how to discipline a 12 month old...

*edited* After comments, I decided I better say.... of course she got stuck, no I did not put her here.

nuts, crowns, and headpacks?...

And the nut is out! Yay! Thought you would enjoy a picture of what the actual locking nut looks like. (This is not the one that was 'you know where', but another one - although Zane really wanted me to keep the offending nut and clean it off, but uh EW).

Zane's 2nd visit to the dentist was today, and can I volunteer to do a commercial for valium now? Not for me (although I probably needed one too), for him! With the combination of a valium, and the laughing gas, Zane was able to get ALL (yes that's right ALL) of his remaining dental work done today. He got 3 more cavities filled, 2 baby root canals (pulpotomy) and 1 stainless steel crown. Pretty isn't it?


Before said valium this morning, while throwing the sometimes fit about what to wear, Zane decided to put his head in his backpack while he was mad. But he couldn't have been too upset - he did say a muffled "CHEESE!"

xray...

Well since the locking nut has not passed, the Dr. wanted Lily to come in and have an xray to make sure it was ok. It's already in the colon so we should expect a nice surprise any day...good news!

weekly update...

I realized that I haven't updated the blog with some sort of interesting things that have been going on. Last Tuesday, Zane went in for his 1st dental visit to get his cavities taken care of. It didn't go so well. He hated the numbing stuff they put on his gums. It tasted bad, and felt weird to have it numb I'm sure. He wouldn't keep the gas mask on. They finally got the shots in, and then the dentist had to use a "Green Monster", as I remember them. It is really called a rubber dam I believe, and it is a silver clamp that clamps onto the gums, and attaches to a sheet of green plastic that cover up everything in the mouth, except the teeth the dentist works on. I remember not liking it when I was a kid. Zane really really really didn't like it. He suffered through and got one "root canal" done, and the dentist just did a filling instead of a crown. That was all he could make it through though. So....the plan of action now (he still needs one or two more like that, and then 2-3 more smaller fillings), the dentist gave us some Valium to give him before we come in this week. Then hopefully he will be calm enough to try the gas and the dentist is going to try to get it all done. Oh, please pray for us! The next option is the pediatric dentist (insurance doesn't cover - we really can't afford that!)

Ok, so that was Tuesday. On Friday we took Lily in to be weighed. She's almost 21 pounds now. Pretty good! Friday afternoon, Lily crawled into her room, and I was in the family room. I wasn't worried about her getting in to anything in there, so I periodically had Zane look in and make sure she was ok. Well after a few minutes alone, I heard her start coughing. I ran in, and she had something in her mouth she was choking on. I couldn't see it in her mouth, and I didn't know what it could be, but I picked her up and put her upside down and starting patting her back (isn't that what you are supposed to do??? I feel like a total bad mom for not knowing!). It didn't come out, but she swallowed it. I know you are dying to know what it was...

It was a locking nut that goes on a screw. It is like a regular nut, only is has ridges on the outside to dig into wood "locking" it in place. It's about 1/2 in. long, and 1/4 in. wide. It was attached to a screw, that was sticking out of the bottom piece of her rocking horse that she got for christmas. Zane broke the head part off awhile back, so both pieces have just been sitting in her room. Who would have thought she could unscrew it off of the screw? Yes, I know, toddlers should really not ever be unsupervised. Still waiting for it to come out...

Funny picture of Lily first learning how to drink out of a straw. She loves to make this face (without the straw). It's hilarious.

please vote for me...

I am a finalist in the beading competition I entered. The winners are chosen by online voting. To vote for me:
Go to www.beadingdaily.com/beadstar
Click "Vote Now" at the top.
Enter your email address. You can only vote once per email address.
In the first category "Crystals", my entry is #15.
Scroll down to bottom and select 15 and click next.

You must vote through each category.
My sister is also a finalist! In the "Stones" category, her entry is #12.

We would really appreciate your vote!!

happy birthday speed racer zane...

Two posts in one day, aren't you lucky?! The day we left for Vegas was also Zane's birthday! Happy 5th Birthday Zane! I can't believe I have a 5 year old. We opened presents on birthday morning and had cinnamon rolls (his fav) before heading out to Vegas. After spending the week there, we got home Friday night and woke up to hurriedly get ready for his birthday party Saturday afternoon. I had invited - are you sitting down? - 23 kids. Yup. I'm insane. But honestly, I only invited that many because I didn't think very many would come. It was a Saturday afternoon - families do stuff on Saturdays, etc. Oh was I wrong! We had 18 kids come! Yay!

Zane wanted a Speed Racer themed party. We wanted to have everyone play outside in the water, so everyone came in swimsuits ready to get wet. We set up a two-person slip-n-slide for kids to race each other on. We had water balloons, water guns, and a small kiddie pool, in addition to our bigger pool on the patio. We had a "Pit Stop" where the kids could order their food at the back sliding door. We served soft pretzels, popcorn, nachos, watermelon, veggie squares, and popsicles. Perfect racetrack food.

The kids all had a blast (I think?). John didn't- but after leaving Vegas on a frustrating note (see last post), and then the stress of getting ready for the party for an overtired child who really didn't seem to deserve it at that point - it was hard on him. Thank goodness my sister was here to help with crowd control. It would have been impossible without her. Zane got a ton of presents. Thank you everyone for coming. He said it was "the best birthday ever!" (Does anyone want to come clean my house now? OY!)

collins family vegas style...

We spent a good part of last week in Las Vegas with John's family. They all flew in to celebrate Keith's graduation from his pharmacy program. We stayed 2 nights at the Castle (Excalibur). Most of the time we spent there, we spent at the pool. It was very nice and relaxing to hang out by the pool. Zane had such a great time playing with his cousins and they were all so nice to play with him and watch him. Lily enjoyed meeting some cousins for the first time, and everyone loved playing with her. One night John and I went to a show. We saw Cirque Du Soleil's KA. It was really amazing and well worth it. We only had one major problem the whole trip, which is quite good considering! We wanted to get pictures taken with the whole family (we haven't all been together for almost 2 years). We had some issues with the photographer and scheduling at first. It had been a long day of walking and heat, etc. - so a tantrum was only inevitable. Then when the time came for the pictures, Zane absolutely did NOT want his picture taken. Oh so frustrating! Noone could get him to do it for quite awhile, until all his cousins got together in a picture, and he decided it was ok. By this time I was quite frazzled, and totally bawling in all the pictures. Lovely, huh?! Oh well, I guess in awhile it will be a funny story - but right now it's still touchy. Other than leaving on that note, the trip was great fun! We were so glad we got to spend time with everyone, and hope we can all get together again soon. Love you all! (sorry, didn't get a whole lot of pictures - apparently they are mostly of Zane)

happy 1st birthday!...

Lily turned the big ONE YEAR OLD on Saturday. I was in Vegas that day for a bead show, so we celebrated her birthday on Sunday. We invited close (as in distance) family over to celebrate. It started out being a birthday party to celebrate Lily's birthday, then we thought we would add Zane since his is coming up on Wednesday. Since Sara was coming, we added my neice's birthday which was earlier this month, and her brother who is mid-June. We also invited my grandmother, who also had a birthday the end of May. Then since my parents decided to come, my sister Amelia did too, and wouldn't you know it, her birthday was the end of May as well! Of course we should include my uncle whose birthday is the same day as Zane's, and heck my Dad is the end of June.....yes, all in all an 8 birthday celebration!

We enjoyed chili, baked potatoes, pasta salad, frog eye salad, rolls, and the most humongous cupcakes ever made! Delicious! And great, loud (really loud!) fun for all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet baby girl! (my camera was doing something funky, and all but about 2 of my pictures turned out blurry - Dad, SEND ME YOUR PICS!) Maybe I'll get some video from my video camera on here sometime next week, I've got way too much going on until then...(more fun blogs to come in the next couple weeks!)

tutu girl...

We got Lily's one year old pictures taken today. She was so funny about them. She literally sat there for 10 min. just staring at the photographer. No expression. Completely stoic. It was funny. Finally she warmed up a little and smiled *sorta*. Anyways, the pictures turned out cute.

really movin' now...

Lily is just a crazy walker. She is still pretty unbalanced, so it's so cute when she walks. She just loves to do it, and gets so excited about it. Couldn't help but upload another video.

Check out my other blog with some super cute new things I've been working on.

Scrap.Bead.Sew

i have the funniest kid...

This morning Zane told me he wanted to watch Madagascar. Then he decided he wanted to watch it in Spanish. He watched the entire movie in Spanish with English subtitles. Seriously? He is definitely quite the kid.

first steps...

Lily is trying to take some steps of her own lately. She thinks it's a fun game to try and get me. It goes like this: she is hanging onto an object (couch, table) and then turns around and dives for me. Forget the steps. I caught her taking about 4 steps on her own the other day, but once she realized what she was doing, down she went. She gets sooo excited about it, and flaps her arms like she's going to fly. Too funny. Here's a short vid of her coming to get me (please please keep the volume down or you will hear an annoying "woohoo" in a baby voice by yours truly).

congraduations parts 2 and 3...

Lily and I were able to hitch a ride with my grandparents down to Phoenix for my sisters' graduations from ASU. We got to spend 4 days there. It was a lot of fun despite the "concussion" from riding in the back seat of the car whilst going over a speed bump at 20 mph (thanks Dad!). Lots of shopping was done. Boring ceremonies and "power trips" of security personnel were endured. Puppies were cute. Interesting (or not so) books on tapes were heard. Yummy food was eaten and company enjoyed. Great times!
Congraduations Manda and Meme!

miss you...

John and Zane did the Father/Sons campout thing this weekend, but I forgot to tell John to take the camera, so no pictures. But if you had "smell-o-vision(computer)" you would know that they went camping. Love that smoky campfire smell, but not so much that I enjoy the 8 loads of laundry. Seriously, that stuff sticks to EVERYTHING.

John gave Zane a whistle to use, in case he got lost. This morning after breakfast, John was looking around and couldn't find Zane anywhere. He asked one of the older kids if he knew where he was and the kid told him "He said he heard an animal and was going to go look for it". The kid said "he walked off straight into those woods". (Now honestly, this kid may have been pulling John's leg at that point...). Anyways, John started searching and yelling for Zane, couldn't find him anywhere. He headed back to camp, just about ready to start freaking out...and looked over across the road and Zane was right there playing with some other kids over by the Bishop's tent. Zane said he didn't hear him yelling for him. It's that selective hearing thing I think. Maybe John needed the whistle.

Tonight during Zane's prayer before bed he said "and I wish that I had grandmas and grandpas and cousins to play with that live really close by". Awwww.....how cute and sad is that! He is such a sweet kid and those of you that do live close, come visit anytime!

We love and miss all of you - far away family and friends!

dental update...

Went for the 2nd opinion this morning. Here's the breakdown: He still needs at least 4 root canals and 4 crowns. Possibly 1-2 additional crowns, and possibly 1 more root canal. And possibly one of the teeth (of the 4) will not be able to be saved. The dentist won't know until he gets in there. But, 2 of the 8 teeth are totally fine. No cavity, nothing. Totally fine. I'm SOOOOO glad I got a 2nd opinion. So, he will have all of it done in June - probably at the hospital where they will put him under with a general anesthesia. This dentist doesn't do that in his office, but he thinks it's best to get it all done at once. Good news is that medical insurance usually pays for the hospital/anesthesia. YAY!

con-graduations!...

Zane graduation from preschool yesterday was fun. They got to do a fun singing/reciting program. Then they put on caps and gowns and walked under the "D" and received their "diploma". Super cute!

2nd opinion...

I talked to someone whose opinion on dentistry I highly trust, and it was suggested (along with all of you of course!) that we go for a 2nd opinion on Zane's teeth. The outcome may be the same, because although it's not common, no enamel on baby teeth does happen. So, putting crowns on all of them is the only way to save them (the molars at least have to be saved since he will need them for the next 7 years at least!). Hopefully he won't need quite as many root canals. His teeth do not hurt him (which is quite amazing) but this is the kid who had strep throat for over a year, never complaining when his tonsils were the size of plums! I'm going to a highly recomended pediatric dentist on Monday, so I will let you know the verdict...

*p.s. In case you were wondering - YES, I do know that I exaggerate all the time...plum comment, slight exaggeration, amount of root canals and crowns - no exaggeration.

the evils of sugar...

Zane went to the dentist today for the first time. Piece of advice - do not take your young child to the dentist unless you are prepared to feel like a terrible mom. So Zane has to have ....(are you sitting down?) ....8 root canals....and 8 crowns. So sad! Every single one of his molars. There goes the tax refund this year...

king for a day...

On Thursday in Preschool, it was Zane's turn to be the birthday captain. Although he will not be 5 until June, he got to have a "pretend" birthday day. It took a lot of explaining that he was not really turning 5 years old yet, that it was just pretend for school since he won't be in school when he has his real birthday. We made poster with pictures of things he loves. We made cupcakes with gumballs on top. He got to wear a crown with his name all day, and the kids all sang Happy Birthday to him. He had a great time. Next week is his preschool graduation (complete with caps and gowns) so I will definitely be posting pictures/videos of that.

93 degrees...

Yes, that's how hot it was today. What Zane did to enjoy the day(complete with goggles):