July 7, 2016

Post from an Old Blog about Chase (circa 2010; age 8)

 

Monday, August 23, 2010

Monday

act:  Having to get up in the night ten plus times (I lost count) makes you feel like you never slept. 

Between Chase and the baby, last night was officially a disaster.  I should have known it would be when the melatonin I give Chase nightly didn’t seem to have any effect when I put him to bed.  Bedtime used to be a nightmare and then I was introduced to a natural supplement called melatonin.  I used to have to literally restrain Chase for hours in the dark in his bed before he would finally relax and go to sleep.  This whole brain-muscle disorder thing has way more far reaching effects than you might anticipate.  His muscles just would not relax and let him sleep.  So after years of misery and begging for anything that would help him sleep, someone finally suggested melatonin.  It has been a godsend.  After last night, Spence is telling me we need something more serious now…he might be right, it seems like it hasn’t been working as well for about a week now.  I hope not.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Saturday

“Na-el-la”  Noodles?  “Na El-la”  What?  “Na…El-lla-o” Ah… “No Yellow.”  Chase wants eggs for breakfast and even before I can get the pan hot he is informing me that he doesn’t want any yellow…aka yolks.  He tells me this about 10 more times before I get them on the plate.  I heat up some left over French toast to go with his fried eggs.  I sit up to the counter with him and help him eat.  As I cut a piece of French toast to put with each bite of egg, he reminds me each time, no yellow.  He even goes as far as to inspect each bite and even to turn the fork around to make sure there is no yellow on the back side or sides of the bite I’m feeding him.  I’ve come up with inventive ways to sneak a little yolk in now and again.  Sometimes he catches me and sometimes he doesn’t.  I’ve learned to rotate the fork in the opposite direction as he inspects so he doesn’t see the yellow on the backside.  I’ve learned to cook the eggs so that most of the yellow hides inside the white, but it gets tricky when you cut it.  Ridiculous I know, but when you have a kid whose well being depends on eating every one to two hours, you do what you have to do.  Especially in the mornings.  If Chase doesn’t eat first thing in the morning, he starts to lose his balance and fall a lot.  He also starts to have seizures.  So you can guess what a good portion of my day entails….feeding Chase.  Drinks are a whole other issue….I’ll save that for another day. 

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Friday, August 20, 2010

Friday

Last night I put Chase to bed.  I swear he was asleep.  Thirty minutes later, he comes sauntering into the living room (more of a herky jerky swagger) and announces, “diaper change”.  (dipe-da dane)  He lays down for me to change him and I ask him, “Chase, are you just tricking me?”  “Yes,”  he immediately answers and gives me a huge grin.  Sure enough…his diaper was perfectly clean.  Anything to get out of bedtime. 

Today, the fifth day of school, we were late getting him ready and the bus was early.  It showed up while I was still trying to get his shoes on and his mop of hair combed.  He needs a haircut badly, but it’s something that Daddy Pants and I haven’t been able to bring ourselves to do.  There is something about forty-five minutes of screaming (on Chase’s part) and cussing (DP) that is just not that appealing.  I did an OK job on the hair and started dragging him outside while he started crying.  I put him on the bus with huge alligator tears streaming down his face.  I could hear him crying/whaling as the bus roared away. 

Oh, Saturday.

REGRETS

I really regret these years I’ve missed blogging.  In the end, my blog  became a journal that captured our lives through pictures and words.  And I haven’t been good about journaling outside of the blog, so it’s time to get back at it.  SO sorry to my kiddos (and Spence and myself) for the moments I’ve missed.  It’s really hard to go back and cover the time I missed, but I’m going to do my best to be current and maybe put in a few oldies but goodies.  So saddle up; get your seatbelts on; whatever you need to do, because here come the wild ride called the Platt household. (the wildness much enhanced by the addition of Ella Kate Platt whom Spence now wished he’d named Katie Merle)

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Posing for a picture before heading out to work this summer.

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Nice outfit daisy duke!  Not a shy bone in three year old Katie poo’s body. One of the things I’ve learned about girls, is that you don’t control their clothes, their clothes control you!!

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Hayes and Kate with their new dog Ringo. (naming him was so difficult. when you only have musicians to choose from it complicates things; a weird rule you find yourself bending to when you have the two biggest music lovers in the world living with you. He was nic for a while, but it didn’t stick)(Not sure which musician is named nic)

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Ree learned to ride her bike without training wheels this week.  A big accomplishment in my eyes since I had been agonizing about having not taught her in all of her 6 years.  I’m sure if her mom had been on the ball she could have learned years earlier.  (insert REGRET…man I’m bad) Better late than never. (I like the look of determination on her face)

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Didn’t want to leave our boy Chase out.  He turned 14 in May…unbelievable. 

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Kate giving “ya-ya’s” to Meg. Will define ya-ya’s at a later date.

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Our last picture of Jack and Meg taken a few days before Meg disappeared.  Less than a month later, Jack disappeared also.  We were suspicious of coyotes because of the circumstances.  If only we could go back in time and change just a few events to alter the outcome.  I always feel like this when something bad happens…as you can see regrets is an apropos title to this post. I think I may have an overactive regret/doubt gland or something!  Our fears were confirmed when two nights ago, Spence woke up to Ringo barking in the middle of the night and flipped on the outside spotlights and a giant coyote was lurking by our chicken coop and ran onto our lawn.  I think he’s been stalking our animals for months. (our wounded cat Tigie disappeared before them) I'm so sick and sad about our little Yorkies.

RIP Jack and Meg White.

May 3, 2014

Ready to Blog Again

I don’t know if I’m just sick to death of Facebook, but I’m ready to get back to blogging.  I realized that it is the only way I really keep a journal and I’ve missed recording a lot of our lives since I stopped blogging.  I’ve been feeling a little short on privacy lately, so I’m thinking about going private.  When I get around to it, I will try to send out invites to everyone.  In the end though, I’ve just got to get back to blogging for me and for the punks…they are just crazy enough to be interesting. 

My last post was about Kate being born.  She is now 20 months old and the absolute funniest thing the other five Platts  have ever come across.  Perfectly healthy and keeping us on our toes.  We count our blessings every time we look at her.  Here’s looking at you kiddo.

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It’s ALWAYS a struggle for us to get ready for church and get there in one piece.  I thought we could do a quick photo with the one minute we had to spare.  It went about as you would expect.  Ree was crying and this was the only photo where Kate wasn’t climbing over the arm of the swing.  Better luck next time.  Good job boys…at least.

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This one will require a blog post of it’s own, but let’s just say this is a more frequent occurrence than any of us would like.

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On top of the kitchen table, watching TV, while trying to drink a bottle at the same time.

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She made a pretty cute butterfly Easter morning. (snotty nose and all)

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We’re following the leader, the leader, the leader…

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Here we go again.

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Dog food bin—coolest hang out in town.

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She’s famous for her “hooded brow” faces. (this isn’t the best example)  If you know her, you know what I mean.   She makes the craziest faces.  She’s been rolling her eyes since she was teeny…I wonder what that could be foreshadowing??

October 5, 2012

Trying to Catch Up or at Least Catch My Breath!

Wow!  That’s all I have to say.  No, not really, but to sum up the last few months that one word really says it all.  Spence and I thought it would be a good idea to have another baby. Smile We were very naïve.  We were nervous when we had Ree (because of Chase) but when everything turned out perfectly, we decided it was now or never to finish up our family and not leave Ree as the lone caboose eight years after Chase.  We found out we were pregnant with a baby girl and due at the very end of August.  Everything was going along smoothly and the baby was right on track when we had our 20 week ultrasound.  I however, was not feeling good.  I chalked it up to my age, swelling veins, headaches, and general pregnancy, but by about 30 weeks, my blood pressure had skyrocketed and I had to go on medication. I still felt like crap, but everything seemed to be going well with the baby and I was measuring my regular 2 weeks behind schedule (my babies are always small… 5lbs and 10, 12 and 13oz were the weights of Hayes, Chase, and Ree full term. One night in my 37th week (really not that early, but early for me) I woke up in the night with what felt like a contraction.  I laid there for about 5 minutes wondering if this could really be happening when another one came.  I jumped out of bed and started packing a bag…I wasn’t prepared in the least.  About 10 minutes later I woke up Spence and told him we had to get to the hospital because we live an hour away and Ree came pretty fast.  We left the kids asleep for my Dad to come and watch and headed out.  This was around 3:30am.  We pulled up to the hospital and Dr. Coss was waiting out front.  We headed up to the 4th floor and by 6:00 am, Kate was born.  Except she was tiny.  3lbs, 14 oz tiny.  When she came out, I was watching the faces of Spence, my mom, and the nurses, and it seemed as though all of their jaws dropped.  I looked down at this teeny little baby and wondered what in the world was wrong.  But she was strong.  Her Apgar was great and she was breastfeeding within the hour. But her white blood count came back low and they had to admit her to the NICU to give her antibiotics as a precaution.  I had no idea what the NICU was going to entail…if I had known I would have grabbed the baby and ran.  I fed her one last time and had to hand her over to the nurses…it makes me nervous just thinking about it. 

A lot of stuff happened between that minute and the nearly 2 weeks she was in the NICU (which I’ll write about when I have about 4 hours) but we finally brought home a beautiful 4lb 3oz baby and we were exhausted…physically and emotionally.  Thanks in part to the prayers of many and a priesthood blessing, she passed all of her tests with flying colors and was eating well enough on her own to come home.  She will be 2 months old next week and weighs about 8 lbs now.  She is fussy and demanding and is about to kill her poor, old parents, but when I hold her against my cheek in the middle of the night, no matter how exhausted I am, I want it to last forever.

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July 2, 2012

Chase’s Career as a Hair Stylist is in Full Swing

 

Chase, “Ooo Ree, I know just the style for you.  Hold still while I work my magic.”

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Ree, “I’m a little skeptical Chase…why won’t you let me see the mirror?”

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Chase, “Because I’m just putting in the finishing touches.  Ah, yes, this little patch of grass really adds an Avant Garde flair.”

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Ree, “I’m so excited! I can hardly wait to see it!”

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Ree, “How does it look from this angle.”

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Ree, “Yay…it’s finished.  Can I see a mirror now??”

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(After an examination in the mirror)  Ree, “Oh Chase, what have you done to me?  I feel like I need to brush my teeth!”

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Ree, “Chase, I want my money back.” 

Chase, “You should have seen it coming.   I don’t even have my license yet.”

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Chase, “Catch ya later, Ree.  I don’t do refunds.”

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May 26, 2012

Ah Pregnancy.

Have you ever felt like you you’ve done a terrible job at life for about 9 months straight?  If you haven’t, you should try pregnancy.  I was looking back at my blog posts noticing what a cruddy job I’ve don’t for the last six months and realized that since I’ve been pregnant, I’ve basically just been trying to survive until this baby is born.  Hayes’s schooling has suffered.  Chase has suffered.  Spence has suffered.  Ree has suffered…a little :).  It has been hard on everyone.  I think I did a better job when I was younger.  I don’t think that being pregnant threw me for quite the loop it seems to be throwing me now that I am 30-something-ish!  And lots of people are still having babies at 40…how do they do it???  I just did the math and I will be 56….can that be right???… when this baby graduates from high school.  Holy Cow.  There goes Spence and I’s golden years ! :)

Luckily, we’ve still managed to have some good times even with a tired, grumpy, lame mom in the house.  I hope my kids only remember the good times! (good luck with that one!)

Chase  broke his arm in April, but the addition of 3 new kitties helped ease the pain.

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As much as I cuss about them, they are pretty cute! (from left to right: Toulouse, Berlioz, and O’Malley)

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We had a successful semester at homeschool co-op with our cooking class.

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Cali, Laurie, Addie, Sam, and Catherine

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Conner, Hayes, & Bridger (with Aaron in back…an honorary homeschooler for the day)

I have no idea why Rosie was at cooking class, but it made Chase happy.

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Sweetie had a new baby girl with a zebra striped mane.

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Oh and did I forget to mention that our new dog that wasn’t supposed to be our dog but ended up being our dog anyway had two puppies? You may start to wonder if I’m some crazy animal lover/cat lady, but trust me I am just a pushover….seriously.

So kiddos…try to forget your mom yelling at you and just remember these love and animal-filled days of your childhood!

10 and 2!

Ree was born the day before Chase’s 8th birthday.  Wow, what a gap!  Now I’m afraid they are destined to share birthday parties until one of them starts complaining.  Their birthdays definitely snuck up on my this year, but I actually managed to take treats to Chase’s classroom and we had a fun bash over at the Jackson house with all of the Jacksons and Platts.  I took my camera with me, but didn’t snap a single shot.  So typical.  So here are two fairly lame photos, but the only ones I got of the kids on their birthdays. Can’t believe how fast they are growing up.  Happy Birthday punks!

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April 24, 2012

Back in the Saddle Again.

I finally have a camera again.  I’ve actually had it for a couple of months now, but A) I didn’t have a camera case for it so I didn’t dare take it anywhere and use it, and B)  I still haven’t had time to read the dang instruction manual (which incidentally is a CD not a book….I hate that).  Luckily, the camera works pretty well without me telling it to do anything, so I actually have a few pictures to share.  But I’ve REALLY got to read that manual!

As you know, it has been HOT, HOT, HOT around here lately.  All around town I see people out cleaning and installing their swamp coolers.  It’s only April, but it was close to 90 degrees the other day.  Spence and Hayes started working on our cooler yesterday, which turned into Spence and I spending hours yesterday cleaning all of the minerals and salt from our well and softener out of our cooler.  You people in town don’t have any idea how easy you have it! :) Spence also completely took apart the pump to clean it so it would spin again and had to take off the motor and oil it…our water is very hard.  Oh and by the way, Chase also broke his arm yesterday…but that didn’t stop us from getting the cooler ready…you’ve got to have priorities when you’re pregnant and facing a long summer.

By evening (we were still working on the cooler) the kids were deserting our hot house for our cooler yard and the sprinklers.  I took a moment to snap some pics and by dusk the cool air made me feel good enough to use the dead branches I’d pruned from the trees to have our first campfire of the year.  My kiddos eat that stuff up!  Other than Ree deciding she’s afraid of the dark, we had a great time. 

Our slide is pretty fast, but Ree has gotten good enough to land on her feet after it flings her into the air and onto the ground…at least most of the time!

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As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more and more paranoid about inadvertently starting a forest, or in our case, a brush fire.  It is so dry around here that I’m even more paranoid.  So I made sure I raked all of the dry weeds in a big circumference around our fire pit and then made Hayes have the hose handy just in case a stray spark fell on the abundant fire fuel growing around our house.

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Ree kept wanting me to take a picture of her doll by shoving it in my face whenever I tried to snap a shot.  I really appreciated it!

I’m including this last photo so you’ll get an idea why I’m afraid of burning the whole place down…check out all of the dry, yellow fuel around our campfire!  YIKES! (I’d burn it to get rid of it, but I’m afraid to!)

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Stay cool everyone.  I hear there is a storm headed in on Thursday. (At least that’s what someone at the gas station told me!)