Guest Blog Winner!

Introducing Suzanne, she's finally pulling some of her blog weight. And with a funny story too.By the way, do you like the way the title makes it sound like she won a contest, rather than me begging her to post for me?


i should give a tiny bit of background. kimba is the nickname of our professional photographer friend. she had already rescheduled our family pictures 3 times and dragged it out almost 2 months before this typical day at the nelson's. calder calls it getting my hair "painted" when i get it highlighted. for those who don't know me, my daughter was born with a birth defect. one of the symptoms was that she had several cysts on her face when she was born. she had them removed when she was 6 months old. she is a doll. she has several tiny scars though. we had one of the best plastic surgeons in utah do the surgery. i wrote this reply to a friend's message to me. she was wondering how my week had been. enjoy. (i've also included some pictures so that you know i'm not making this up)


"the week has been fine. i got my hair "painted"blond again on monday morning for our family pictures that night. unfortunately, it was so cold and windy that kimba decided that we shouldn't do it. i commented to her that it had been a miracle that calder and hillary were still bruise and scratch free and i hoped it would last another week so we could reschedule.


defeated in family pictures, i decided to tackle calder's potty issue that night instead. when i noticed him hiding under the table to poop, i whisked him to the bathroom and took his diaper from him. after 35 minutes and a dozen books, he said that he didn't need to go anymore. unrelenting, i told him that he couldn't have his diaper back. he was to go bottomless until he could poop in the toilet. i told him that his other option was to go outside like winney (our dog). ten minutes later, he asked me to take him out. that same bitter cold and wind that cancelled the family pictures was still happening. calder squatted, but kept saying that he was too cold to poop. honestly, i never thought he would even consider doing it outside. thankfully the weather kept him from it.


so we go inside and i start making dinner. i notice him crouched under the table and i ask what he's doing and he says that he is pooping, so i tell him to run to the potty. unfortunately, he didn't make it.

his comment, "mom, my plop didn't go in the plopper, it went on the wood floor."

nice... i scream for cameron (who refused to have any part in my bizarre potty training technique, other than taking a picture of us standing in the freezing, windy yard) to corral the children and dog in another room while i disinfect. 20 minutes later they begin to trickle back in, calder first. hillary is bawling and cameron is holding her head. he moves his hand to tell me that she fell down in the hall and i see blood everywhere. i calmly say, "dear, there's blood. take her in the bathroom." so, there is this perfect specimen of puncture wound on her forehead. i can see that it will need to be stitched and since that's not my bag i declare that we must go to the er. funny thing is hillary is wearing nothing but a long-sleeved onesie covered in blood and strawberry juice. calder, who for some reason has now donned big boy underwear, is in a t-shirt and tennis shoes with no socks. cameron is still in his dry clean only duds from work. i put a pull-up over calder's unders and then get him dressed. hillary couldn't be salvaged because i didn't want to put anything over her head and upset the wound. i'm sure we looked pretty good strolling into the alta view er.


hillary got the liquid stitches that is like superglue. she will have a scar, but she's down with that since she already has 10 others on her face! anyway,the glue will flake off in 10-12 days. i promised to come back in 48 hours and keep track of signs of infection.



we go home.
calder goes to bed.
hillary cries but goes to sleep soon enough.
2:30am she has a fever of 103+. she won't take medicine.
anal suppository.
cry, cry, cry.
we all fall asleep from exhaustion.
i get up at 6 to check her.
she's burning hot and crying again. i find the info from the er regarding infection.
no redness, swelling, oozing. only high fever. decide not to go back until the 48hours happen. spend the entire day trying to comfort, cool and hydrate hillary, while loading barney videos into the vcr for calder.
wendy's for dinner.
wed am, after another sleepless night and more fever, i take her back to alta view er.they say that she looks great, but she has an ear infection! bless it.



anyway, now i have a kid who poops on my floor and one scarface who can't possibly be photographed this month. what do you think the chances are that once hillary heals, i can keep them bruise and scratch free for another 2 weeks while i wait to get our picture appointment? and, by then my hair roots will have to be painted again! the week has been good. thanks for asking."




Ah Suzanne, you're hilarious, and have a beautiful family. Thanks so much for doing this for me. You've always been there for me when I need you. Now seriously, get your own blog, so I can read it.

Christine and Roger, I still need posts from each of you.