Pink Fingers and the Science of Easter Egg Dyeing

First find the egg you want!



Then slowly dip it into the dye...make sure you splash some dye up on Mommy's table!



Now swirl the egg around with your fingers. The egg will be nice and pink and so will be your fingers.



AND presto!! You have pink fingers for several days! Hurray!


Let me see...to calculate a perfectly dyed egg...we need...



an egg! Let's just see what happens when we put an egg in yellow...IT TURNS YELLOW!



I am going to get a little fancier and use my handy dandy egg wand!



Ooohhh watch out Easter Bunny...I am a Easter egg dyeing champion!

VRRRROOOOM!! 1962 TBIRD

That is how my oldest describes what he calls the "red car". Last May, my husband and 2 sons were very blessed. You see my DH likes to listen to his favorite radio station at work...Rock101. Rock101 had a contest to be put on the payroll and you were paid $100.00 a hour until you were kicked off by someone else calling in. (The radio station would call a new name every hour from 8-4). If you heard your name, you called the station. Anyways, his name was called and he was on the payroll for 11 or 12 hours. We were jumping up and down, this was fabulous...who couldn't use the extra money especially with 2 lil pumpkins!
By winning this contest, your name was put in a larger drawing to win a 1962 Ford Convertible Thunderbird. You had to go to a local dealership that was sponsoring this event with Rock101 on May 19th, 2007. I had volunteered to work at a teddy bear clinic at the hospital I work for. This event allows children to bring their bears to the hospital and see what would happen if the bear broke his arm...or needed a breathing treatment with a nebulizer...or even if their bear needed surgery. (the next one is May 17th, 2008 and I will blog about that event in more detail).

Well, I persuaded my husband to go to this give-a-way because you needed to be present to win. I told him to bring the boys as good luck charms. Approximately 40 or so people showed up to win the car. My lucky men were number 38 if I remember correctly. 37 other people went ahead of them to see if they won the lucky CD that when placed into the player would make the Vrrrrrooom sound of an engine starting. Ironically, the teddy bear clinic had just finished up and I was driving back home listening to the radio anxious to find out who had won. I heard them introduce my husband and talk about my two boys. I thought.....this is neat. Within seconds, I hear VRRRRROOOOOOM and my husband screaming like a girl! THEY HAD WON THE CAR! I started screaming, hitting the steering wheel, and bouncing up and down. I almost had to pull over.


We have enjoyed that car. My oldest son in this picture still tells the story of the red car going vrrrooom and daddy screaming. It is quite funny. He likes to sit in the front seat (when the car is parked, of course). We did install seat belts in the back to accommodate their carseats to ensure safety. After all, it is their car. My husband dreams of all 3 of them restoring it completely. It needs a little work, but overall it is in great shape. Kinda like a family project. It is warming up here and soon we will be going on a family drive to see what God has to offer in the beauty of Spring. We are truly blessed to have such a fun story to tell in years to come.

One year ago...

Wow, have my boys changed in one year. I came across a few pictures from last April on our road trip to Auntie Crystal's house in Tennesee.

Braydon Cheesing it for the camera and enjoying an afternoon stroll.


Nolan looking out of his Thomas the train ride.

Family Picture with the boys favorite....THOMAS!

Desperate measures call for desperate times!

Nolan is 3 1/2 years old.... 3years, 6months, 3 weeks, 6 days old to be exact. He will not go poop on the toilet. AND YES...we have tried every imaginable trick to get him to poop where he should go poop.....in the toilet.
Dunk the Cheerios...get stickers...get Thomas the train tattoos...do the poopy dance...watch Elmo's potty time dvd...get matchbox cars...go to Monkey Joes...go to Mcdonalds...put the magic lotion on...learn, so you can teach your brother. You are probably wondering what some of these tricks are. Lets just say we have tried them all and then some. My latest act of desperation was that I told him I would buy him a $300.00 bouncy toy if he would poop in the toilet.
"OK Mommy," he said. "I will go poop in the toilet, but TOMORROW." AARRRGGHHHH. He never went in the toilet and I am still $300.00 richer. My husband did suggest that we buy the bouncy toy and put it in the backyard. (my neighbors will cringe). He will only get to play on it every time he poops in the toilet. *sigh* I don't know if it will work, but at this point I am willing to try anything.
I know some of you are saying he will go in the toilet when he is ready. My pediatrician said it was toilet training resistance. He said we need to let him take responsibility in helping to clean his own mess up. Yes, we even had him swish his underwear in the toilet...just one problem besides me thinking I am a horrible mom to let my three year old do this. He likes to swish his dirty underwear in the toilet. So, I quickly changed my mind about the whole taking responsibility thing.
I am still open to suggestions from friends, family members, and even strangers. I look back at everything we have tried and my heads spins...Nolan probably feels the same way.
It is very hard to have patience with him on this toilet training adventure. We recently went on an underwear shopping expedition with him. He picked out new underwear. His favorite was Diego. I picked out Batman undies and he looked at them and said he didn't like it because a bad man was on the underwear! LOL I guess Batman can look intimidating to a three year old. I told Nolan that if he pooped his underwear he had to wear batman. (I am so mean). I probably reversed all the training we have done the past few months with him. AFter I get through this I will snicker at it...I know I will. Right now, I cringe to think we will be going through this with his younger brother soon. SO, I will up my shirt sleeves and take a deep breath...potty "poop" training HERE I COME!

~~~UPDATE~~~
It is the middle of June and I can finally say we are potty trained fully. Nolan hasn't had an accident in over a month. I really can't say what happened except that it literally clicked with him....OVERNIGHT! We just were persistant and honestly started not to care if it was going to ever happen. When he had an accident I told him it made me sad....and left it at that. No yelling, no discipline, and no caring about the potty training thing.

Braydon's Birth Story

Where do I begin on this one.......Braydon was a pleasant surprise. I was to go to the infertility specialists the following week when I found out I had another miracle on the way. We were going to get the ball rolling on the fertility drugs if needed since we had such a time getting pregnant with Nolan, my first son. Needless to say I was able to cancel my appointment with them. Yippee-skippee!
I was put on progesterone for the first trimester until my progesterone numbers were high enough to support my pregnancy. (I also had this with Nolan). This pregnancy was a bit nerve-racking. I had a blood clot in my uterus and bled for over 6 weeks during my second trimester. We prayed and prayed that he would make it through and that my body would get rid of the blood clot without harming my little miracle. The prayers worked! I developed gestational diabetes again. We didn't have the pregnancy induced hypertension like we did with Nolan. BUT, this pregnancy was officially labeled as high risk because of my autoimmune disorders of Lupus and Sjogren's Syndrome. I had been diagnosed right after my last pregnancy. I had 29 level II ultrasounds, mostly to make sure that his heart was developing correctly. His little heart was perfect. Thank goodness!
We made it just shy of 37 weeks. I was getting two non-stress tests a week and my creatine/protein levels were rising fast. My doctor called me and said that he would like for me to get a amniocentesis done to make sure Braydon's lungs were developed. ACK! I tried to get out of it. The thought of a needle going in my belly to my uterus made me sweat bullets. My doctor said that with my health deteriorating he would feel better knowing that Braydon's lungs were fully developed. We were on the fence with my health and he thought I shouldn't go much longer. He even gave me his cell phone number to call him if I felt anything was wrong. We got an appointment a couple days later to get an amnio done on April 19, 2006. My mom went with me to have the procedure done because my husband was picking up his mom, Kathleen at the airport. We knew that if Braydon's lungs got the OK, things were going to move fast! We didn't want Kathleen to miss the birth of her 2nd grandson. I didn't mind my husband not being there physically. I know he was thinking of me and the baby. Besides, as much as I love my husband, sometimes I still want MY MOMMY to hold my hand during scary times. The amnio wasn't as bad as I had thought, but I definitely didn't enjoy it!That same day I received the call that his lungs were developed completely. I called my Doctor on his cell phone and told him the news like he asked me to. He said for me to check into the hospital that night and we would have a C-section in the morning. Amazingly, I had a stork sit outside my window at the hospital that night perched on a lamp post. Hmmm.... maybe it is true that storks bring babies after all!
I had my favorite nurse that I remembered from when I had Nolan help me through the night. She started my IV and put the baby monitor's on me. I hardly slept and when she checked in on me, she made sure I was comfortable. My husband stayed at home with our 20 month old and came bright and early the next morning to be with me before surgery. Finally, around 11:30am I was being wheeled to the operating room. John suited up in his scrubs and had to wait for me until I was prepped for surgery. The spinal I got was NOT FUN! The first one did not take and hurt like heck. The anesthesiologist made a second attempt and it was successful. (That one hurt like heck too). My arms were strapped down and a sheet was draped like a curtain. John was brought in and he was all smiles this time. He knew what to expect this time and didn't turn green when the surgery started. Amazingly, Braydon was out before I even knew it. There was no pressure or pulling sensations like I had with my first C-section. My doctor even mentioned that he had told his staff that this would be a tricky surgery and he admitted that it was the easiest C-section he had in a while.

Once again I told John to go with Braydon and that I would be fine. In the recovery room I had a lot of mixed up feelings. Would I love this child as much as Nolan? Will I be a good Mommy? I wonder if they will give ice chips....LOL. My mouth was sooooooo dry! I went through 3 cups of ice chips and TONS of itching. I itched so bad coming off the spinal. I thought I was one big mosquito bite! Needless to say I do love Braydon as much as Nolan and I think I do pretty good at being a mommy. The three of us turned into four of us..........

Nolan's Birth Story

Nolan was well worth the wait. John and I prayed for this to happen. You see, I had some minor fertility problems. I was not ovulating. No egg = no baby! I went on 3 months of birth control to regulate my monthly flow. I would have "george" come visit once a month, but still I did not ovulate. I went on 100mg of clomid and still did not ovulate. My doctor upped my dosage to 150mg and I ovulated!! Still no baby! The third time was a charm. I took 150mg of clomid again and became pregnant! Woo-HOO!!! Now, fast forward to August 2004. I had gestational diabetes and pregnancy induced hypertension. Both were under control, but after a stress test I had earlier in the week the doctor and I decided to have my labor induced. On August 5, 2004 John took me to eat at my favorite chinese restaurant before we checked into the hospital that evening.
We checked in around 8:30PM and I got the L&D room I wanted. (I saw this one during our hospital tour.) We had the biggest one the hospital offered. It was spacious and didn't feel like the walls were enclosing around you. I changed into the "Shrek Look-A-Like" hospital gown and soon had blood work drawn and an IV started. They strapped the monitors on to check out me and the baby. My Doctor came in around 10pm and said that they would start me on pitocin (the devil's drug I would later call it.) They did not want to give me Cytotex to soften my cervix because my Doctor didn't like my blood pressure being high. She had explained that they could control my contractions and turn off the pitocin if necessary, but they wouldn't be able to if they gave me the cytotex. By 11:30 pm I fell asleep. I woke up shortly after 5am and noticed my bed was wet. I woke up John and told him either I just wet the bed or my water broke. We paged the nurses and they had me in a clean bed and shrek gown within minutes. I was having contractions, but they were hardly noticeable at this time. Piece of cake FOR NOW!
My Doctor came in early around 7:00AM and broke my water all the way. Apparently, I hadn't officially broke my water completely. It couldn't have been more than 30 minutes and I wanted MY mommy!! The labor pain was definitely hitting me like a baseball bat to the back! The devil drug AKA pitocin was making me have one contraction after another. My family soon arrived and helped me keep my spirits up. I remember my sister and my mom rubbing my back. It seems like a fuzzy dream now. I remember my mom saying that this is the only pain you get a reward for....a baby!


Soon, I asked for something to take the edge off the contractions....they claimed to have given me something, but I don't remember there being any difference at all on the pain. I was having back labor and it hurt like a kidney stone. My doctor kept checking to see how much I dilated. Unfortunately, it was moving slow and Nolan was carrying high. Sometime after Noon I asked for an epidural. I was at 4 1/2 to 5 cm dilated. OF COURSE...I was the last lady who asked for one and therefore I was the last to get it. Originally, I was petrified to get an epidural prior to being in labor. I HATE needles! I soon was praying for it and it did become my best friend the next few hours. The anesthesiologist was going through his speech about the epidural and I told him just to do it! I really didn't feel a thing. The labor pain was all that was on my mind. Within 2 minutes I felt soooooooooo much better.
I was being monitored closely the next few hours because every time I had a contraction Nolan's heart rate went down and would not recover as fast as the hospital staff would like. We even turned the pitocin off to give little Nolan a break for 30 minutes and then restart it. Unfortunately, his heart just couldn't handle the stress with each contraction. Around 4:00pm my Doctor strongly suggested a C-section. I was disappointed yet concerned for Nolan, so my husband and myself agreed to the C-section. I was shaved....yes, shaved a bit down there. It is a bikini cut incision really low! LOL, Like I would wear a bikini! John was asked to change into his scrubs and they would come get him when they had me prepared for surgery. They strapped my arms down and placed a huge sheet draped in front of me. I felt like I couldn't breathe. I remember them taking a paperclip like thing and asking if I could feel them poking me with it. I did at first, then I didn't feel a thing. My husband came in and the surgery started immediately. The one thing I remember during the C-section was the pressure I felt from the nurses pushing down on my belly. I really thought my lungs were going to come out of my mouth. I felt like the wind was being knocked out me with each push and pull. Finally at 4:47pm on August 6, 2004 Nolan was born. My husband had tears in his eyes. I think he was happy he didn't pass out....he turned the color of his scrubs for the first minute of the surgery and I remember asking him if HE WAS OK. After I was introduced to my little miracle, I told my husband to go with him and that I would be fine. I would find time to bond with Nolan shortly after we both recovered from our unexpected surgery.

I had all sorts of emotions running through me while I was in the recovery room. It is strange not to be able to even wiggle your toes while recovering. I was happy, scared, excited, anxious, and full of wonderment! About 90 minutes after Nolan was born we were reunited. We did skin-to-skin contact and breastfed. Our families stayed for a few minutes and then it was just the three of us.....it would be that way until another miracle was born and that my friends is another story.