't been 24hrs fever free. Today she woke up with a fever, WTC (what the crap!) and she said her throat hurt so I call the dr and I got to take her back in. This time she has a UTI!

My poor girl is cursed with recurring UTI's! She has had more in her short little life than most of the population. I had to promise her a new my little pony just so she would let them give her the shots she needed to feel better. Since our regular ped was out today, we get to go back to the dr tomorrow. She has been begging to go back to school every day this week, I feel so bad for her. At least now there is some sort of cure for her recent sickness.

Update - her fever is now up to 105.2, YIKES! I'll be up for a while tending to this monster of a sickness!

The Games Kids Play

2008-08-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the games you played as child...like hopscotch or hide and seek. Well things have sure changed! My 6 year old daughter informed me of some games she likes to play. I've included a list and brief description:

Throw your pony in the bushes - you take a my little pony and chuck it as far as you can in the bushes, then dig around to find it.
Pick the wings off the fly - you wait until Roxy (our kitty) has caught a fly, then you steal it from her and pick off the wings.
Kitty dress up - this is a classic (I did it when I was little) you find your prettiest doll dress and lovingly shove the kitty in it.
Kitty's day out - this usually follows kitty dress up, because every good mommy needs to take her child for a walk. M's doll pram works perfectly for this.
Glue the snail to a piece of cardboard - this classic game was created by my 6 year old at a friends party (I was so embaressed when I heard). You can check out the story of it here http://sugarcityjournal.blogspot.com/2008/08/birthday-run-down.html

Funny story about the throw your pony in the bushes game. M informed me that she couldn't play it anymore because her pony was "gross" from being in the bushes...um isn't that the point of your game?

What games do your kids play? Or did you play as a child?

Sicko

2008-08-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

My almost 3 year old seems to get sick pretty often, so I wasn't surprised when he woke up yesterday with a fever. He has the fever for about 2 days then it goes away, I've taken him to our dr about it before. All they did was a couple of test that came back negative, so I guess will just wait the fever out until it's gone. Which according to his fever schedule it should be gone by tonight.

Can I secretly say that I like it when he's sick, he's way more mellow than normal! Besides who doesn't love a cuddly child!

Obama Website

2008-08-10T16:31:00.001-07:00

My brother's FIL is very involved in the political process. When I was in Utah a couple of weeks ago I went to a family dinner and he was there. He is such an interesting person to talk to, full of interesting stories and a great persuasive speaker (I guess you would have to be in his profession). Here is a link to a website that he is involved in (yes that is my brothers FIL speaking in the video) http://www.obamarepublicans08.com/

There is a lot of false information out there about Barack Obama, hopefully these video's will help some of the more conservative voters take a second look at him.

Legoland!!!

2008-08-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

We took the kids on a long weekend trip to San Diego before school started. We spent the whole time with our friends (which we think are the coolest) who moved there a couple months ago. The kids all got along wonderfully and they had hours of fun playing amongst the legos!! Here are some pics from the adventure!

First Day of School 2008

2008-08-10T16:14:00.001-07:00

The benefit of doing year round school is we don't have a huge long summer with kids at home. So after being off of school for 1 month my kids went back...as first and third graders!! here is some of their first day of schoool pics.

My mom can't go to jail

2008-08-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

My friend was taking M (my 6 year old daughter) home from school the other day. Well M was a bit slow at putting her seat belt on. So my friend tells her she needs to put it on so they don't get pulled over by the police. M says to her, "I know because if I don't put it on the police will come take my mom to jail and then there will be no one to take care of me cause my dad lives in SF."

LOL, it's funny to hear how kids interpret things happening in their lives!

(my dh does live in SF during the week, it's better than having him get home at 8-9 pm just to leave again at 6 am the next morning).

We got a gusher!

2008-08-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today C (my 8 year old) was outside riding his bike and he dropped it on the ground so he could run shoot hoops. Well of course my barefoot kid dropped in on his toe, and it cut open. So now Jon is at the ER with him most likely getting stitches. I swear we should have a frequent user card for the ER.

Oh I guess I should mention that he has hurt himself almost every year at the beginning of the school year. Kindergarten he fell of the playstructure the first week of school and got a hairline fracture in his arm. Then a week before 1st grade he fell off his bike and broke his arm (different arm). I can't think of any major injury in 2nd grade. Now we can add stitches to a toe for 3rd grade.

Blue Man Troupe's newest member

2008-07-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

So I come down stars the other day to find my almost 3 year old coverd from head to toe with a blue marker. It's on his forhead, hands, feet, arms...even the back of his neck (don't ask me how he got it there). He even has streaks of blue in his blond hair. After minutes of questions all i got out of him was..."I color"...um yea, but I think you missed the paper. Well I *think* the real reason for the blue marker is he wants to join the Blue Man Troupe.

What is Sex?

2008-07-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, the dredded topic of what is sex came up this past week. I was mortified that my 8 year old even knew the word. So I very cautiously asked him, where did you hear that word? He replied it's here on this piece of paper. He then brought it to me and it tured out to be the registration form for summer camp. Phew!!! So instead of explaining to him about the birds and the bees, I was able to give a little summary on genders.

The Substitute Dad

2008-07-07T23:31:00.001-07:00

My 8 year old son told me today that while my husband is gone at work during the week he is going to be the substitute Dad. I secretly think his motive is to secure his control as the ultimate decision maker. Could you imagine the world dominated by 8 year olds. There would be manditory Nintendo DS time every day, and chocolate chip cookies for every meal. There is a reason that God made it impossible for 8 year olds to procreate. I am reminded of that every day!

Toilet Rations

2008-07-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ok so there has been this issue with toilet paper in my house. I swear everytime I would use our downstairs toilet I would have to put a new roll out. Well I come to find out that my thrifty 6 year old daughter decided to "ration" out the toilet paper. So everytime someone would use the toilet she would sneak in and lay out 2 sheets of 4 squares each. Her toilet rations. I guess this is her part in saving the rainforest. What does she have in store for us next...air drying?

Hirschi Kissed!

2008-07-07T23:14:00.001-07:00

Consider yourself smothered in Hirschi Kisses. From my beloved (and usually chocolate covered) kids. They are full of humor and knowledge. Here is a place for me to share their knowledge with everyone else!