August craziness!!!

AHH I've been such a slacker in the blogging department. But in my defense this month has been THE busiest and craziest month ever!! so we were due to move into our new apartment on august 1. Tanner's family reunion started july 23-26. that literally gave us 5 days to move out, move in to our new place, clean my parents house, mow the lawn, pull weeds, clean the garage, wash cars, ETC ETC. I was pretty stressed trying to get everything ready. but we did it. barely. haha. here's some highlights for AUGUST: prepare for a LOOONNNGGGG post!!


**STEVENS FAM REUNION- July 23-26

We spent all day on my birthday driving to boise to meet up with tanners siblings. it was a blah birthday but oh well haha. All of his siblings were there and we had so much fun!! lots of talking around the campfire, lots of treats, lots of laughing, lots of razor and forewheeler rides, and 4 days of camping!!! ahh. I was nervous with gracie but she did well. She slept through each night, she just had a rough time during the day because it was so windy. poor girl gets such bad gas with the wind! Us girls were able to do a craft so that was fun!! I made a cute "S" for my apartment.


Here's some pics! my phone died on the 2nd day so i didn't get very many but here's some!

                                                 aunt kara took gracie on walks :)

We moved out of my parents house on August 1st ish. It is sad to leave so much space, but we were so grateful we were able to live there for a year!! huge blessing for us! it was a lot of work moving out and cleaning and blah blah but we did it!!

BEAR LAKE 2015 aug 11-15

Tanners family has a tradition of going to bear lake every year! we rent jet skiis, camp there, rent canoes, etc. IT WAS SO FUN!! We got there pretty late on the 11th, and set up camp. Gracie is a champ and slept through the night. That's one thing I cannot complain about with her is her sleep. she NEEDS her sleep! haha. and Im not complaining :)

We spent 1.5 days on the lake, lots of talking and laughing around the campfire, lots of delicious food, ETC! tanner and I bought a fore wheeler for a really good deal so we enjoyed taking kids on rides on it! all 3 of tanners brothers have razors so we went on plenty of razor rides. huckleberry picking was had by all, as well as big juds dinner!  Tanners family LOVES camping. I was hesitant to go to bear lake as well as his reunion, but gracie did pretty well. Nights she did great, but daytimes were a little harder. hopefully next year we'll have a tent trailer or camper.  My phone died at bear lake as well but here's some pics I took!

                               I'm proud of gracie. she did great. my lil camper girl.

*ANDERSON FAM REUNION (T.I.M.E) 2015! Aug 16-23

my parents flew in to Idaho falls on aug 13 so tanner and i dropped off their car at the airport before we went to bear lake! it was killing me knowing my parents were home and I hadn't seen them in a year. BUT whatdya do. we came home saturday and i told my mom we wouldn't be home until sunday. sneaky sneak :) we wanted to surprise them.  We had this whole thing planned out but it was ruined when we drove up to their house and they were backing out of the driveway....haha. so we followed them around the neighborhood, and then I got out and started walking towards their car with gracie in my arms.  they didn't know it was me. until i stopped in front of their car and just stared at them. LOL! We spent the night with them and had some nice chats!

my siblings all showed up at my parents house sunday night! I LOVE when all my siblings are together. it's the funnest thing ever.  Some of the activities we did throughout the week were: rigby lake, rexburg rapids, roasting mallows on the fire pit tanner made for my parents, lots and lots of yummy food, bosche ball, spike ball, volleyball, soccer, obstacle coarse, water balloon fight, adult dinner at olive garden, lots and lots of energized children, some hilarious game nights, PADDLE BOARDING my personal fave, sunbathing, gifts from gma and gpa from israel,  forewheeler rides, jamberrying, glow in the dark dance party with illegal israeli lasers,  and LOTS MORE!!! so much fun. the week went by WAY TOO FAST!! it's good to have mom and dad home now too! here's some pics:

I Love my crazy fam!! isn't it about TIME? Together In Making Eternity :)

I'm so glad everyone was able to sacrifice work and time and money to be together!


GRACIE TURNED 4 MONTHS!!

goll and she's almost 5 months already!! Well, at 4 months gracie:

*loves to smile! she smiles at anyone
*she weighed 14 lbs at her 4 month appointment
*she is in the 98% for her head :)
*26 inches long
*she has a deep laugh like her mamma
*loves blowing bubbles
*LOVES her sleep! sleeps 12 hours at night, with 2, 3 hour naps during the day
* she's starting to grab anything in front of her and put it in her mouth!
*she loves starsky and giggles when he's around her.
*she's my little ray of sunshine.

love this girl.



The scariest thing of my life happened last sunday. apparently I became unresponsive in church. The last thing I remember was asking my dad for his coat because I was freezing. And asking any of my sisters if they had medicine for a headache. my head was pounding and I was SO COLD! Before we went to church I had told Tanner I had a pounding headache and that I wasn't feeling good. but we didn't eat breakfast so I thought I was just feeling weak and needed a little energy. well, I guess not. So church ended and mind you I don't remember any of this.  Tanner said 'maddie, church is over- let's go.' I didn't respond. My mom said that my eyes were going cross-eyed. I was pale, and wasn't responding to anyone around me.  tanner and my mom looked at each other and said that something wasn't right- they needed to call the ambulance. There was an EMT in the ward that came over and tried talking to me. still not responding. The ambulance showed up, and they hooked a bunch of things on me. I hadn't passed out, but I would not talk to anyone or move or do anything. tanner gave me a blessing. I don't remember that either.

my sister was by me the whole time, and she said she was the only one that I would sort of respond to.  The emt's kept telling me that they felt it would be best if they took me to the hospital. I said no repeatedly.  finally I guess I gave in. tanner convinced me. so they carried me over to their gernie and wheeled me into the ambulance.

I still don't remember any of this.

Tanner was in there with me, and the EMT i guess asked me when my birthday was and I said july. didn't know what date, and tanner said I started to cry.  2 days previous I had noticed that my breast was very red and itchy. we got up to the hospital and the Dr and 2 nurses said that it was DEFINITELY MASTITIS.

I was still freezing, and convulsing, and eyes rolling in the back of my head. the worst part is- is that I didn't know who tanner was. and I couldn't talk. my mom said I was trying to talk so bad but couldn't and I was getting so frustrated. I had a fever of 103.

They did a CT scan to see if the mastitis had gotten into my brain. The radiologist said he found a tiny abnormality on my brain. SO, they did an MRI 2 hours later.

Tanner said that he and my parents were just stuck waiting. They didn't know if I was going to be brain dead, or if I had a brain tumor. ugh I can only imagine the heartache for them.

 I remember waking up in the middle of the MRI and I seriously thought I was in heaven. they put you in this tube, and it's super loud.  I felt SO claustrophobic and I was wondering where the heck I was. wheeling me back to the room I knew I was in the hospital. wasn't sure why. I remember asking myself where gracie and tanner were. I guess every time gracie's name was brought up I would just cry and cry wondering if she was ok.

The dr. said it would be best to do a spinal tap. this would tell them if infection was in my brain or not. I told him that I didn't want one. I told tanner and my mom and dad that i really didn't want one. but since I wasn't coherent for 7 hours previous, they did one anyway. it hurt like HECK! and i regret it. All the Dr said was that a spinal tap had about the same effects as an epidural. he didn't explain what he was doing, and blah blah. i have some bitter feelings about it :)

The spinal fluid came back clear which meant that there was no infection in my brain.  They sent us home at like 7 pm. told me to take it easy for a week from the spinal tap.

well, monday rolls around and i have a hideous headache. THE worst headache I'd ever had. worse than a migraine. They said I might get headaches but that they would go away eventually, so I didn't worry. I literally layed in bed all day monday while tanner took care of me and gracie. Tuesday came and i felt a little worse than monday. I kept telling myself that I needed to get out of bed and walk around. but I literally couldn't! every time I sat up it was like all the blood flooded to my head. felt like 1000 pounds. i would black out too when I would stand up. so i layed in bed for the last half of the day.

wednesday: gracie had her 4 month immunizations at 10:45. I told tanner that I felt crappy and didn't think I should go. he got ready to take her and I decided to get up, take a shower, and see how I felt after I got ready.  Well i almost passed out in the shower, and my headache was now the worst it had every been. I told tanner I couldn't function. Well. gracie wouldn't breastfeed so I told tanner I'd just come with him and stay in the car.

I puked 4 times on the way to the Dr. throw up was all over tanners truck and down main street.  at this point I felt like something wasn't right. I wasn't getting better- i was definitely getting worse. I hobbled into the bathroom at seasons and puked like 8 more times. they had a couch so i just layed there. I puked every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. Tanner was still in the appointment with gracie and wouldn't answer his phone!! I started to bawl because I literally thought I was going to die. I was so miserable. I called Dr lovell, linda webster, my mom and dad, and then dr lovell again. no one answered. so i called seasons and told them i was in their building puking and i needed someone to help me. I had to puke in the middle of the phone call too :( haha. she said she was going to send someone down to help me. 10 minutes passed and i was still in there about to pass out. I finally said a prayer. I was in desperate help! I text linda and told her what was going on. she didn't answer, until we got home to our apartment she called and told me to get to seasons immediately.

At this point i was puking every 2 minutes, and my headache was getting worse. puke was all over our apartment, and all over me, and everywhere.  Tanner set up a bed on our kitchen floor and insisted that I lay down. my parents showed up and drove me to seasons. linda checked me out and said that i definitely did not have mastitis.  I brought the pills the hospital gave me, and linda said that those aren't even the right pills for mastitis. they gave me antibiotics for an ear infection. Linda was really worried and said that she's 98% sure I have MRSA. she called up at the hospital, told them what was going on, and they ordered me back up there.

Linda said that often with spinal taps there's a leak in the spinal fluid causing your brain to float in mid air. and THATS why I was having spinal headaches and barfing every minute. so i went back up there, tanner met me up there, and they did a blood patch. They said that 2-4 hours after the blood patch my headache should go away (if it's for sure a spinal headache).  So with a blood patch, they go back into your spine, draw blood from your arm, and then put the blood from your arm into your spine to patch where the leak was.  It hurt like heck, and my back felt like a huge air bubble. after the procedure i layed in the bed for an hour and then they let me go.  My headache went away after 3 hours and it was HEAVENLY!! I could actually function. the anesthesiologist said that my back will be pretty sore for a few days, but it should get better after that. and my puking and headaches should be gone.  So i spent wed, thurs, and most of friday in bed.  never felt so lazy in my life haha.

Our apartment still was in boxes because of such a crazy month, so my mom, bless her heart, spent all day thursday organizing and helping us get settled in. she was SUCH a huge help.  Oh yeah they said I couldn't lift more than 10 pounds for 3 days. so that meant I couldn't take care of gracie by myself. If I lifted more than 10 lbs the blood patch would tear and I'd have to go get another one. and i did NOT want that haha.

So now it's sunday, a week after all this hecticness, and I am finally feeling better. yesterday i was able to lift gracie and take care of her.  My back is still pretty sore. I have to lay down every once in a while because it aches.  I'm taking antibiotics for 10 days and im hoping gracie doesn't get it since it's highly contagious.  I haven't been able to breastfeed her because if she gets close to the mrsa she could get it and could be really scary.  So....kinda stinks but i don't want her to get it!!

So all in all, it's been a frustrating week.  The hospital misdiagnosed me, gave me the wrong antibiotics, performed 2 procedures that weren't necessary, and now they will be insisting on thousands of dollars for all that. we will be fighting a few things that they did because they were unorthodox and not right.

however, I am grateful that I'm not brain dead and don't have a brain tumor.  I have no idea how I got MRSA, but i hope it never happens again.  I'm so grateful for my parents and tanners for bringing us food, helping me get my house together, watching gracie, and being there for me!!

best part is: I can love on this face all day long :)

don't take life for granted. because you never know what could happen tomorrow!!