Because in 5 years Ill laugh about it.

Poor Miss Ella about half way through the "ear journey". Neither one of us felt very well here.

I thought I would be over being sensitive about the comments that I was getting regarding Ella and the incident of the ear. The truth? It still bothers me, but I had to document this as our blog is somewhat of a journal for me. The good, bad and the ugly. This entry has a little bit of each. On that note, here is the story for history's sake...and so I can make Ella read it each and every time the thought crosses her mind to put something in her ear.

Ella had a bad fever which caused her eardrum to burst. Ouch. I know. Well it was healing quite nicely, but also probley caused a bit of discomfort as it did. So, she did what any normal 2 1/2 year old would do...Following breakfast one morning, she put a piece of Captain Crunch in her ear. We tried to get it out, but only seemed to push it in her ear further. Our pediatrician said it would more than likely break down and fall out. If it was not causing her any discomfort, then let it come out. DONT try to remove it on your own as it will make it worse.

So we waited. And then one night it WAS bothering her. I thought it was out since I could not see it. Then as I took a flashlight and looked deeper in her ear by holding it out and looking into the canal, there it was. Stuck. Badly. Not going anywhere and causing alot of pain. This was the 23rd of December, so Long story short (well shorter) we went to do something about it. December 23rd is NOT the day to try and find a specialist in your network- our network's customer service was closed and NOTHING is open. The ENT recommended by our Pediatrician was "only in the office for an hour" and told us to go straight to the ER" So we did. Our first ER visit mind you, and Ella was happy walking in. Fast Forward 7, yes 7 hours later. Ella was no longer happy walking out, in fact The Red Flame had to carry her as she whimpered in her sleep. She was absolutely exhausted and the solidified cereal was STILL in her ear. We spent 7 hours of people flushing, poking, proding with 4 adults need to hold our little one down and then finally causing bleeding in her ear in the ER. It was awful.

She spent the weekend like that then first thing Monday we took her to the ENT (a different one) who got it out in 15 minutes. LOVE Dr. Katz at Alta View. He was great!! Lesson to parents: IF you can stand it, wait the weekend and go STRAIGHT to the specialist. They are called that for a reason. If not, if the ER cannot get something out of the ear, nose or throat in 15 minutes or less, it is not coming out. That is what Dr. Katz told us. Good to know.

Then the drainage began. Were not talking just a little, it was dripping from her ear lobe for a week! She would not leave my arms and left a puddle each time she lifted her head up. GEW!! Ear drops, cold medicine and the fever still did not break, with the cold she got on top of that we again went to our pediatrician and currently she is on a pretty heavy antibiotic for; a double ear infection, swollen tonsils and sinus infection. Yeah. Go ahead and nominate me for Mother of the Year. I sooo deserve it!

It was a pretty miserable few weeks for our family over Christmas. HOWEVER. I am pleased to announce that we are on the mend! Were trying to beef Ella up as she lost over a pound during this whole fiasco, and I came through VERY grateful for wonderful friends, family, and the power of prayer. No matter what you belive in or how feel about prayer, there is power there. And it's real.

I may be up to the humorous jab or two like "just add milk!", "was it crunch berries or peanut butter crunch?" In about 5 years or so...But for now? I'm just glad this is now a memory and no longer my reality.

Fall Fotos

My cousin Josh has started a Photo business-www.jsnowphotography.net. He has done a few photo shoots of us in the past and I am excited to see his work come to life. These were a few of the "Fall Fotos" we were able to get of the girls and fam. Go check him out!

I love looking at pictures of the girls when they are side by side. One- a brown hair/brown eyed beauty, the other- a blonde hair/blue eyed cutie!! Love it!

Got Milk?

So here's the thing...I work. I love my job, but it does not allow me to be home all the time and sometimes it is up to the Red Flame to take care of our darling little angels...THIS is what happens when you have 1 Russian Red Flame (who was not watching very close), 2 little angels turned heathen and 3 pounds of trix that they found in the cupboard. Artyom greeted me with the pics he took of the girls and as I looked to Sofia for answers, she said. "But Mama, we just wanted a snack...." When Artyom's back was turned trying to clean up the mess, this is where he found Ella. She was probley going after the Cocoa Crispies next!

Yep. A kitchen scattered with TRIX. And we don't have the smallest of kitchens...

Sofia doing her best to "rid the kitchen of evidence" before I got home...

Nursery Rhyme Halloween

I DID get the girls' outfits to both go trick or treating at my office and then that night. We went as Mary...and her sheep! Thank you Martha Stewart! I always had this "dream" of sitting at a sewing maching and humming along a Disney inspired tune as I so delicately made my children's costumes filled with a mother's love and tender care. The reality?! I was still sewing a few mintues before we walked out the door and mumbling profanites under my breath, swearing I would NEVER try this again. Fast forward a month-I'm over it now and will indeed attempt the making of costumes again. Iloved how they turned out too much not to. I just may have to start making them in November next time around....Its all about that learning curve folks!

The girls with THIER Betsy.

Trick or treating fun at the office.

Mary and her lambs

Only Sofia and I were brave enough to face the DOWNPOUR of rain and wind and go out to a few houses. She had a blast though, and it was all worth it. She and Ella were adorable and it was so fun to have another set of memories with our family.

Halloween at preschool

Yeah. Still behind. I had to get these up for Grandpa-if no other reason! Since I was not quite done with the girls' costumes when Sofia had preschool, we had to make do and come up with something quick! Call me "catty" but I thought it was cute!Sofia could not be outdone and decided she wanted to be a cat too. Pardon the "no pants" we were trying to potty train!

Take 5!

Yep. 5. That is how long the Red Flame and I have been married. We celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary on December 10th. What is funny, is the number of years that I have actually known him...That number is a bit more impressive...a whopping 12! However, there were quite a few things that needed to happen in between that first meeting and the "I do's". They did and here we are. Since you may not know the many things that makes Artyom, well the Red Flame, I decided to share the list I gave to him for our Anniversary. Following the top 10 list, Artyom is getting one a day, so if he has decided to check our blog and read ahead- well so be it!

31 Reasons of why I love you- A TOP 10 and one for each remaining day of the month!

1. You always say you love me before hanging up the phone.
2. You do the right thing...regardless of the consequences. What an example of how loyal and how much integrity you have. I hope the girls learn that about you at an early age.
3. Date nights are important to me...I am SO glad that they are importnat to you too!
4. You are not picky about my cooking, even when it's hot dogs and mashed potatoes (a staple from both our mission days!)
5. You are true to the covenants we made in the Temple together. We are in this together and I would not have it any other way.
6. You are determinded to have the girls speaking Russian. It was one of the many reasons I married you. I love Russia, I love the language, the culture and you keep it alive in our family.
7. You would take the shirt off your own back before you would let another person go without one.
8. You tell the girls how beautiful they are every time they show you what Mama has dressed them in and how she has done their hair for the day. It means the WORLD to Sofia.
9. I know, without a doubt, you love our girls. Even though they drive you crazy sometimes, you still love being thier Papa.
10. We will make it to the place where we want to be. We WILL be an Eternal Family.
11. You eat leftovers for lunch, even though we just had the same thing for dinner.
12. You buy me flowers (on occasion) even though before we got married, you said you never would.
13. You stayed with me ALL 3 DAYS in the hospital when we had Sofia. I have not forgotten how nice that was having you there.
14. You let me go on my "Girls Night Out" to have a break.
15. I can count the number of times I have ever vacuumed since we have been married, on one hand...and I LOVE it!
16. I have yet to mow the lawn...even though I KNOW I could do it to your satisfaction.
17. You let me dress the girls in the matchy-matchy dresses and you never make fun of me for it.
18. You read Russian stories to Sofia every night. I know how much it means to her.
19. You have successfully (by this point) potty trained Ella. That is a HUGE thing off my shoulders.
20. You trust me with the coupon shopping-knowing that I really am getting the best deal.
21. You love being with my family- all the brothers, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins that you married into. You really love going to the many events that we have.
22. You let me clutter the kitchen table with all my sewing stuff, and never put up a fuss. Thank goodness we have the bar to have meals at!
23. You let me take over the TV on Thursday nights, so I can see my favorite shows.
24. You hand over your paycheck when you get them, no questions asked, knowing Ill take care of what needs to be paid. I may not like all the responsibility, but I am glad you trust me to do so.
25. You take care of the girls when I go out of town on business and make sure they are fed, dressed, loved and tucked in at night.
26. We may not have the biggest house, but we have a home and that is what matters to you.
27. I know you go without things you would like at times, but you never seem to complain or let it bug you.
28. You never raise your voice to a point of yelling. You may tease an awful lot, but you are never mean.
29. You love parties (Russian or American filled ones) as much as I do, and leave our home open to everyone you meet.
30. You remind me that even though I think we may not have enough...it is always more than you ever had growing up. And it is plenty.
31. When my request of "I need attention" is heard, you answer it with a hug and let me know that I matter too.

Sunny (memories) in December

As I am trying my hardest to catch up, I failed to post these of the girls at the bouncy houses in Park City. It was during the Pederson Cousin Reunion and we tried to hit the Alpine Slides. The line was SO incredibly long, we would have been waiting all day for the 10 minute thrill ride. Luckily, they had some bouncy houses set up and we used the money instead to by the 3 girls (Sof, Ella and Mady) a wrist band for an hours worth of jumping, sliding and as Sofia says "getting the wiggles out". Mady was not too sure about the slides and very quickly vetoed that one and stuck to the jumping house. Ella however, could not be "one-up'd" by big sister Sofia and had to climb the ladder and go down the big kid slide, over and over and over and over... well, you get the idea! Sweet Mady...Look at that little champ! She could barely reach the ladder rings, but she did it!This was Ell and Sofia each time after they literally ROCKETED down that slide. Sof was always all smiles and Ella? We could never tell if she loved it or was terrified!! Probley a bit of both! But she turned around and did it all over again. That girl is a ROCKSTAR.This was Mady's one and only attempt at the kid slide. She was screaming the whole way down.

They had a fantastic time, and I needed to post them. So I figured with the foot and a half of snow that we have at our house, I needed some warm thoughts coming my way. Happy December!