Longest Word Ever

Grant informed me the other day that he knew what the longest word in the world was..."SupercalifragilisticexpialidociousOptimusPrime."

Hulsbergerness September 2011

Our September...

Family Vehicle Decals

courtesy of xkcd.com

All I have to say is, "Ain't that the truth!" Dave and I had a very nice chuckle over this comic.

Disclaimer: I would never ever ever trade my babies for a pile of money, and I know there are people out there that would trade piles and piles of money for babies half as cute as mine and I wish to bestow upon them my fertileness...I am not planning on using it for awhile! ;)

Sweet Sunday Treasures

Last night we went to our yearly Fantasy Football draft at our esteemed League Manager's home. We drafted our teams and ate pizza and had a great time. There were cookies and cake pops and cupcakes and soda and bunt cake. After Grant had what could have been enough sweets for a kid 3 times his size, I cut him off. He wanted one more cookie, so I told him to ask our lovely hostess if he might be able to take one home in a baggie for tomorrow. She graciously slipped into the kitchen to help him while I was deeply engrossed in my next draft pick and later informed me that she had put it in my bag. What follows is the email I sent her today to enlighten her as to the fate of that cookie.

So remember that "1 cookie" in a baggie you were going to give Grant for "tomorrow"? Well I got home last night and forgot it was in my purse. We got to church today and I got the kids all settled into our side row (remember how I sit alone now that Dave is in the bishopric). So the meeting starts and we are about 5 minutes in and Grant is rummaging through my purse for a toy and he pulls out said cookie and it has morphed into about 6 cookies and 4 cake pops and Grant looks like he has just struck gold! He may have even shouted Eureka! Looking back, the details are a little hazy.

I grab them quickly to avoid Mason seeing them but it was too late! "DIS!!!!!!" hear from my right as a chubby little pointer finger zeros in on the miraculous treasure...My internal monologue was playing out two options: #1 Play keep away for an hour and put up with Mason loudly expressing his displeasure in a quiet holy setting. #2 Give them the goods and avoid a tantrum and a lot of looky loos....
Long story short...it was 9am and I ended up with 2 very hyper kids riding a sugar high, the likes of which have rarely been seen in church. They were making 4 foot laps in our pew and giggling and there were crumbs and chocolate skid marks from here to Sunday. It was epic. Just thought I would let you know I was thinking of you this morning!!!!

Mason's August Adventures

(There are 3 new posts documenting some recent Glimpses, so scroll down and start at the beginning. I've heard that is a very good place to start...)

We are tiptoeing around here, hoping that Mason will not join in on the medical emergency bandwagon. So far so good, but I will be needing some wood to knock on. He did get stung by a bee today, so we'll just call that his part in this month of adventure and move on.

Here are a few cute pictures of what Mason has been up to this month.

Being cute.

Being smart...Science!

Lots and lots and lots of self portraits on the iPhone.

He loves hiking in the blueberry backpack. Also, see that scrape on his nose? He fell twice in the same day face down on the sidewalk and scraped it.

Getting dirty!

Getting cleaned up after all those adventures!

Grant's August Adventure

Grant has been making Transformers and then making more Transformers and then he takes a break and then he makes more Transformers.

I guess Avery was filling Grant's head with all kinds of whimsical tales of the ER. About 10 days after Avery was in the hospital, Grant fell while playing in his room and through the hysterical tears was holding his elbow and saying, "I broke my arm! I broke my arm!" I thought, "Oh that's cute. He has no idea what he's talking about."

After the usual tactics for calming a crying child (popsicles and cartoons) didn't work, and we saw the big bump forming on the back of his upper arm, we decided something was definitely wrong. We assumed it was a hyperextension or maybe a dislocation, so we asked Dr. Mario (our neighbor) for advice. He took a look and recommended we take him to the hospital. Although he didn't throw any giant colored pills capsules at Grant, we took his advice.

So Dave handled this one and loaded Grant up and went again to Primary's.

He got a sling after being triaged.

and an xray (see that chip in his humerus? The theory is that the lower bone hit it when his arm went straight and took that chunk out.)

There were crayons to help him wait patiently while the doctors debated over what to do about this weird break.

Finally they got splinted and sent home around midnight with orders to return to the Fracture Clinic on Wednesday for something a little more permanent.

Here's the final product. Grant instantly knew that he wanted a green cast.

After lots of lecturing to us about keeping the cast dry, it was less than 24 hours later when he fell into a friends kiddie pool and soaked it. There was a lot of sitting in front of the blow dryer that afternoon.

Avery's August Adventure

How's that for alliteration?

Avery loves to wave now. Do I really need to say how cute it is?

Most everyone who reads this blog probably already knows that we've had a pretty crazy August. We are thinking about getting a punch card to the Emergency Room at Primary Childrens.

On August 1st, Avery started with a high fever that we couldn't lower with Tylenol or Motrin. After about 48 hours I got a little concerned because she wasn't eating well and was really lethargic. I called the pediatrician and they wanted her seen that night, but had no more appointments so they recommended taking her to Instacare. As soon as the doctor saw her vital signs there, she said to take her straight to the ER at Primary's. That really freaked me out.

When we got to Primary's her fever was 104 and her heart rate was 220. They immediately admitted her and got to work putting in an IV to give her fluids. Three tries and 30 minutes later... The drip IV wouldn't have been fast enough to get her heart rate down so they took a 50ml syringe and pushed in 140ml as fast as they could. That helped perk her up a little and took her heart rate down a little, but not enough so they gave her another 100ml. She had all the signs of sepsis shock (basically a raging bacterial infection) so they took blood and urine and a nasal swab and gave her some IV antibiotics. They were even thinking of doing a spinal tap to test for meningitis.

By now it was about midnight and I was hoping they would send us home after they stabilized us and they were debating whether to send us to the ICU or just a regular room in the hospital. We ended up staying in on the regular infant floor for a few days. Her blood and urine cultures all came back negative and she had an equivocal (fancy term for present but low titer) call for a respiratory virus called PIV, so they weren't sure what had made her so sick, but she had stabilized and her fever and heart rate were under control.

We were sent home with a warning that they hadn't really cured her, so to watch her very close. The next day her fever broke and she got a faint rash on her belly, so I am 99.44% sure she had a bad case of the roseola (a virus that most infants get at sometime, but is usually much more manageable.)

So there's our documentation of Avery and I's first Girls Days Out. I felt really weird being in the hospital with a baby, and not just having given birth. And when you're not a patient they don't give you any beverages besides water!

I wish I would have gotten a picture when Avery was in the ER. She had an IV, blood pressure cuff, O2 sensor, nose oxygen, and 3 heart rate cords. I didn't even know how to hold her. Oh and get a load of that tiny little hospital gown. I almost cried when they brought that in, its a shame they ever have to use them.

This video Dave took when he came to visit. (Shout out to a great friend who watched our boys like a champ so Dave could come see us.) You can see how sick and worn out she was. When have you ever seen a 7 month old lie so still?

Lagoon Day

Dave was able to take last Friday off and we went to Lagoon as a family. The weather was perfect. The kids were all so good and we had so much fun. Grant and Mason were both so brave and rode lots of rides. Grant even rode a few adult rides that he was tall enough for. I think he might be a roller coaster lover like his mom! The boys loved the water fountain that the kids could run through . Avery was so good too. She just sat in the stroller all day. We don't even have any photographic evidence that she was there!

It was such a great day!

(Most of these pictures were taken by our personal paparazzi, Kristel. She does such an amazing job!)

Cabin Fever

We here at the Hulsberg home have had a serious case Pinto Cabin Fever this summer. We have been so lucky to be able to take 2 trips down to the cabin and have loved every minute. It is one of my favorite places to be.

The first trip was with some friends of ours that we introduced to Pinto and we were able to get some family pictures taken. (Thanks again to Kristel!)

The second trip was a week long fest of food, beverages, cards, treats, hikes, blood sugar tests, treats, beverages, little blond boys, crafts, sunsets, pie, cards, sunrises, 4 generations of potty humor, treats, and very little sleep at the 5th Annual Tolman Family Reunion.

The boys brought home major farmer tans and a thick layer of Dixie dirt and Avery brought home 3 new pairs of beaded socks from Grams!

Grant informing us of something very important I'm sure.

One of our great family pictures.

Grant loves the four wheelers at the cabin. Since we've been home he has dubbed his red, green, and yellow Monster Trucks the four wheelers and cruises them around the house.

One of Mason's favorite things to do at the cabin is slime the windows. Don't worry, Papa keeps good window washing stuff around.

Mason Busting a Move

No words to describe this. We'll let his moves and Def Leppard do the talking.

Grant-isms II

Grant was coloring and just said, "Did you know that there's a zipper in your body? Its about this big (holds fingers about an inch apart) and its right by your tummy. That how the baby gets inside your tummy and then it has to rest and get bigger for when its time to come out." Grant's version of the birds and bees. I asked him where he heard that and he said he thought of it all on his own.


Grant just learned about Winnie the Pooh and is fascinated because he's allowed to say Pooh without getting in trouble for potty talk. Every once in a while he tries to sneak in a "Winnie the Pee" and gets a stern look from Mom. I asked him if he knew who the little boy is that hangs out with Winnie the Pooh and he said, "Yes, that Christer the Robin."

Grant-isms

(This is Grant getting ready for a battle, he has his Bumbo helmet, kitchen shield and farm silo sword.)

There are somethings that Grant says. They make me smile and I can't bear to correct him. I know that he will eventually figure them out on his own and long gone will be the cute little sayings of his childhood replaced by a big boy with a big attitude. So here are a few of the mixed up sayings of Grant.

• Breafex - This is Grant's word for breakfast. He's been saying it for months now and I love it. It makes me smile every morning.

• Grant had his first exposure to a Star Wars movie the other day. It was the end of "The Empire Strikes Back" and we watched Luke and Darth Vader duel it out. Now all he wants to do is have "light saver" fights and he always gets to be "Sidewalker" and the rest of us, including Avery, get to take turns being Darth Vader.

• One of my favorite syndicated shows is King of Queens. Grant calls it King of McQueens. I wonder if he expects Lightning McQueen to show up sometime.

• Grant loves keeping track of what day it is. The other day he informed me that it was June Twenty-oneth. So cute!

• We have been listening to a Mickey Mouse CD in the car lately and Grant sings "Where oh where has my little dog gone." But he sings "...And his ears got short and his tail got long..."

I'm going to keep track of any wonderful new sayings and keep posting!

Avery Jill Hulsberg

Over Easter weekend we blessed our little Avery. We chose that weekend because Grandpa Tolman was in the area being a Distinguished Lecturer (the discussion concerning my dad being distinguished will be held another day...)

We were able to bless Avery's cousin Clara the same day. They are 8 weeks apart and we think they will be great friends! She moved to Houston for the summer though, so Avery and Clara will have to get reacquainted in the fall.

Our church meetings were held at 9am and Dave conducted the meeting and gave a beautiful blessing to Avery. Then we had a quick brunch and headed up to Logan for Clara's blessing at 1:30.

The thing that I loved about the most about the blessing was that Dave told Avery she was surrounded by men that loved her and each one of those men had a wonderful woman standing with them that would support her and love her and would be great examples to her throughout her life.

We love our little baby girl. She is such a good baby. She is very patient with us and is quick to give big smiles, especially when you get her out of her bed in the morning. Luckily her biggest brother Grant is such a big helper, and Mason...well...he hasn't hurt her yet... We are so happy to have Avery in our family and can't wait to watch her grow.

Mason Turns Two!

When I was trying to decide on how to celebrate Mason's birthday this year, I brainstormed what are Mason's favorite things right now. There is only one thing that makes him tremble with anticipation. One thing that will keep his attention for undiscovered amounts of time. One thing that will make him quiet down in even the middle of terrible tantrums in the most inappropriate places.... the iPhone. Dave received one as an early birthday present a month ago and Mason is in love. So we chose an iPhone Party. Complete with an "Appy Birthday" Banner, an iPhone Cake, and festive decorations!

This is the first cake that Dave has helped with and I couldn't have done it without him and all of his help making the apps.

Mason enjoyed opening his presents and then showing them to Grams and Rock and Jen on Skype. We kept having to remind him to acknowledge the real people in the room!

Yes Grant is wearing a brown fedora. It is his Agent P hat and its the best 2.50 I ever spent at the party store.
Mason definitely did not enjoy the bow hat.

Olivia was a little more tolerant but still not sure what to think!

Catch a glimpse...

Well Dave has finally talked me into starting another blog. I am a really great blog stalker, so I realize I should give others the chance to stalk me and also preserve some of our family's happenings. Dave has also promised to do some posting, so hopefully this blog won't fizzle out like the last. (No guarantees...) We hope you enjoy some glimpses into our lives.