Another day with the Mallard's

We decided yesterday to go for a trip through Logan's Pass and got eat at our favorite restaurant in Kalispell....HuHot! Of course we (I) had to some Ross shopping and check out the new 24 hr Walmart in Kalispell. 24 hr Walmart bring me great happiness. I don't know what it is, but when we're in the states and are by a Walmart that is 24 hr I won't go during the day. Well, I do, but I will go for sure in the middle of the night. Just because I can. And it's awesome. It's a good thing this Walmart was open all night because we would be driving home right now instead of actually being home. I'll get to that later.
So we leave and get to the pass. We bought the annual pass because if we spent $25 we had a pass for a week which actually was only the day because we won't be going back this week. If we spent $10 more we had a pass until the end of August next year. Ummmmm, it only made sense to buy the annual. We got to the pass and it was beautiful! As always. It was fun to drive through with the girls and see them all excited to see the water coming off the rocks and the cliffs and all the flowers. I really hope they love it there as much as I do one day. It was a little slow going because of some construction, but other than that it was great! I hung my feet and my arm out the window, we had the music going and everyone was singing. Fun times!
We go to Kalispell and went straight to Ross. It was grand. Then we hit HuHot's. I can't tell you how awesome it is to eat there. I will never eat at Mongolian Grill again. Ever. Unless someone else is paying. I had a $36 bowl at Mongolian once and ate the whole thing. Coincidentally, our entire bill last night for 2 adults and 2 kids was $36, tip included. And I ate more. For those of you who don't know what HuHot or Mongolian Grill is, first, you need to get out more. Second, they are restaurants where you go up with a bowl and pick out your raw meat and fresh veggies and then you put sauce on it. You take it to the cooks and the fry it up for you on a big huge grill. At Mongolian Grill they weigh your bowl and that's how much you pay for your meal. You can go up more than once, but you get your second bowl measured too. If you don't get meat they will charge you less. Just in case you want to save a few bucks! They don't grill it in front of you, they grill it and your waitress brings it out to you. At HuHot's you do the same thing.....you go get your meat and veggies and sauces and you take it to the grill and you get to watch them cook it for you. The cooks toss their.....I don't know what they are called....let's call them metal cooking things. So they toos their metal cooking things around in the air while they are cooking and it is pretty impressive. If you give them a tip you get to ring the gong. The girls love doing this! They give you your plate and you go sit and eat. It is a beautiful dining experience. Until the 3rd helping and it's time to go to the bathroom. I was in the bathroom yesterday and while I was in there making some more room, I thought that restaurant must have more pooh go through it than any other restaurant. There's your thought of the day!
After stuffing ourselves we went to Walmart. It was grand! It is brand new and did I mention it is open 24 hrs? I took my time. I wanted to see everything! We looked around and got a few things. Now that I think about it, I didn't look at the shoes. How could I not look at the shoes?!?!?!? I'm a little upset right now. Even Jar says that's sad. I think he's being sarcastic. By the time we're done it's getting late and the girls are getting tired and cranky, so Jar took them out to the car while I took everything through the till. I'm always surprised to see how many people shop so late at night. I finally got through and went to the car. Mackinley said something about her little puppy that she put in her purse and my stomach felt sick. While we looked at the toys we saw these little tiny stuffies that were $2.50. They were cute little things so I told the girls if they were good I would get them one. I took them out of the cart later because Macey didn't seem that interested in them and I thought I had them all out. Lo and behold she had one that she had put in her purse and when Jar took them to the car, the little puppy went with them. So my kid stole a toy. I'll be honest, the thought did cross my mind to just forget about it, not a big deal. But, I knew I couldn't do that, so I grabbed it, put it in the box, grabbed Mackinley and off we went back into Walmart. She was crying because I got mad at her for stealing, so when I took her in to take it back the ladies already knew what was going on. They were really great. The one lady knelt down on the ground and I told Mackinley to give it back. She just stood there and cried. I knew she wasn't going to say sorry like I told her she needed to. I had to hold her arm so she could give it back. I don't know if it was because I was embarassed or I felt so bad for her, or both, but I started to to choked up. I apologized for her and the lady said thank you and we left. How awful. I know Mackinley didn't really know what stealing was, but hopefully she does now. At least enough to not do that again.
We got gas and headed home. So we thought. We were 10 minutes from the border and all of the sudden we see police lights flashing. Oh great. Just what we need. Jaron wasn't driving ridiculously fast, but the night speeds are different and he didn't take that into account. The cop clocked him at 78 mph. So he asks for our license and registration...the routine. I had our insurance papers in my purse because I kept forgetting to take it to the car. I figured if I had in my wallet then if I needed it I would know where it was. I went to get it out of my purse and I couldn't find it. The cop said he'd go and when he came back he would look at our other papers. We gave him our registration, but I told him the insurance was in my wallet and it's missing. He let me go and look in the trunk and it wasn't there either. He let us go with a warning. I think he felt bad for us. I don't think he believed us, but he felt bad for us. So we turned around to drive the hour that we had already driven. I got our states phone out to try and phone Walmart to see if they had it. As I was trying to figure it out Jar slammed on the brakes. I knew something bad was happening even before I looked up. Stupid deer. There were 2 crossing the road. We knew the first one wouldn't be the issue it was the 2nd one. It's always the 2nd one. I was prepared to hit it and at the last instant Jar was able to swerve and just miss it. We kept driving. I couldn't get a hold of Walmart so we had to stew for an hour.
We got there and they had it. Yay! It happened to be one of the ladies that I had just dealt with when I took Mackinley in. How embarrassing. She told me "When we looked at your license and saw Alberta we were hoping you wouldn't get too far. And then I saw picture and thought 'I remember you." Great. That's what every mother of a thieving child wants to hear.
So we were back on the road. It was after 1:30 in the morning. When we got to Eureka we saw the same cop driving through town. He saw us and you could tell he recognized us. Hopefully he believed us now for sure! We got back in with no hassle and then made it home safely. There were a couple more deer and elk on the road, but none as close as the one we almost hit.
When we got home we put the girls to bed and Jar set up a mattress on our deck on top of the garage. The stars were amazing. We laid there and talked about our crazy, yet great day. It was 5 in the morning. The sun was starting to come up. We went in to bed and nobody woke up until after 10. It was good.

My baby's turning 2!!!

Macey turns 2 next week. She is growing up WAY too fast. Which means Mackinley grows up WAY too fast. It's kinda sad. She really is fun right now though. She copies everything Mackinley and I say. She calls her sister Mackie. I think that's one of my favorite things. She really loves her sister and when they play nice, it is so cute.
Macey is one of the most thoughtful and caring little ones I know. She can also throw a nasty tantrum. She's quite evenly balanced in the naughty and nice department. She is a great Mommy's helper. She loves to help with anything...the cleaning, cooking, Mommy's make up.....you name it. If I'm doing it, she wants in.
She started off as the most relaxed baby I ever met. She has always been a cuddler. I absolutely LOVE this about her. The first few months of her life I wouldn't put her down unless absolutely necessary. I love holding my babies and she loved to be held. She didn't like baby food. I tried for a couple of months to get her to eat it, but she just wouldn't. I ended up giving her whatever we ate just in small pieces because she didn't like it pureed. She started walking at 9 months. She developed into a monster shortly after this. Once she could walk around she became independent and my personal nightmare. Looking back it couldn't have been that bad because I can't remember specifics, or maybe it was that bad and I am so traumatized by it all I've blocked it from my mind. She was my birth control for a long time anyways.
It took a year for me to get pregnant with her. And after I was pregnant I didn't want to say anything about it until the first trimester was done. I had just found out that I had a blood clotting disorder that increases my chances of miscarriage and I have a hormone disorder called PCOS which doesn't really help either. We were moving a few weeks after that, so we kept it quiet until after we moved. I didn't want sympathy help. Yes I'm stubborn. Once we were moved we finally told people. I was 16 weeks pregnant.
I was always told each pregnancy feels different. I found they were exactly the same. I was tired, nauseous, had aversion to smells in the first part, but I never threw up in the first trimester. The second my sciatic would start to act up, I could eat and eat and eat, and I felt really good. The third trimester was long and uncomfortable and painful. Not only did the pregnancy feel the same the babies felt the same. They were both stretchers and they were in the exact same position. I truly felt like the same baby. They both would push their little feet under my rib cage on the right side. Macey did flip to the left once for about a day and it was so bizarre to feel her kicking somewhere else. I didn't really like it.
Macey was born on the 25th of August 2008. She was born at 7:37 in the morning. It was Monday morning. I took castor oil right after church hoping to have her that evening. Nothing worked so I went to bed thinking that I'd just have to wait. I wanted her to come sooner than later because after everything that happened with Mackinley I couldn't be induced and I didn't want to have another C-section if I didn't have to. I woke up around 12:30 with contractions. I laid there trying to switch positions in bed to see if that would stop them, but they kept coming. I called my mom to see what I should do. While we were talking my water broke. She was coming down to stay with Mackinley so we got off the phone so she could get down here and I called my friend Alita to come and stay with Mackinley until my mom could get down here. By the time we got to the hospital it was 2:00. I was indeed in labor! I had to have a nurse with me at all times to watch for any stress signals just in case I needed a c-section. I was able to get an epidural which was sooooo great! They told me around 5:30 to start pushing. I was in active labor for 2 hrs! It was awful. My doctor kept trying to get me to try pushing in different positions......lay on your side, try pulling yourself up with the bar, try turning around.....all I want to do is lie on my back! Leave me alone! I wasn't excited this time to be going through labor. I was nervous and apprehensive and scared. As I was pushing Jaron sat at the head of the bed talking to the doctor about hunting. Seriously. Hunting. Good thing I had such great nurses to help me out. She finally came after 2 long hours. She was perfect. She looked like Mackinley. I didn't bond with her the same way I did with Mackinley. It wasn't instant and I thought there was something wrong with me. We went home the next day and I thought I would be able to relax and get to know the newest member of the family. I was wrong.
The next evening Jaron was on the computer and I turned on the TV. America's Got Talent just started. As I was watching I noticed that I couldn't see the left side of people's face. Their left, my right. We have a projector so I thought maybe it had something to do with that. I looked over at Jar and his face was gone as well. I tried to stay calm. I went upstairs and looked in the mirror. I couldn't see my face either. I went and sat upstairs and I started to develop a scintillating scotoma. It was a gold ring that I could see and anything in my field of vision that was near it was swirling. It was weird. I tried to see if it was a side effect of the blood thinners I was just put on, but I couldn't read the paper. That's when I told Jar he needs to take me to the ER.
We got there and they saw me pretty quickly. I told them what was happening and they said they needed to make a few calls. It's a small ER. You hear everything that is going on. I could hear them talking about me and I heard "STARS". I started to get worried. He came in and I already knew what he was going to say. They wanted to make sure I wasn't having a stroke and they needed to fly me up to Calgary. I called Jar because he took Mackinley to go get A&W just down the road. He was on his way back and he dropped their food and booked it back to the hospital. I called my mom so she could meet us in Calgary to pick up Mackinley. We ended up having to go by ambulance because STARS was busy or something. I was okay with that. As soon as I got there they started doing tests. The CAT scan showed a blockage in an artery in my brain that was already breaking up. This meant stroke. I still had to have an MRI the next morning to see if there was damage. I had a bunch of heart tests. One was called a bubble test. They injected bubbles into my heart and it was supposed to show if there were leaky valves. It was kinda cool.
I was put in the trauma wing for the first night and part of the next day. Then they moved me to the stroke floor. I had the worst nurse in history. She gave me too much blood thinners. My levels were WAY too high. I can't remember exactly what they were, but I know there was investigation done about it afterwards. They weren't very helpful and I got put in basically a closet. There was a bed and just enough room to fit the pump. I wasn't allowed to nurse for about 36hrs because they injected me with dye for the CAT scan and MRI. It was so tiny. And boring. It was good for me though because that is when I got to start bonding a bit with Macey. We were holed up together in the tiniest of rooms and couldn't leave. We got released on the Saturday and we went up to Lacombe and got Mackinley. We drove home after that and I stayed on blood thinners for 2 months. My stomach looked pretty gross with all the bruises from sticking myself that many times.
So, that's Macey's story. Different than Mackinley's by a long shot. Both scary. People ask if we're going to have more. I am a little hesitant. Can ya blame me?
It was all worth it though. Life just wouldn't be the same without Macey. She is a special little girl that I love to pieces!

WARNING: May be a little lame. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I am the worst blogger ever!!! I always intend to update my blog, but I always get distracted reading all the DIY blogs I follow. By the time I'm done I've wasted all my time and don't get a post in. Anyone else follow dozens of those blogs? It seems like I am always adding new ones too. It makes me feel crafty just reading them!
So we have had a CRAZY summer so far. This is the first week that we have been at home. It's been so nice knowing that I don't have to pack up again for a long time. We've been gone to Cold Lake, Edmonton, Cranbrook, Magrath, Calgary, Lacombe.....I think that's it. It's been fun to see family and friends. The girls have really loved going to Nana's house so much. We got home on Monday and the first thing Macey said when we got home was "Nana's house".
I've been quite busy with my vinyl business lately. I was busy when we lived in Cranbrook, but Lundbreck doesn't seem to be booming for some reason. Can't imagine why.....It's been sooooo nice to get some craftiness out of my system. I need to start decorating my home though. I'm always making for someone else. I got to make a huge vinyl floor mat with my brother last month. My brother got married and they wanted a dance floor monogram. Easy peasy......not. They wanted it to be as big as possible. It was a 9 ft circle. It turned out great, but it was horrible to make. Everything went well, it was just so long. Good thing I didn't have to do it by myself.
My brother got married last month. Just in case you didn't catch that from the last paragraph. It was a beautiful wedding! He married Kimm and she is pretty great! They compliment each other quite nicely. Jaron's sister got married a couple of months ago so now I get to have hopes for cousins for my girls. Maybe that will relieve the pressure for me to have more kids. I doubt it, but here's hoping!
The last little while Macey has slowly started turning from terror to fun. She is quite the kid. The girls play together. Do you understand the full meaning of the last sentence. My girls PLAY together. They still fight, but there are moments. Moments that are so.....nice. Their new thing right now is hide-n-seek. I absolutely love watching them play. It gives me hope. Mackinley is also changing. Hers is not quite so great. She's turning into a child. With the attitude of a teenager. She's not bad, she just thinks that she knows everything. I thought was supposed to start later on. She's quite funny to watch still. She LOVES to dance and sing. Yesterday I was getting ready to go out with some friends and this is how our conversation went......
Mackinley: Can I get ready?
Me: No. Just Mommy is getting ready. I'm going out with some friends.
Mackinley: What friends?
Even my 4 year old knows I have no social life! Not really, but the way it came out, it sounded just like that. I really do have friends, it's just hard for us to do stuff with Jar being gone so much with shift work and living out in the boonies doesn't help either. One more year and Mackinley will be kindergarten and hopefully we'll meet more people close to our house that we can be friends with. It's not far to drive to our Pincher friends, but it just makes it harder to do stuff sometimes.
This has been a random post. Once again. I really need to blog more so I can organize my thoughts better. I hate posting one post for months worth of stuff. I apologize for my boring, random ramblings. I have also learned today that I shouldn't blog when I am starving! I just need to eat but if I don't finish this now it will get sent to drafts and never get finished!!!! I guess I'll end with that and hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and post something before Christmas.
I do need to share Macey's lovely birthing story. She turns 2 in 2 weeks. I will definitely post that on or around her birthday.