Mother Faerie: Take Me As I Am

Engaged!

2009-10-04T21:01:00.002-05:00

Meredith and I are engaged! Today! I'm sure you all want to know more about her: She's a bit shorter than me (only an inch), on the blonder side, and incredible blue eyes. She's 41, incredibly smart and beautiful. Loyal, HONEST to herself and others, and is always excelling to make a difference in the lives of children (which I love). She's a master level psychologist. She currently works in foster care case management/ social worker placing children for permanency. She is studying for her license. She has no children of her own, but she loves my girls and my girls love her. She's great with them, she really is. They adore her, hang off her, she reads them stories at bedtime, hangs out with them and talks about their interests with them. She looks forward to joining family game nights and us growing as a family and adding to our brood (only by one or two more) when the time is right, through adoption.

We plan on getting married in Iowa with a few friends and family as witnesses. We will have a legal marriage that binds our love :) We plan on the end of July so that we have a decent length engagement as our relationship is still fresh and developing, although we know we share a lot of the same morals, beliefs, interests, and understanding of how we want our relationship to work on love, trust, honesty and always always communication. We then will have a reception in Kansas City at another date in July or early August for the rest of our family and friends, as it will not be pleasant for so many to commute 3 hrs to our wedding site. : / We then plan on going to the women's musical festival (camping!) in Michigan as our honeymoon in August.

We have engagement rings on order. They are nontraditional engagement rings as neither of us really like gold or flashy diamonds. They are inscribed with our names and will contain an emerald and an amethyst as they are our favorite stones. The emerald is Mere's birth stone, the purple because it's my favorite stone and looks better with the emerald than my birth stone.

We are very excited and have appreciated the love and support from our families and friends. It's been a very deep, sincere, loving 2 months since we've met and it does seem fast, but we truly believe that we have met at the right time in our lives for our relationship to be successful. We've been through a lot in the last two months emotionally that proves we can be there for each other in a long term committed relationship. We've had three deaths and services, we've had good news and bad news, we've been through the worse flu ourselves and the kids (not to mention Mak's hospitalization for pancreatitis) and Hana's high temp with her low WBC counts/neutropenia. She accepts me for who I am, with my flaws and past. She accepts my children for who they are, their own personal difficulties and challenges, and altogether our biggest supporter.

I love you, Mere, and thanks for extending your love to my children and extending your request of marriage. I am honored.

Sept 14, 2009

2009-09-14T16:06:00.002-05:00

Just realized, as a friend pointed out (Thanks!!) that I have not updated here in forever!!!! I have succumbed to what is known as Facebook. You can see lots and lots of new pictures and updates there.

For those of you who just can't bring themselves to log onto facebook here's the latest...

We are back in Edwardsville. The girls are glad to be back with their old friends. They are closer to their father which makes visitations easier on all of us.

The girls are excited to be back to school.

My congrats to my Aunt on her adoption and the newest addition to my long list of cousins!!!! Congrats to Tiffany and Heather on their engagement!! I'm so happy for you both!

Rest in peace Jenni, Jamie, and Joseph. You were all great people worth knowing and I had the honor of knowing about.

For those that don't know, I am dating. I've been seeing Meredith for about six weeks now and I'm head over heals about her. She has really taught me a lot about who I am. How to love and how to let myself be loved by somebody else. She is sincere and beautiful. I have never felt this way before in my life. It's a beautiful thing.

To my baby boy M, I love you and miss you. Remember life is hard and sometimes you are put into situations that are not all that great. Keep your head up little man and know there are many out there that do love you and care for you deeply, no matter what you are told.

Pumpkin Carving = Messy Children

2008-11-02T17:08:00.001-06:00

Adventures of Challah Bread

2008-11-02T17:06:00.000-06:00

I did this adventure for Bridget, since I mentioned I had a bread machine which can really help out with the making of your own challah bread. I wanted to know if the bread machine recipe was just as good as what I tried when she bought some. I have to say I couldn't figure out the four braid so I did the six, which I did know how to do anyways. Although there is a cool tutorial on u-tube if you need help or a bit of a reminder like I did :)

And here they are braided:

And here they are out of the oven:

They smell really yummy, they are cooling right now. I haven't tasted it yet...

Update

2008-10-07T18:56:00.003-05:00

Well I have not updated this page in a long time. There has been many crazy things that have been going on and life has become hectic and consumed with dr appts. Hana was hospitalized for about a week due to unsafe behaviors. It was scary and they messed with her medication. Once she was released, her regular Dr put her back onto the namenda and clonidine and took her off the zoloft that I think set her off :(

While she was in the hospital she came back with bad blood results. She has neutropenia, which is low white blood cells. Basically, she doesn't have much to fight off an infection. We have to watch for infection and fever.

She saw the oncologist and hematologist last week. We did lots of repeat blood work. She sees the rheumatologist next week. Preliminary tests show she's testing positive for Lupus, which is an autoimmune disorder that the body's immune system is confused and attacks itself instead of what's invading it.

So that's it for now. Lots of waiting...

Faeries

2008-10-02T23:43:00.001-05:00

I am obsessed with Faeries. They make me happy. A few weekends ago I went to the Ren Fest (when things were a little lighter) and took some pictures. I finally got around with some down time and fixed them up and wanted to share:

and a random picture of my cat, Hugs:

weekend fun

2008-09-07T21:31:00.001-05:00

Friday night I had a migraine. Didn't do much but crash early and sleep in on Saturday. I was bored as all get out Saturday. Nothing to do. OMG I thought I was going to drive myself crazy. I'm not one to go out and find something to do though. I stuck my nose in a book and I pretty much stayed there the rest of the day. I did do some cleaning, so at least I was a little bit productive. Ha.

Today I went to the Ren Fest all by myself. How pathetic is that?! On my way in some lady stopped me to sell me a ticket that was way cheaper than offering at the window. So I thought that was cool. I watched all the shows including individual musicians, the wench show, the gypsies dance, the fairy dance, the jousting, the parade, etc. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed onion rings and a dark Irish beer. Just one. It's a lot better than the crap I tried at a dorm party once upon ago.

When I got tired of walking around on my own (really I was there for four hours!) I left and went and picked up the girls from their dads. It was a bit early so I took them up to the Sunflower Field between Tongie and Lawrence. They loved it. We got to pick a sunflower and I took these pretty pictures of them (below). Then we had dinner at my mom's house after giving her cards and a sunflower for grandparents day.

Insomnia

2008-08-05T01:48:00.001-05:00

sucks. I fell asleep whenever I hung up with Bri and the next thing I woke up in a cold sweat and have been wide awake since. Blah.

Really, nothing exciting has been happening...

Hana seems to be doing well on her meds. She's going to bed now without the fights, fits, and tantrums. That's been a blessing...Mom said that she was better behaved during the day...so maybe we are onto something here :)

I got me a bearded dragon. He's so cute :) The kids named him Yoshi. Silly kids, but I'll go with it :)

Isn't he the cutest? I guess I'll go google bearded dragons until I fall asleep....

Another Stay in bed day...

2008-07-30T20:41:00.001-05:00

Yeah, so I should of stayed in bed today as well. LMAO.

I got a flat tire...fortunately I was only a minutes from my apartment and my step dad was able to come and help me get my tire patched and changed. He's the bomb! Definitely a superman!

I had previously canceled my morning apartments because Mak had called me saying she was sick, so I made her a dr appointment and canceled my morning appointments so that I could take her... well then the flat happened.

Eventually got to work and it was slow and crazy. Had a rug thrown at me by a car in front of me. I was able to dodge.

I nearly got side impacted by another car that was running a red light. What is up with the idiotic people on the roads these days?! Yesterday I saw an elderly lady that was going 20 miles under the speed limit in the fast lane while talking on a cell phone!

Mak ended up having an ear infection (I just had one...poor girl) on top of a cold.

I can't get rid of this bronchitis despite the steroids I was able to ask my dr for.

Yup, definitely should of stayed in bed.

Accepted Into my MASTERS!!!!!!!

2008-07-28T19:25:00.001-05:00

Congrats to me!!! Today I was accepted into Capella's masters of social work program with a focus on counseling! I'm so excited! Capella's is the only online school that is certified in order for me to get a license in my state. I'm so thrilled!!! yeah :) I start courses in October...weird start date, I know....

Cough Cough go away

2008-07-28T19:21:00.001-05:00

I'm done being sick! Please go away now!!! Just a nagging cough because of crud in my lungs.

Rain storms! OMG! the storm brought down a pretty large tree limb onto the fence at Abe's house. Jacks the schnauzer got out and he ran away! :( When we got there from bringing Abe home from the airport (he was in Jordan) there was a tree down crossing the road to the house and the street sign and the neighbors flag pole was down as well. I started yelling for the dog and about 20 minutes later some lady said she heard us yelling and thought she'd check it out...and here she came with Jacks on the leash!! I started crying because I would of been crushed if anything happened to him for the kids sake.

And Finally some pictures of my beautiful kiddies :)

2008-07-27T23:21:00.002-05:00

and the kids taking over my bed...

Our new Kitten, Hugs:

2008-07-27T23:19:00.002-05:00

Here's Hugs, our new kitten. The girls thought up of her name...really. So now we have Hugs and Kisses. So corny, but cute LOL. She has been nicknamed devil kitty by Mak as she picks on kisses, but really she's a great kitten for a kitten. I like cats better :)

and for perspective...Here's Hugs next to Kisses. Kisses is the big old fat Maine Coon :) I think that Hugs has coon in her too with the markings. We'll see when she grows up :)

Isn't Kisses huge? I have a picture of the girls holding her somewhere....

Here it is:

Mak says Kisses (the grown cat) isn't fat... what do you think?? ;)

Who wants to see the new Apartment?

2008-07-27T23:12:00.002-05:00

Well here it is anyways :P

Kitchen:

Living Room: (seriously ignore my social work paperwork all over the place)

Hall: furnace on first door on left, then mak's room, then girls room, hall closet straight ahead. Laundry area, bathroom and my door on the right.

Bath:

Mak's room: (trust me it's fuller now :P....and that's a knitted double headed snake wrapped around her loft bed LOL)

Hana and Amaya's room: (bookshelf is dumped out daily::sigh:: I can't get them to make the beds either...)

And my room:

Like my corny fairies above my bed? LOL That's my baby blanket over the end of my bed. I have two closets which make me happy...one for clothes, and one for my sewing supplies :D I'm an avid reader and why I have a full shelf! That pile next to the bookshelf of books..it's higher now as well as books on top in the basket! LOL :)

Each of the girls have decent closets and the rooms are larger here than at our home, so they have more room. They have settled in really well and so have I. The outside is not so pretty. Plain Yellow, old building, but well kept. There are four apts in my building. Two on bottom (one is ours) and two on top, which are only half the size of the bottom as they are single rooms, so the building looks kind of funny too... Ha :) But affordable and livable :)

I should of stayed in bed today...

2008-07-22T19:46:00.001-05:00

I really should of just stayed in bed. I really should have. What a miserable day! I even told the kids tonight when I got home I'm not cooking because with my luck I'd burn down the building! Heh.

I woke up my ear still hurts. I take my last antibiotic tonight. Augh! I have crap in my lungs and I sure as heck hope it doesn't turn to pneumonia.

My first client of the day had a melt down and in his fit managed to stomp on my hand. My pinkie and ring finger are red and swollen and stiff. Lucky it's not broken, but the Dr was surprised it wasn't. Naproxen...blah.

I missed my afternoon appt due to client being sick...so no hours there...

Then I stopped at the Good Will looking for a new book to read...I found a huge bag of legos for the girls for 1.98 and a few spiderman toys for clients as incentives...well I went to put the bag of legos into the trunk of my car and dropped my keys into the trunk and forgot until AFTER I closed the trunk. My mom had to come pick me up (she lives 1/2 hr away) take me to Abe's house, get the spare key and drive me back to my car! Augh :( Due to this I missed my last appt of the day. Augh.

Then I found out sad news about my friend's mom :*( My prayers and thoughts are with you Kristol!!

Long needed update

2008-07-19T22:32:00.001-05:00

Hello family and friends who check in on this family web blog... First you should know that Abe and I have separated and I moved out to a three bedroom, really nice, I believe apt in Tonganoxie with my girls. It's only about 2 or 3 miles from my mom's house, so I have family support near by.

I'm not going to post to the world what went down, but if you want sobs, snot, and the story give me an email :P~

The girls are doing well and adjusting to going back and forth with less defiance each time. Amaya is a bit emotional. I'm able to get Hana in for proper testing now and we have her PAD to do in a few weeks. Abe is currently in NYC awaiting a flight to take him to Paris and then onto Jordan for his brother's wedding. Abe and I have been able to play decent for the kids sake, and for that I am thankful.

Not much else going on really, lots of work to do, but I think I'm getting too sleepy to care about the possible work that needs to be done! Heh!

I have tons of pictures that I need to update and post on the blogs, so be sure to keep an eye out for those! xoxoxo to all my dear friends and family. I miss and love you all.

new pictures

2008-05-25T20:46:00.001-05:00

Amaya Funny

2008-05-22T22:21:00.000-05:00

Today my sister was at my mom's house and she was sitting in the recliner with her two pugs. My youngest, Amaya went over to my sister and said, "I'm jealous, can you hold me?" My sister, who doesn't have kids, nearly fell out of the chair laughing so hard.

I love kids! They keep life interesting with some great stories!!!

Poor girl had a 103.8 temp today and to find out she has another bought of Strep throat. Something is being passed back and forth. I'm going to call and request antibiotics for the other two kids and then for both dh and I. We need to stop passing this back and forth. It's getting crazy!!!!!

Wish me luck with that request tomorrow. Dr's are so stubborn when it comes to antibiotics. ::sigh:: I understand the reasoning...but come on...how many times or how long does my poor girl need to suffer. She's been sick nonstop nearly for months now!!!! augh :(

May 22, 2008

2008-05-22T22:18:00.002-05:00

My uncle who had a heart attack is doing well. He'll have to have another surgery though. He's home and doing well.

My aunt had chest pains and pressure and went to the hospital last night, they out ruled a heart attack. They are now doing further testing.

Dh's uncle who had a stroke and in a coma, is doing a bit better. He's still in a coma, but he's now breathing on his own and he was moved out of ICU.

Life is so depressing...

So...The Husband gets a new car...

2008-05-19T22:45:00.003-05:00

So I come home and nobody is here. Okay.... it was weird. Okay in general it was just down right freaky. The husband never goes anywhere just to go somewhere with all three kids on his own. He waits to drag me with him all over town. It's just his thing.

It's an alright car. It's white. Caddy I think. I drove it, it's a good drive I guess. It has weird round things on the back bumper and the seats need reprogramming because every time you get in and out they go back to the original position, which obviously would fit a freaking elephant in the drivers seat. I mean it must of been previously owned by a tall fat mafia man.

It just feels like a mafia car. That's "cah" to my New England friends and family ;)

Anyways the husband was telling me a story about the new car. This happened while I was at home in an eerily empty house. So Amaya is in the backseat, in her booster of course. She kept repeating over and over "I'm getting a massage!" "I'm getting a massage!" Of course the husband didn't know what she was talking about. When he got home he realized that she was talking about playing with the heated seat switch. Which of course, did her no benefit since she sits snuggly in her booster seat.

But of course it was cute and I had to come and share it here :)

School's almost out

2008-05-18T19:34:00.003-05:00

School's almost out and I think I'm going into shock!!!! :) Just kidding of course. The kids are excited to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Dale who'll be watching them while we are working this summer. Next summer Mak will be old enough, and hopefully confident enough to do some babysitting :)

The girls are getting so big and are looking fwd to summer, all except Hana who had yet another melt down about the change. she wants school to go on for ever, she said!

The cat took me three days to catch! Little stinker. She's cute though (see next post).

Well it was a long weekend and I have emails to catch up on. I'll write more later!

A few pictures

2008-05-18T19:28:00.002-05:00

This is the kitten I rescued out of my shed. It was sent to a no kill shelter and will be socialized and rehomed.

Here are all the kids from today's trip to the Legends, a mall in Bonner Springs, KS

Can you see the lady bug? I thought it was a cool shot!

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T11:41:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's day to all friends and family that have the awesome job of mothering! Speaking of mothering, I need to say congrats to my Aunt Ruby and Uncle Bill who got another baby from the state and will be adopting her! Until it's official I can't post her name or pictures! I'm so excited for them! So a very special Happy Mother's day to my dear Aunt Ruby!!!

I got to speak to Aunt Wendy yesterday, and that was awesome! I hadn't talked to her in awhile and glad that things are well.

Myself I got to sleep in, slightly, I couldn't seem to rest properly after 8 though. So I mostly tossed and turned. I got a pc for mother's day which translates as my gift for my birthday, valentine's day and mother's day. I need a pc for work and it's mine all mine! :) I actually can get connected to my work's network now. Now to hook up with a pc friendly person to teach me the ropes!!! I hate windows. Vista sucks. I have virtual vmware running xp. LOL!!!

Well my friends, again I hope you have a blessed day! I'm off to hang with my kiddo's who make my day all worth while!!

xoxo

It never stops

2008-04-27T21:21:00.002-05:00

Dh has been sick the last few weeks. Not sure what's going on. We need to get a liver scan to check on liver functions. He's gone from fainting to being dizzy and it's just frustrating not knowing what's going on.

Two dear friends of mine lost their babies over the last couple of weeks and it just breaks my heart :*(

My best friend lost her Grandmother and is so heartbroken and I'm worried about her.

My Uncle Paul had a heart attack and they put in a stent yesterday they had to air flight him to another hospital. He's doing okay.

Today dh found out that his Amo Mahmoud (his uncle) had a stroke and now is in a coma.

Everything is just so emotionally draining lately. :*(

Ponderings

2008-03-29T21:00:00.002-05:00

It was so hard to leave my current job today! I was really hoping that my supervisor would be there. ::sigh:: I figured she was off last weekend, so she'd be there this weekend. I really wanted to tell her in person that I got a new job and go over what I liked and didn't like with the company. It just makes the exit more personable. Kwim?

Anyways, I left her a short note, but I plan on writing to the director of the center that I worked at. I just think that some feedback would be nice if they are interested in retaining good workers. I was actually quite shocked when I told a lot of people today that I was going, how many of them themselves were looking for new jobs as well.

I mean it's a great place to work, but it had it's issues as well. I guess every job does. I loved what I did though. I enjoy working with people and even if it was on the phone, it was a good job.

I'm so excited to be getting back into social work. I really feel like a stranger to my kids because I'm gone at the hours with my current job. I look forward to the new hours! I'll be able to go in shortly after the kids get on the bus and I'll have more flexibility. I will be home in the evenings to help the kids with homework and have dinner with them as well as be with them all weekend. I feel like it'll be a much more family friendly job as well.

So far from what I've learned in the interview is that I'll be given three weeks vacation right off the bat. I'll have one sick day a month whether I'm sick, one of the kids or sick or if I need a mental break. I'll learn more when I meet with HR and the hiring manager on Monday. I'm pretty excited to get my feet back in the door of social work. And to work with kids! I'm so ecstatic!!

I'm really going to miss some of my coworkers at CMK though. There are some really great people there. ::sigh::

Well, I'm off to spend some time on the couch watching the tube, maybe sip some tea. I'm a little sleepy, but I think it's the zyrtec I took earlier. I think I need the kids dose. It works great, but I think the 10 mg is too much. (it's allergy meds). I think I'll get the 5mg and try that instead :)

I'll catch up with you all soon! Hugs and Love to you all my friends, and family!

Introducing: Kisses

2008-03-29T20:57:00.002-05:00

Here she is! The newest member of the family! She's so sweet and soft and social. She's still getting used to us, but so far she seems to be adapting well. The girls love her to pieces. Her name is Kisses, and it fits her sweet personality!! She mostly hangs out down stairs while we are upstairs, I think she's still getting used to the smells an sounds of the house. When she comes upstairs she likes to howl. LOL

Otherwise I think she's going to fit in just great!

Missed a pic:

2008-03-20T23:54:00.001-05:00

It's been awhile since we've gotten all five of us into the same picture:

Update! March 19, 2008

2008-03-20T23:47:00.003-05:00

Be sure to check out the new pictures below this post!! Lots of cute ones! :)

We've all been well and things have been pretty calm. We are done with winter and as the nice days come up we've been enjoying them as much as possible by getting outside to play or getting to the zoo!

Today we met up with Sandi, my sister, at the Topeka Zoo. Sandi is studing law at Washburn University (we are so proud of her!!). It was a beautiful day and the girls were so excited that Auntie Sandi was able to join us. As Sandi left towards her car after we reached ours, Amaya said, "I miss Auntie Sandi already!" It was so cute!

The zoo was crowded with lots of people, a lot more than usual, but I guess they were all done being cooped up as well.

I got a new job! I start on the 31st of March. I am so excited!!! I'll be a case manager working with emotionally handicap children. I'll have a caseload of 12-15 children. I can't wait to start! It's a great opportunity for me to get my feet back into social work and put my degree to work :)

Not much else is going on really, the kids are on spring break. Makayla spent a few days with her grandmother. She enjoys getting away from the younger ones every once in awhile. She also loves the one on one attention she can get from her Grandmother without the babies demanding so much attention. It's good for her :)

Well it's late and I've spent enough time on the computer tonight, so I'm headed to bed. Take care!

Family Pictures:

2008-03-20T23:42:00.002-05:00

A few flowers

2008-03-20T23:40:00.001-05:00

Animals at Topeka Zoo

2008-03-20T23:31:00.002-05:00

It Snowed....and snowed some more!

2008-02-06T18:24:00.001-06:00

Jacks wants to play!!!!

Jacks posing for the camera:

Here's Makayla and Amaya posing with Jacks this afternoon! Hana was smart and stayed warm inside!!!!

And what Hana was doing: Her DS of course!!!

and of course it wouldn't be complete without a silly face from the child:

And a picture uploaded from camera phone, my coworker Beth and I:

On the news front: snowed in! missed work. Abe worked from home, fortunately he can remote in to work and still do his work. The plows didn't come through our main roads until nearly 4 in the afternoon! Amaya has pink eye. Not good. The other girls have no symptoms, but I'll watch them closely! Pink eye just isn't fun to mess with. ::sigh:: Being snowed in hasn't been fun, just been browsing the web, watched the kids play in the snow, Mak shoveled the driveway for 10.00. :) I got my hospital bill from the surgery and my stay ::shudder:: Hmmm...maybe I should of kept that 10.00. LOL!!! I'm sick of tv, sick of sitting, sick of walking in circles. You don't appreciate work or just getting out until you are STUCK.

Okay, well I think I'm going to go to bed early. Yeah for me. :)

Feb 3, 2008

2008-02-03T20:30:00.000-06:00

Hey all, I hope this finds you well and healthy!

I am doing well, healing up great! I feel great and it's such a nice feeling that I'll no longer have pain and debilitating cycles! I'm going on 4 weeks of healing. I have my last follow up in two weeks. I've been back to work and I'm doing okay, although my ten hour days are a bit much, making me tired all the time, I'm sure of the fatigue from lost of blood. It can take awhile to catch up there. I'm taking my vitamins and taking it easy and on my days off resting/sleeping lots to give my body the rest it needs!

The girls are doing well. They brought home all A's last month on their report cards. I'm so proud of them! No real news on the kid front...Still haven't found a way to keep them little forever! LOL

I do have a Makayla funny... She was watching some politics on tv with my mother. They were talking about the caucus's in New Hampshire and Makayla turned and asked my mom, "What does a carcass of an animal have to do with voting?" I guess you had to be there :)

Well I'm off... Got two in the bathtub and another that needs to shower. I'll update more later!

New pictures

2008-01-27T16:04:00.001-06:00

Here are our new rats: Angelina (tan and white) and Alice (just tan):

Here's Makayla playing her DS:

Amaya and Hana in matching fleece hoodies:

And Amaya in the car:

Dale and Hana and the Dog:

Diagnosis: Adenomyosis

2008-01-16T16:06:00.000-06:00

This is the best site to read about it:

Adenomyosis

The article is right on key, only it was written in 2002 and adenomyosis can actually occur in any age. It's hereditary according to my doctor.

They didn't find any fibroids which was surprising since my mom and most of her sisters had that problem. No other problems or cancer. yeah!

Jan 14, 2008

2008-01-14T17:58:00.001-06:00

Well it's been almost two weeks since having my surgery and I'm feeling really good for the most part :)

I had my surgery on Jan 2. I lost a lot of blood during the surgery, but my hemoglobin was high enough that I did not need a blood transfusion. My Dr. didn't find any endometriosis and the scar tissue from my cesarean sections was not bad at all and therefore she was able to continue the surgery as a vaginal with lapro assist. This means the world when it comes to healing! No abdominal incision minus the three very little cuts for the lapro equipment. When I was waking up from the surgery one of the nurses was trying to attach my pain medication and my vein collapsed. Due to the blood loss she had a hard time re-establishing another IV. I had people working on two different sides of me trying to find a vein, and here I am waking up feeling like I got run over by a dump truck and no pain medication yet. Feeling the pain made me panic and I puked. Fortunately I was able to tell them I was going to puke before it happened! They were very passionate and apologetic about the IV (the first nurse did it wrong with some sort of twist of tape). Once I got admitted and brought to my room I was finally able to see Abe. He was there only for a few minutes, but we planned it that way so that the girls wouldn't be too worried while I was in the hospital.

I had a really restless night waking up every 20 minutes or so and of course they were in there every hour or two for vitals. I also had to get my blood drawn a lot to make sure my hemo was still good.

The next morning I was able to walk around a bit. The pain meds they gave me orally made me puke, and of course I was a little dizzy and out of it from the morphine drip all night. I don't know how people can function on that crap. ::shudder:: I managed to keep the three bites of breakfast down and I ate grill cheese and pears at lunch and therefore was allowed home!

I've been taking it easy since being home and no more puking, but because I've been behaving I'm healing up really nicely. It's so true when they tell you take it easy the first six weeks or it's going to be a miserable six months. I have very little pain and the majority of my complaints are due to fatigue which is due to having surgery in general and of course the blood loss. I'm having a hard time sleeping well at night and I'm going to ask my doctor for temporary relief for that when I go to my appt.

As far as what was going on with my uterus, I'll find out wed. Doctor suspects adenomyosis or fibroids. Either way I'm already experiencing huge relief. I no longer have my lower back pain and my hips no longer feel like they are splitting. No cramps is already lovely and the thought of no more horrific cycles wants me to break out in cartwheels :)

So there's my update...

The kids are all doing well. Makayla is totally preteen and that's a bit scary. Hana is doing well with reading and is a funny kid. Amaya is testing her attitude a bit more each day. She's figured out how to tell stories and that's a bit annoying, but otherwise all is good. Jacks the pup is doing well too.

I go back to work on Saturday as long as my doctor says all is a go :) I think I'm ready. I'm going a bit stir crazy. At least work is easy going :)

And The Update:

2007-12-30T15:59:00.000-06:00

Only THREE more days until surgery! whoop! Not that I'm looking forward to it or anything...On one hand I am, on the other I'm freaked out, but hey, that's life in general, right?

Below you can see the pictures of the kids on Christmas. They all made out like bandits, we had a nice dinner at mom's although the rest of the day turned quite interesting. The kids were well behaved and enjoyed all their gifts. I was very impressed with how well Hana did considering all the people in and out.

Everyone around me as been ill and by some odd miracle I have been spared any illness thus far aside a minor ear infection that required antibiotics. :) I'm hoping the antibiotics for that is fending off anything else that people around me are harboring. I need to stay healthy!

I started my new shift at work and I'm not sure about this whole ten hour day thing. It's only two more hours than I normally would be there, and it does save me a day of commuting and gas, but I think I'll need to give my body time to adjust to the chaos of such a change. I get out at 9:30 and the kids are sleeping when I get in. It makes me sad, but at the same time I get an extra day with them, and still the mornings :D

I'm thinking about getting another degree. Either teaching or pharmacy. I'm not sure which direction I want to go. But nonetheless, I'm aiming for something different. If I go through the pharmacy school then my work will cover it and I can move up in the company that way. It wouldn't be so bad and I have job security. On the other hand working school hours would be optimal for family life.. work while kids are in school, home otherwise.

Anyways not much else going on. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends and I wish you a safe and happy new year!

Just Because Schnauzer's are the BESTEST!!

2007-12-30T15:55:00.000-06:00

How can you not love something so cute?!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

2007-12-30T15:50:00.001-06:00

Okay, a little late, but here's some of our family pics of the day:

So there, ya go!!

Happy Birthday Hana

2007-12-22T12:43:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl!!!

And some more pictures from the party:

Hana had a great little party. We had Gram and Grampa over and Lisa, Catherine and Clark joined us. The kids enjoyed pizza, cake and ice cream. Lots of fun with Kerplunk and bubbles and ponies!

Happy Birthday Hana girl! Mama and Dada love you!!!

Pictures...Who wanted Pictures?!

2007-12-20T21:50:00.000-06:00

The girls were being silly while waiting in line for cookies after the concert

Here's Makayla after the concert with her flowers from Auntie Sandi

Here's Makayla proudly showing off her new ear piercings! She was so brave and no tears! We had to redo them do to bad reaction with regular studs.

Here's Amaya with Aunti Sandi! I love the look on Amaya's face! hahaha!

And here's Hana, being silly in front of the camera...as always! Silly Girl!

Yup, still married... Haven't posted a picture of the husband in a while, so here's his special spot in the spotlight ;)

Per Bridget's Request: An update:

2007-12-14T12:10:00.000-06:00

Let's see, it's been awhile... First off those who are already near and dear to me know that I'm facing surgery on Jan 2. I'm finally going in to have a hysterectomy. It was a really hard choice for me, if I could I'd have babies until I'm 80. Unfortunately I have suffered horrible cycles and my problems were probably the cause of the miscarriages I've had as well. After a lot of thought, I've finally decided to take the plunge after a failed ablation and d and c back in Feb. Life will be okay and will move on. I'm confident in my doctors and the decision, which has not come lightly.

Last night I lead a meeting for La Leche League on weaning. I hate talking about weaning. But if we did another meeting on nutrition we may all seem to avoid the topic altogether. I can't even remember when my last baby weaned...somewhere after three. I can't even remember the last time she nursed. In the end totally bittersweet.

Not much has been going on really. The girls all brought home straight A's in school! Makayla is doing excellent in her Talented and Gifted class and can already pump out a couple of songs on her guitar. She's truly amazing and talented :) Hana is doing good and her endocrinologist appt went okay. No thyroid problems now, but she is high risk since Graves disease runs in the family (my mom). We'll continue to test once a year for her levels. She's been doing a bit better lately, but the poor girl has the worse dry skin no matter how much we lather her up :( She has it on her face this year :( We've cut out dairy and I'm not sure what else to do for her. Amaya is doing well, she loves Kindergarten! She's so independent but still my baby. She's still lugging around Purple, her blankey. She asked for a new blanket for Christmas...so we'll see what happens. I found her a really pretty pink plushy soft one. It may never replace Purple though. Ha!

The husband: doing well. Still working hard at ACS and he gets to work from home when needed which is really nice when the kids are sick or if the weather is bad. That is until the ice storm made the cable go out and he couldn't parallel into work. Then he gets to drive in after all! HAHA. At least the internet is up and running again. I don't know how people get on in life without it! Not much else about him really, except that he's addicted to tv. With my luck he'll think he'll need a third Master's Degree and head back to college.

Speaking of college... not sure what I want to do, but I've been thinking about getting a certification in teaching. I've already got a BA so I don't have to do too much schooling to get there, but I'm thinking about it pretty seriously. I think it'd be an optimal job for raising a family... working while they are in school, home otherwise.

Hmmm... nothing else to say, so how about some pictures?

quick updates

2007-10-06T20:14:00.000-05:00

Ouch. my back hurts. I slipped on a dvd and slammed my shoulder blade into a door jam. I want the pain to go away :(

Amaya has taken off on her bike without the training wheels! she's doing awesome!! Hana just started to get the hang of it tonight and with a few more days she's going to be a whiz at it too!!! way to go girls!

Makayla is doing well with clarinet and guitar lessons this year! I think that music is going to be a great addition to her classes.

We are all well and here and all is good.

Told you this was just a quick update. LOL :)

2007-09-07T20:00:00.000-05:00

Here's the girls first day of school.

Updates: The girls are doing excellent in school and they love it! Makayla starts band next week. We went and got her music book and I got a new mouth piece for the clarinet and some reeds and few other things. That was a pretty penny. heh. At least it was better than paying for the full instrument. LOL. She'll be using the same clarinet that I learned on. That's pretty cool :) She's really excited. Her music teacher may be doing piano or guitar lessons before school. If she excepts Makayla, we'll let her choose one of those as well. I think that she'll benefit a lot from music lessons. She does wonderful with the piano already and that was self taught. Makayla just finished reading White Fang and scored a 90 on the test. That book is leveled at 8th graders!

Hana is doing well. Still ornery as all get out. She is reading and writing really well. She loves school and enjoys going. Her hand writing is absolutely atrocious. Just like her father's. ha! She's addicted to animal crossing and she's still having troubles with settling down to sleep. She's a complete ham. A funny funny girl and she brightens my day all day long.

Amaya is growing up quickly. She is loving school all day long, however it's really showing how tiring it is. She tends to be tired and mopey after school until it's bed time. If we go in the car after school she is quick to fall asleep. She mentions that she sometimes gets sleepy in her afternoon specials. She's adjusting really well though.

That's it for an update for now. I'm wiped out and think I'm going to go to bed early tonight. or try anyways. Love to our family and friends,

The fam.

Still Around

2007-08-20T07:23:00.000-05:00

I'm still around :) I'm still enjoying the new job very much! I'm out of training now and officially on the floor. Time seems to fly while I'm there, which I'm sure will slow down as the novelty of the new job wears off. The people are great and friendly and I only have to worry about myself which is marvelous :)

The girls are doing wonderful. They are now in school. It started last week. I have new pictures to post, which I'll try to do later on after work.

I have a full morning, part of which fixing one of the toilets in the house. I guess I'm quite the handy man :P~ The bus gets here shortly, so I need to get the kids off and then shopping. Yeah. :P~

Exhausted

2007-07-09T20:36:00.000-05:00

I'm so exhausted. I got more than enough sleep last night, but yet I'm completely worn out. I'm so tired I can't see straight. I can't go to sleep yet because Hana is still awake and still crying and upset about being sent to bed. They've been bouncing off the wall since I've gotten home and I've told all of them to calm down and to stop wrestling and to stop screaming on the top of their lungs at least a million times. So finally I sent them to bed for not listening.

One one hand I feel like I'm being unreasonable. On the other hand they need to know I'm serious and I feel that I've given them reasonable warnings and chances to fix their behavior. ::sigh:: Where's that parenting manual?! Who ever borrowed it better hurry up and return it!

I managed to get the kitchen mopped. I feel like it's a huge accomplishment. Abe did the living room floor. At least two rooms look somewhat decent even if the rest of the house looks like it's falling apart. Ha! Actually it's not so bad. Mak and the girls cleaned up their rooms. It's all good :)

Well I suppose I should go and talk to Hana yet again. How Amaya is actually sleeping in there is beyond me. ::sigh:: Deep healing breaths.

me.

My Beautiful Girls

2007-07-07T17:15:00.000-05:00

and here's my sister, Sandi

Pictures of the Wedding

2007-07-07T17:12:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Dale and Mom! May you have many blessed years together! I'm very happy for you both! Love you!!!!

Don't they look just marvelous?!!!!

Wedding Day!

2007-07-07T08:06:00.000-05:00

Today Mom is getting married to Dale!!!
Heading up soon to help out, the wedding is at 11.

Congrats Dale and Mom!!!!

Just another update

2007-07-02T22:32:00.000-05:00

Just another update around here.

1. Hana realized that parents and grandparents do not have eyes in the back of the head. She come to this realization after pulling my hair this way and that for several minutes and before asking her what she was up to.

2. I have one five year old ready for kindergarten, going to school full time next fall and she really should be turning fifteen or something with the attitude on that girl! She's been really testing lately. ::sigh:: I still love her though :)

I've been working crazy mad but enjoying my job tons. I love my trainer. She's so cool! I've got a class of about 13 of us. It's all good and dandy. She gave me a really awesome compliment on my report card last week saying that I'd make a great supervisor. I'm pretty excited about the recognization. I really hope to excel at this job. Tomorrow we have our first full day on the floor on the phones. It's really not that bad, but my gosh, I'm nervous. I only have to account for myself and that's all that matters. I just want to take care of myself right now. Walmart sucked on so many different levels.

So my mom is getting married this weekend. I think Dale is pretty cool so I'm happy for her. I think they'll be good for each other. I'm really excited about taking the photo's of the wedding. I'm going to put together a photo album of the event for them as their gift :)

I'm thinking about putting my hair into dreads. Okay, it was just a thought. I just might though...

I've got so many silly appts to set up and soon. ::sigh:: I can't even get my kids to appts because of my hours right now . I'm not even sure when my real hours start fafter training. ::sigh:: I have to get Amaya in for her last round of shots, and I need to get in to do a follow up with my gyn about my surgery. I also need to get Hana in for her dnx. Hana needs her appt the most. Poor girl. I don't even know what to think about her anymore. 100 percent Aspie with a large dash of OCD. I wont even tell you how many times she's washed her hands today. And then I will avoid telling you how many times she's brushed her teeth. Not good. :( I'm trying to get her into her pedi first so that I can get a recommendation into a proper doctor for her issues.

not much else going on around here. I'm ready for the kids to be back in school though! I think they need the structure of the day to keep them sane and nice to each other. They really havne't been that bad though :) I'm pretty lucky, through it all I do have awesome kids ;)

Ready for an Update?

2007-06-24T19:16:00.000-05:00

Gosh, it's been awhile. It's been really crazy around here. My job situation became hostile...It's been crazy and wild and I'm finally able to announce that I have left walmart. yeah!!

I'm now working as a customer care representative for a well known pharmaceutical company. Upon hire and afterwards talking I think I want to get onto the behavioral analytics part of the company. The pay is awesome! The benefits are superb! I was able to sneak in by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I was recommended and went in for an interview and they hired me pretty much the same day. The best thing of my new job is that it covers up to 5,000 in education reimbursements, so I can go ahead and get another degree or build on the one I already hold. I'm pretty psyched about that in itself. The medications that I now pay 150/tri-month for will now only be 30! :D Any generics that I get will be free. Of course my regular medication has to be all name brand because they don't make generics for it yet.... ::sigh:: ha.

The stinky thing is that the hours kind of suck. Right now I'm working 8-5 mon through Fri. Those are perfect normal working hours for most people. They are alright. But it's only for training. I have about 6 more weeks of training to go through. Once training is complete I'll be doing the hours of 11:30-8. I'll totally miss dinner with my family and will be getting home as the girls are getting ready for bed. I'm really sad about that, but every six months there are schedule rotations and I hope to get more of a 10-6 or a 9-5 ish schedule. That way I can still get them on the bus in the morning and be home more at night with them as well. But until then we still don't have to do daycare and they are still with one of their parents. So it's going to be all good. Right now my mom is watching them at her house for the summer and has agreed to on school vacations as well. That's a huge help and I don't have to worry about them in a daycare situation. My mom is awesome and has been so helpful and calming during this transition.

I think it'll be a good change overall.

The saddest was saying goodbye to c and c, the little ones I babysat for. I miss them terribly and I have a picture of them at my desk along with my kiddies. I love those kids and it's so sad hearing my kiddies ask if it's a C day. :( I miss them lots :*(

Hey B, I saw you driving into the meadows. I must of been behind you for miles. heh. Rush hour and then backstreet driving. I waved, but didn't think you'd care, so I just kept on driving. Perhaps we'll commute again sometime.

Update on the girls: They are doing really well. Hana took a bit to adjust, but she's doing really well now. Makayla loves going to my mom's so it's all good and dandy for her. Amaya cries when I leave to go to work, but she did that before the job change too, so I guess she's going with the flow.

Not much else on the news front. Some day I'll spill out the miserable life of my past job, but I've been in a really good mood for the last week, decided not to show up for my second week of my 2 week notice and had a good weekend with the fam. I'm rested and ready to dive into next week. yeah :)

Updated Girls Pictures

2007-05-31T20:52:00.000-05:00

Here they are in Karate uniforms:

And here they are just being cute:

Karate

2007-05-17T12:16:00.000-05:00

Karate Update!

The girls love the classes!! Makayla has gone to two classes now and she has a lot of improvement! She's got her stance down and her instructor says she's very athletic and is going to be great if she sticks it through.

Some of the things he teaches in Mak's class is confidence. He shows them how to walk with their heads held up, how to speak up, etc. I can see a great improvement in her self esteem already. I really think that she needed this! She loves to excel at everything she does and to see her fully use her mind and body is awesome! And she can hold the bent knee stance the entire class!! That's so hard! I was practicing at home with her and it was hard!!! I'm thinking I may join if I ever get to working normal schedules!

The babies have their second lesson tonight. They too seem to be enjoying it a lot. They are excited they get to wear their uniforms tonight. I took pics of Mak yesterday, so I'll take some of the babies tonight and share when I get them loaded :)

Hana's Recital

2007-05-10T21:36:00.000-05:00

Here's Hana! You'll never see her in a pair of jeans again! LOL

Here's Hana's Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Johnson.

Hana's art work is to the left of her. It's rainbow fish! :D

and a movie:

Hana's in the red shirt. Watch the red head behind her...she's so naughty! LOL :)

Last Treatment

2007-05-04T01:43:00.001-05:00

Buttefly is now bye-bye!!! yeah!!!!

River Market

2007-05-04T01:40:00.000-05:00

Pretty Girls

2007-05-04T01:38:00.000-05:00

Worst.Appointment.Ever.

2007-05-04T01:24:00.001-05:00

I had to take Amaya and Hana to the eye dr appt this afternoon. I don't even think I can comprehend what happened still. Hana absolutely freaked out on me :( She remembered the bright picture machine and the air machine. She threw a temper tantrum that included screaming on the top of her lungs. She went into over stimulation mode so fast that I wasn't even ready for it. She's been able to control herself so well with these years of therapy that I totally didn't expect it from her :( I hadn't had to confine her in so long I forgot how and she managed to head butt me in the face and I've got a nice fat lip to prove it. She also managed to kick, bite, hit, pinch and all that 10 times over before I had her securely :*( It blew me away so much I was in tears, I had a receptionist screaming at me to take her to another room because she was upsetting other patients. I lost it and broke down and cried while trying to hold her while she's fighting, nearly strangling her the way she was wriggling so we could get to a private room.

She wouldn't even do the rest of the exams and they only managed to get a half look at her and then went with what they said last time. She can wait another year for glasses. She needs them now. I know she needs them now. Her regular doctor refused to see her like that and they sent in a lady doctor who was nice and all that, but it was an insult. She went through three different technicians trying to get her to calm down. Then they were telling me to reschedule and they didn't understand why I wouldn't do that. It would mean it's fresh in her mind and the tantrums would be ten times worse because she knew she got her way this time.

She managed to hit and scratch and kick the doctor. I've never been so embarrassed in my life. And I feel ashamed to feel that because I know it's not her fault. I know it's her aspergers making her obsess about the damn machines and freaking her out. Even with promising her that she didn't need to do the puff of air or the high flash picture, she wouldn't calm down :(

But what made this extra hard for me is that it absolutely freaked Amaya out and she would hardly do any of the tests either. I know one thing for sure they are never having a double eye appt like that again. So I have two kids who need glasses and that didn't get a prescription because they wouldn't calm down enough to get proper measurements. So they get to go another year of hell.

There's got to be an easier way to measure eye sight than the "adult" performances they expect them to do. They put glasses on infants, how do they measure them without them having to tell them pictures or letters?!

I was ready to scream for sedation for my child and that is so unlike me. I felt so weak and out of control and that totally broke me down. I sometimes think I have it under control and then something like this happens and I feel that I'm not cut out to do this. I know others feel this way with all aspects of parenting, but I just don't think I can handle this today.

Now I have to take Amaya to the school for her kindergarten screening. Thankgoodness Abe is home now. He had an interview earlier and I can't even comprehend enough to ask how it went.

::sigh:: :***(

Quick Update

2007-05-04T01:22:00.000-05:00

Amaya lost her fever finally and went to school today! yeah :) She was sick with a fever since friday afternoon. We have some tests we still need to get back from the doctor. she had her kindergarten screening and did awesome. She has some fine motor skills they are going to watch her on (including how to hold a pencil), but she blew them away with all the words she's learned to read at home :) She has to get a chickenpox booster before she can start school. Since she did get the first one, I'm going to go ahead and get her the second one. If last minute or last minute research (anyone know the scoop here???) I'll just sign off on the exemption forms :P~

Dh had his interview today with Genesis 10. (www.genesis10.com) They are basically scouts for larger companies and they have a banking institution that is interested in dh for IT security. Genesis10 will pay him for the first 90 days and he'll work as a temp to hire for the company. Genesis10 will be paying dh a significant amount more than what he gets paid now. Once he's hired onto the company as a permanent employee he can negotiate his pay and genesis10 is saying he's worth twice what he's making now. I really want this to happen so I can quit walmart and focus on getting my MA and staying home with the kids and family or finding a better job. Either way it'll be good for us and the kids. We'll know if dh gets the job once the banking company interviews him. We are unsure of that date. Otherwise he'll continue to work where he is and if Genesis10 gets notice of another opening and keep interviewing, etc until he's hired as a temp with them and then permanently with a company. But he wont be originally hired until a company takes him as a temp.

Got my car back. We are talking to a lawyer about the coverage we were supposed to receive on the car to get that taken care of.

Hana was in a better mood, lost a tooth, freaked out because she accidentally threw it in the garbage. When she was eating her meatball at dinner she thought she bit into something hard and so she spit the whole mouthful into the garbage. Later on she realized it was indeed her tooth. So she drew a picture for the tooth faerie. Which reminds me... I should go and do tooth faerie duty. heh.

Promise, Updates and pictures soon

2007-04-23T08:20:00.001-05:00

I've been busy crazy and haven't even gotten around to uploading pictures to the computer. I have a months worth of pictures on my camera. ::sigh:: I'll have a nice long update soon too :)

Silly Hana

2007-04-23T08:17:00.000-05:00

Hana was hanging off my mom and they were talking. My mom pulled out of her purse her chap stick and was putting it on.

Hana says: What's that?

Gram says: Carmex

Hana says: I use beeswax for my dry lips (burt bee's)

Later when mom goes to go home and asks for a kiss from Hana, Hana says: No kisses until you get that carwax off your face!

Animal Pictures! Omaha Zoo

2007-03-28T23:39:00.000-05:00

Omaha Zoo 2007

2007-03-28T23:37:00.000-05:00

Pretty Flowers

2007-03-28T23:34:00.000-05:00

All are from the Omaha Zoo except the last, which are the flowers blooming on our plum tree :D Spring is here!

My Girl, Karen and I

2007-03-14T21:15:00.000-05:00

Here's my girl, Karen. She's my baby's mama!! She's having a boy!! I'll post sonogram pictures as well. Her baby's dada is iffy and so I'm the baby's daddy :P~ I'm so excited! Boy do I have stories to tell about this one. heh. I have a boot camp picture of her that I'll share later. I get to be at the birth!!! I'm so excited. What a special event!!! Her sister is also pregnant and due about a week ahead of her. Her sister's having a girl!

A quick funny story... In electronics we had Ice Abe going on one of the tv's. And she said, "oooh! I love that part!!!" and I said, "huh?" The part passed and she said, "the part when the dildo's were jumping off the cliff." I said, "what?!" And she repeats herself like thirty times until I figure out she's talking about the DODO birds. ::sigh::

Anyways, yeah, she keeps life interesting :)

Here's Lilly

2007-03-14T21:14:00.001-05:00

Jacks got a haircut!

2007-03-14T21:13:00.000-05:00

He's so cute! He actually looks like a schnauzer now! Poor puppy didn't like the bow AT ALL. That came off relatively quickly! LMAO :)

My day off...

2007-02-28T23:58:00.001-06:00

It's my day off and why am I not in bed at a normal time?

It's storming here. I hate storms. I really do. So much so that it sends my anxiety through the roof.

It was a really nice day today and we took the kids to have a picnic dinner at the park and then to play. We left the park just as the first drops of rain fell and the first rolls of thunder boomed. The sky was gorgeous though and I really wish I brought my camera! The land is so flat here you can see gorgeous thunderheads when storms roll in. Pretty blue skys on one side and the thunderhead had pink skies behind it and the clouds were so white on top and so dark on the bottom.

Anyways... it's still storming. The last time I checked the news there was chance of hail, though we didn't get any and I don't think I will get any. There's lots of funnel clouds and I think they said six confirmed tornado sightings in two of the major cells of the storm. Blah. They were no where near us, and hopefully everyone who was in the path of them in MO and south eastern KS are safe and okay.

So to work out my anxieties I cleaned the living room including taking the couches apart and moved to get all lost toys, pens, coins, etc. I rolled up the floor carpet and again picked up misc small toys, cards, etc. I swept the floors and reswept after putting the rug back down. I then clean the kitchen top to bottom, including mopping the floors. I'm currently waiting for them to dry so I can move the chairs and high chair (use it for the little guy I sit for still) back into the kitchen. I've already started on the girls room and if the storm continues to roll then I guess that room will be finished and I'll have to clean the main bath. I'll have absolutely nothing to do tomorrow, which also happens to be another day off :)

The girls are camped out down stairs in the family room, as they feel safe down there during storms so we make it a camp out fun time! Sleeping bags and the works :) Whatever works :)

Dora Talking Kitchen's Are Evil

2007-02-28T12:04:00.000-06:00

So last Saturday I had to leave work early because Makayla was having breathing difficulties and neb treatments at home wasn't cutting it. So we went into the urgent care at children's mercy and got her taken care of. Of course we got there about 7:30 and it was standing room only and we didn't get out of there until after 2. ::sigh::

She's okay and got some new meds and we were on our way.

We both crashed into bed. I had some pain from my surgery so I popped a pain pill before sleeping hoping to put the cramps away so that I could rest easier. About an hour later I woke up groggy from little sleep and dopey from the pain pill. I hear a low voice talking in spanish. I don't hear well so I couldn't make it out, but I picked up the rhythm of the language rather quickly. I got scared! I thought someone had broke into the house and was now in the girls room talking to them in spanish. I straining hard to listen as I took 5 years of Spanish between HS and college. I grabbed the closest thing I could pitch, a shoe that was at the end of my bed.

I went to their door and I pushed it open with my finger and of course it creeked really loud and then the voice sounded again! It freaked me out, I dropped the shoe, but managed to still be brave enough to throw the light. No one in the room except sleeping kids and the Dora Talking Kitchen that was dying in batteries and going off at random times. Didn't sound like Dora at all!! My poor heart.

LOL

Update on us all :)

2007-02-21T23:40:00.000-06:00

Me first! It's been one week since my surgery. I'm feeling much better and the mild cramping is not as often and I can deal with them with just advil now. It's just a wait and see game now. I'm really optimistic that the surgery will make things a lot easier on me :)

Work is blah, but there. I think I'm definitely going to move on from wal-mart once the kids are in school full time next year. I think it's time to get back into social work one way or the other. We'll see what happens.

Abe is doing well. He works hard still holds it altogether. He's been great and supportive in his own quiet way. I don't think he wants to talk about it because it'll upset me or perhaps it bothers him more than he's letting on. Just not sure.

We got our new dryer delivered today! yeah!!! It now only takes 30 minutes to dry a load of clothes instead of the two hours it was taking with our other machine. I bet we see a huge improvement in our electrical bill in a months time! haha! I also got our taxes done today. yeah!

While I was recovering from surgery the girls all had parent teacher conferences and Abe went to those. They are all doing wonderful in school :) Makayla received state awards for her state testing in mathematics and reading. She tests really well. She Aced another quarter in her studies. She also joined the math team and will be one of the students representing her school in a math test against other schools in the area at the end of March. She's really excited about participating in that.

Hana is also doing well in school. She's reading beautifully and all the children like her in the class. She is still my spunky girl and her latest quirk was over one of her big girl teeth. She thought it was loose and it wasn't but it completely upset her into uncontrollable melt down :( Makayla was able to calm her down and she got over it but still wont talk about it :( :(

Amaya is doing well in school too. She's learning her phone number and address and in so many ways still the baby. She's growing tall and just turned 5 on the 11th. She's still carrying around the purple blanky and still sucking on her finger upside down :P~ She loves school though and looks forward to going every day!

Jacks is doing good! He's such a good pet. He loved the snow and now is enjoying more of his day outside now that it's nicer out. He listens really well and has been a great addition to the family!

I have more pictures to share, but I'm on dh's computer instead of mine where they are all stored, so it'll be in a day or two before I'll be able to upload them!

Birthday Party Galore!

2007-02-18T00:33:00.000-06:00

Who says you have to celebrate one birthday at a time?! It's s much more fun to bang a few out the same day! :D

Today we sang happy birthday to C, the little man I babysit, turning the great big ONE! Happy Birthday little guy! We also sang Happy Birthday to my great big FIVE year old Amaya and my tallest and ever smart girl Makayla who will be ringing in at TEN years old the end of this month! :)

We had a small party, which I prefer, especially after all the chaos of surgery this week! They all made out like bandits with some pretty cool presents :) We had cake and ice cream cake and good company.

My baby is TEN! My first little young-un turns TEN this month!!! I feel old. I'm not even sure if I can remember TEN years ago! Well maybe if I think about it... yeah, there was colic... I remember that. The endless nights of screaming and uncontrolling sobs...The day we realized that dairy needed to be removed from her diet was an answer to our new parent nightmare! I say all this with love, of course. Makayla is our pride and joy and she helped me through college to work harder for her and our future together. She continues to be very independent and spunky, but so sweet and sincere. She's the bestest big kid a ma could ask for :D

And Amaya!!! Amaya girl, mama needs you to stop growing!!! You are my baby baby and you got to stay my little girl forever! It's not fair that our babies have to grow up so quickly! I'm not ready to let you go from toddler hood to big girlhood! Next year you'll be off to school all day long and you'll be going without looking back! ::sigh::

Okay, girls. Happy Birthday! Momma Loves you both. And you too Hana :) Mama loves you too :)

Makayla's birthday Graphic

2007-02-16T17:39:00.000-06:00

Here's Makayla's birthday greeting :)

Trudy and Thurley

2007-02-16T17:11:00.000-06:00

I got this back about two months after I sent it out. Enclosed is my girls Christmas picture. I sent this to Thurley, who was more endearing to me as Mim or Mimi growing up. Now she's just another person. She's no longer my Mim or my mimi.

Years ago, and I mean a couple of years ago my step sister Trudy and I was in a discussion. We were talking about another sister of ours, Melody or Melanie, whom I have never met. I don't know the whole story behind Mel. I'm not sure who her mother is. I don't know what her last name is. I just know that like Trudy, Billy, Joey she is another 1/2 sib. Anyways after my father died it came to my knowledge that I have another half brother. Ervin is my half brother. It's all great and dandy. I knew Ervin all my life. He was my cousin. My aunt Pricilla's, my mom's sister's, son. I love Auntie Pricilla and I always enjoyed Ervin as my cousin. Just because I found out that Ervin is also my brother never bothered me. If anything I wanted to talk to him as a brother, know his as a brother, but growing up as cousins, may prevent that from happening. We were never close as cousins anyways.

But in my discussion with Trudy I told her there's also Ervin as our half brother. She refused to believe it. I said that's fine and dandy, but it's true. I told her it doesn't change how I feel about Daddy.

I loved my father very much. He gave me the best in life. He put me through college, he bought me my first car. He was always around while I was growing up. He had his issues. He was an alcoholic for one and perhaps that's why we have extra sibs. I don't know. I don't know the whole story behind my father's life. Because I'm the "sensitive" one. No one ever told me anything. Whatever. It's all good and dandy. I have my memories of Dad. The majority of them are wonderful memories of riding on his motorcycle with him, him teaching me how to drive, and how very proud he was of me finishing school, something he never did himself.

Anyways Thurley was my dad's first wife. I don't know how long they were together. I really don't care. He later married my mother. And they were married my entire life through thick and thin they survived. I was raised to love my mim and I was just as excited as going to see mim as I was to go see anyone else in my family. Mim always said we were good to her when we didn't need to be. It's true, but our feelings were not pulled out of thin air. I did love mim like a grandma.

Anyways Trudy decided that I was lying and that all of my mother's family on her side was lying about Ervin. He was definitely not daddy's child. I told her to believe what she wants. She said I was slinging Daddy's name through the mud now that he was dead. I said whether daddy was alive or not, Ervin was our brother and it didn't make Daddy a bad person. That it didn't change my opinion or memories of Daddy.

Trudy then went into "you are no longer my sister, family or blood" thing. Whatever. Her loss. I never liked Trudy. Trudy was the most abusive person I knew. She was emotionally battering. If she could jab her finger into me any harder and twist at any opportunity she did. Mind you Trudy is older than my mother... so she really should know better... right? She used to make fun of me as an overweight child. She would jab and jab and jab. So you can see why I never really liked her. But whether or not I liked her I did love her because she was after all my sister. I respected her all that time because she was family. I used to go to art classes with Trudy and even though I was quite artistic on my own, she would paint over my shoulder onto my work and she would even jab there when she could. I started to despise art at that time of my life.

Anyways Trudy is Trudy. She's just Trudy. She's a stuck up snot, always thinks she's better than everyone else and that's forever how I'll remember her. So she thinks that I slung daddy's name through the mud. Whatever.

I love you, Daddy. And I'm publishing this to the world. Daddy, you're forever in my heart and I love you for everything you were. The bad with the good. I know that you are proud of me and loved me very much. You have three very gorgeous grandbabies that I know you are looking down from heaven with happy tears and always keeping an eye on. I know that you'd be very proud to know that each one of your grand daughters are smart and doing so well in school. Makayla is a straight A student and is in the talented and gifted program. She just received awards from the state of Kansas for her exceptional testing in math and reading. You'd be so proud of her only in the fourth grade reading at sixth grade level and doing eighth grade level math! You'd be so proud of Hana who is well loved and enjoyed by all the kids in her class. How proud you'd be of her of how well she's learning how to read. I know you'd kid around with her about the two of you "gumming" your food as she's missing her two top front teeth. You'd tell her that she'd be no use to you with no teeth to chew your food. LOL. And you'd be so proud of your baby girl, Amaya. She's doing great in school, but still quite the baby as well. She'd always give you a laugh and smile being the baby girl. I know you'd be proud of me and full of love for me and my girls, Because that's how you were.

So Trudy and Thurley: You can take the truth and do what you want. You can say all you want but my daddy knows how much I love him. No matter where he went wrong in his life, he knows that I have true acceptance for him and all his doings and I have forgiveness for him completely. And I know that Daddy loves me and is proud of me.

So you want to live on in life in misery, hold onto grudges, sling my name in the mud, go for it. You are only making yourself look miserable. Enjoy life. I've learned to let go. You can learn some great lessons still from my father. You just need to learn to open your hearts up first.

Your loss in knowing my girls, daddy's granddaughters. They are the best. So smart and beautiful and everything Daddy would love about them. They'll know Daddy for who he is truly. The bestest Grandpa, even though he can't be here to hold them or to watch them through their childhood, he'll forever be in their hearts.

So grow up already ladies. Get over yourselves, and put your negative energies into something more worthwhile.

Some new pictures of the girls

2007-02-16T17:08:00.000-06:00

Post-Endometrial Ablation

2007-02-15T10:00:00.000-06:00

So yesterday was the big day and I think it went relatively well :) I'll post out the whole story for those who are waiting to go in for theirs so they have a good understanding of what goes on :)

I woke up way too early yesterday. It was nerves. Showered and shaved and was squeaky clean. Wore loose baggy clothing like I was told to do.

I bummed around with the kids most of the morning, my mom showed up, she was babysitting.

My husband took me to the hospital and was promptly bored. I had two hours of prep time before the surgery. The surgery was a little over an hour and then an hour in recovery phase 1 and then I was moved to recovery phase 2 where dh was waiting again.

In preps they took blood and urine. They test to make sure you are not anemic or pregnant. I saw my doctor and two different anesthesiologists. I met my nurse who would be caring for me when I came out of the surgery.

They started my IV about an hour before surgery. About 1/2 hr from surgery they gave me a long acting (8 hr) pain med. Then before they wheeled me into OR they gave me something to make me sleepy and relaxed. It made me really dopey and set me into a fit of giggles. They put the oxygen mask on me mixed with gas and told me to take some nice deep breaths and before I knew it I was out.

They performed a hysteroscopy, a D and C, and the free flowing Heated thermal ablation.

I woke up an hour and 20 minutes later. The worse feeling through the whole thing was the super super dry mouth, sore throat from the tube that saved your air way. I couldn't talk. But when I woke up I definitely wasn't expecting the amount of pain that I actually was in :*( I signed "pain" over my belly and thank goodness the nurse knew the sign . She got me some good injections but was honest and told me that they probably wouldn't do much for the cramping. She was right, they only got turned down a notch. She became my best friend right away when she started spooning me ice chips. Ahhh! relief! but they were obviously not spooned fast enough! heh. This hour they took blood pressure and temp and watched the monitors. Also gave me several doses of morphine and intervals. After an hour they moved me to phase two. Dh was waiting for me and it was good to see him :)

They brought in pepsi and grahm crackers. I had choices though but thought the soda would help with the dryness faster...but it doesn't. It just burned and tasted gross. The crackers are miserably dry for the already dry throat. So in the end I asked for more ice water, lots of ice. At this point they offered me a percocet and I took it. After that kicked in (about 20 minutes) I told them I was ready to go. I got dressed and it was all good. They wheeled me to the car.

As soon as I got home, the nausea caught up with me and I vomited. I went and laid down and dh woke me up about 30 minutes later for some soup. This settled nicely in my belly and I went back to sleep. He woke me up a couple hours later to take deep breaths and cough (important particularly for me as I have severe asthma). He gave me another pain pill and I slept for the night.

Through it all though, the pain never got higher than an 8 out of 10. But I fear pain, so keep that in mind while I talk about it.

The bleeding was minimal. After surgery I soaked maybe a 1/3 of the huge pad. Once I was moved to phase 2 the pad was only spotted. I got a new pad before leaving and I wore that one all night. Again it was only spotted. It was mostly a light apple juice in color and spotted with blood.

I woke up this morning and I feel really good I'm starving but I don't want to over do it. So I'm trying to decide on what I want to eat. I feel really good. I have mild cramps. My throat is very sore though. I'm scared of trying another throat drop (un-medicated) though because I think that's what set me off into my vomiting fit last night.

I'm taking it easy through monday, when I'm due to go back to work.

So far I'll say it's been worth it if I can see an improvement to my monthlies. I'll keep you all updated, but for now I'm going back to bed because I had an awesome doctor that told my husband I need all the rest I can get through the weekend :) :)

Happy Birthday Amaya

2007-02-11T10:25:00.002-06:00

Five years ago Today...

2007-02-11T10:25:00.001-06:00

Five Years ago I gave birth to my baby girl Amaya! Amaya was a scheduled c-section for valentines day, but because I was having asthma problems they called me the day before the 11th five years ago to tell me that they had an opening and to go on in! I arrived to the hospital before 7 and they prepped me. By 9 I was in the O.R. My doctor was a little late, but at 9:40 ish they pulled out a baby girl who had a thumb in her mouth that they had to pull out to get her to cry and who then proceeded to pee down my doctors arm! I got an announcement that "the bladder work, it's a girl, and she likes her thumb!" They held her up for a bit longer to get her crying better as she was slow to start. The nurse brought her around to show me and then over to the warmer.

She was my tiniest baby by far. She weighed in at 6 lbs 14oz and before leaving the hospital dropped to 5 lbs 15 oz. Despite the weight loss, they never pushed supplementation with her at all. It seemed like they finally got it :)

By quarter past I was in recovery and less than an hour from her birth I was able to nurse her. Shortly after I got her into my arms they ushered in my husband and Makayla and Hana and they got to meet their baby sister! :)

Amaya nursed like a pro from day one. I never got engorged or sore. It was by far the easiest of my nursing relationships.

Anyways that's when she graced my life and she's been a doll since. She's the most easiest going kid who feels the need to be dramatic only once in a while.

She loves puppies and kittie, Dora and LPS. She's my big girl now!

Silly Squirrels go back into hibernation!

2007-01-29T12:11:00.001-06:00

Aren't they supposed to be in hibernation or something?!

I just had the worse scare! I'm home alone right now, the girls are at school, dh is at work. I'm reading here and minding my own business. There was a huge clatter against my French doors in the kitchen. I thought someone was breaking in. So after I jumped out of my chair (in the living room) and holding my breath, grabbing my phone to investigate with 911 already typed in, just holding it to hit send if someone was indeed out there...

I have long drapes covering the doors right now to keep the drafts out during the winter and as I pulled it back a freaking squirrel bolted in front of it. OMG!!! In complete panic mode at that point I hit 911 and it dialed. And I'm nearly hyperventilating and could hardly talk to the operator. I felt like a complete idiot telling her I thought someone was breaking into my home, but it was just a squirrel and that I'm sorry.

All because there are two squirrels chasing each other madly around my deck that they knocked over the shovel that was leaning against the wall and it hit the step ladder (where we were fixing an eave this weekend) bounced off the ladder and hit the doors....

I think I may need a new heart now. :#/

The girls are so funny

2007-01-26T12:33:00.000-06:00

Amaya came home from school saying that a little boy named Dominic kissed her today. I asked why did he kiss you? She replied that she didn't know but was all giggly and shy about it.

Later on at the dinner table and I told Amaya to tell Daddy what happened in school today. She proudly told him of her first kiss (noooo!!!!!). Hana speaks up, puts her hand on her hip and sighs loudly exclaiming that she doesn't want kisses from boys. I asked her why not? She replied because they all eat pork.

hehe :)

Crazy Co-worker, Crazy Friend

2007-01-24T08:27:00.000-06:00

I've got a friend I met at work, whoa, imagine that... Friends at work! Her name is Karen and she works in the connection center...for those of you untechie suave, that would be the cell phone place!

Behind the connection center we have a row of tv's in the main aisle of store on an islander. Because we are so boring, we play ice age over and over on those t.v.'s. Karen gets really over excited very easily. When I mean over excited, I mean hyper over excited. Did I mention she talks loud? I'm not sure if she's normally loud, but I definitely can hear her, so she's got to be somewhat loud :P~ There's a scene in ice age where there's a swarm of dodo birds. Those dodo birds do antics and tricks and it just tickles Karen to pieces. I wasn't sure what she was laughing at so I said, "Karen? what are you giggling at?" She replies, "Those dildo's...blah blah blah." I look where she's pointing, the scene has past and I have no idea what she's talking about for real now. She, the over excited person that she is, keeps explaining what's going on. I finally stop her and said, "Karen, do you know what a dildo is?" She replies, "yeah, those little bobby bouncy birds on ice age." I said, "do you mean dodo birds? Because ya know a dildo is a little electronic device that girls get off on." Silly girl.

But I'll love her anyways. why? Because she thinks that I'm 24, 25. Not the miserable 31 I'm turning in less than a week! :D

No, she's cool, really :) She's in the army, she's tough and got an attitude big time. She's amusing in a dark headed barbie way. She's preggers with her first baby and I get to go to the ultrasound with her! I'm so excited!!! :)

I've changed her mind about bf'ing too! she's going to try! yeah :) I'm dragging her to my LLL meetings!

A few kid shots

2007-01-18T22:12:00.000-06:00

Ibrahim's Family

2007-01-18T22:11:00.000-06:00

Here is my husband, Ibrahim holding our daughter Hana. Yes she was being ornery. Next is dh's father holding Amaya and then Ibrahim's sister, Lana, next to Makayla.

Sleeping Beauty

2007-01-18T22:10:00.000-06:00

My obsession

2007-01-18T22:09:00.000-06:00

Animal crossing!!! What a goofy obsession! I love this game! it's awesome! I love my DS!!! :)

Here's my character in front of her house with a snowman she built :)

Turkish coffee

2007-01-18T22:07:00.000-06:00

It's common to have lots of grounds left in Turkish coffee. These are pictures that were left in the cups that I had recently. Interesting...

A profile of a mom holding up or kissing a baby, also in profile.

here is a woman in the grounds. Maybe crying? :

Obsession

2007-01-18T22:06:00.000-06:00

My kids have an obsession: Biggest Littlest Pet Shop stuff. here is evidence:

And this pile just belongs to one of them....

Pretty Stream

2007-01-18T22:05:00.000-06:00

the same stream in grey scale:

The Va-Jay-Jay Tree

2007-01-18T22:04:00.000-06:00

We saw this at the park the other day and just had to take a picture! LMAO!!!!

Drugs are your Friend

2007-01-17T23:31:00.000-06:00

Especially when you've had a migraine from hell for the last two days. I finally puked and I think that helped. Mak has been home sick yesterday and today. I hope she's feeling better tomorrow too. I've been feeling so miserable myself I haven't even mentioned the fact that she's been sick too. I've been loving on her despite the fact and I guess I want some sympathy for myself.

Someday, I promise I'll get those new pictures up! I have lots to share and post about!

Night for now,

Only one more Hell cycle to go through...

2007-01-11T08:28:00.000-06:00

I've only got one more hell cycle to go through! yeah me. I'm just about over a hell cycle right now. One of the worse. I went through 2.5 boxes of tampons and a bag of pads and I'm not even done with my cycle yet! :( I was mildly surprised that I had such a bad cycle even being on the hormone therapy. I guess I'm glad I didn't even try another round of hormone therapy to control my cycles. This helps to confirm I really need the surgery.

My DnC and endometrial ablation happens Feb 14th! I've got one more hell cycle that lands just before the surgery, which is good, as they should have the surgery at the end of the cycle so my lining will be at it's thinnest. Hopefully it'll show up on time, if not, it really doesn't matter because of the hormone therapy my lining isn't as thick as it normally is and I'm getting a DnC first anyhow. I'm not too happy about the day it falls on, but it lands on a wednesday and if I plan on taking only three days off of work, that gives me five days of healing. There's no real restrictions with the procedures, so it'll be more than plenty.

I'm looking forward to normal/light cycles. Although it's not promised, there's a great possibility it rids my cycle all together. I'd love for that to happen! :P~ If this doesn't work, and there's a chance that could happen as well, we'll be talking about a hysterectomy. Either way my chances of having another baby will be completely nullified and this breaks my heart to know even though dh is fixed. I'd love to have another baby but that definitely will not be happening after this. I guess there's some serious grieving that comes along with it.

But in the end: "here's to health!" I know that the quality of my life will greatly improve with the surgery and that's all that really matters in the end.

Well daycare kiddies are here and I have a meeting to get to! busy busy!

Jacks Update

2007-01-11T08:25:00.000-06:00

Since some where asking about my doggy and I just did a huge update on him at one of my forums at random, decided to copy and post it here:

I need to call at the end of this month to get an appt, hopefully for Feb to get Jacks fixed. If I go through the humane society it's only 60 bucks to get the little man fixed. If I go through my vet, she wants 200 bucks! : / There's something wrong there....

My mom's vet is a bit further away and she only charges 90, so if I can't get him in with the humane society, he'll be getting a new vet in general, starting with the loss of his manhood :P~

Jacks is such a good boy! I'm so very glad I decided on him. When I went I was reluctant to choose one of the puppies with how very scared they were acting with the breeder. Then I felt bad for it and figured I could give it a whirl and if it didn't work out with my family I'd give him to my mom who lives up on tons of acreage in Togonoxie...farmland Kansas. LMAO :) She has a huge fenced in yard and they have one outdoor dog and two indoor. The outdoor is her partners and has always been outdoors.

Anyways it was never needed. He warmed up to us slowly and now you can't separate him from us. We are his herd and he makes sure we know it. He's very sad when the kids go to school. He mopes around the house and whines. He's worried about them. When they get home he runs around and barks and wags his stub of a tail and kisses them :) He's only had the two accidents in the house, is kennel trained, and is learning commands: eat, kennel, out, walk, sit, lay down being the ones he's doing well with.

I gave him his first hair cut by me last weekend. It looked like I had a second dog on my kitchen floor! LMAO!!!! I obviously need practice with the clippers, but I'm hoping to trim him every other or every two weeks so it'll not be as long as 4 months growth and it'll be easier and I can straighten it up :) I left his beard though. He's not a schnauzer without his beard LMAO :)

There you have it... a doggy update! I'll post new pictures of him soon! I have lots of pictures I need to update with. I've been a slacker. Been sick, so I have a ligit excuse, but I do feel like a slacker anyways.

So Christmas Came and Went...

2007-01-08T15:06:00.000-06:00

Wow! It's been awhile since I updated. It's been crazy around here, mostly with the sickies.

The inlaws finally arrived and we had a good visit. They are now staying with the BIL who lives a few 'urbs over. We had Christmas at my mother's house and my sister cooked and it was delish. My sister and I were sick and Amaya was sick too.

Come Xmas night I was very sick and Amaya woke up 2 hours after she went to bed, screaming. A fever later we were on our way to children's mercy. We got there about 10:30 xmas night. We didn't get in the back to see a doctor until nearly 5:30 in the morning. We didn't leave until after 8am! She was diagnosed with influenza, double ear infections, the starts of a sinus infection and pink eye. Poor girl. 50 bucks later we left the pharmacy and we spent the good part of the day in bed.

Now it's today and Amaya was on a second round of antibiotics and she just took the last dose this morning. She's acting good but she still has a lingering cough. She had a chest x ray last week at the pedi's office and it came back clear and the small worry about asthma wasn't found. yeah for extended breastfeeding! We have to go back if she still is coughing in a few days...

I went to see the dr a few days ago and I'm on antibiotics for bronchitis and I feel like death warmed over. I feel them kicking in though, so I know I'll be better at most in a week. Blah. All this time sick, tired, weak, and miserable. blah blah blah. I want to cry. I'm done with it!!! It's mostly fatigue and the weight on my chest. At least it's not contagious and the girls will stay healthy and I'll be alright in the long run.

Not much else going on. I wish there was some excitement to our dull ill world, but nope. I think I'm going to go lay down with the kiddies and stick in a video :)

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-23T00:52:00.000-06:00

Crazy... Bad Luck... It can't get worse...

2006-12-23T00:41:00.000-06:00

Wow. Just wow.

I ordered my FIL and my mother really nice bound photo books for their holiday gifts. I spent a lot of time selecting photo's, uploading the, doing the page layouts and phrases, quotes, etc. Well that was back in November... I got 1/2 my order in... the small memory books, which are wallet sized pictures I got for aunts and uncles and close friends and family. They said the photo books were on delay. A few days later I got a email confirmation that they were shipped. They never arrived at the store though. I called the photo place at least 5 times and they kept reassuring me that they were shipped. Finally I just got a refund at the store because when the mgr called they had the nerve to tell him that my order number didn't exist!!! I'm so pissed.

So that was strike one.

After leaving with a refund we had to go hunting for new gifts. The kids were hungry and because micky d's were having the littlest petshop pets in their happy meals we headed there (the kids collect them). The door between the play place and the dining room is heavy and Amaya went through it, the door swung back pushed her to the ground and then wedged her head between the door fram and the door! She got a scrape down one leg, a swollen knee, bruises on her head where the door slammed on it and a bloody nose. Poor girl was a mess! We ended up filling out an incident report.

So that was strike two.

Oh, before we went to Mc'D's Dh and I stopped at the Japanese resteraunt to get us some sushi... and they forgot about us!!! I waited and waited for our order for carry out and I finally left. : /

So maybe that was strike two and poor Amaya was strike Three.

But no that wasn't it... It just kept going down hill from there. At the mall (still on the hunt for gifts) Amaya lost her gloves. The new gloves daddy just bought her and of course that set her off big time. Major melt down :( Not good.

And of course I had to work. It was one miserable customer after the next. I'm stressed and agitated.

To top off the day... my stomach ulcer decided to flare hard because of all my stress :( Not good. I'm not happy at all. I need to call my dr and get some strong meds going. blah.

And guess what it still doesn't end there!!!! Yesterday, last night at 10 we were supposed to be at the air port to pick up FIL, SIL and BIL. Well their plane arrived in chicago and thier connecting flight to Kansas City was cancelled!!! They were put into a hotel and were fed and thankgoodness we have family in chicago. They are with them right now. The next flight to Kansas City isn't available until Sunday! Xmas eve! Supposedly they'll be here about 8pm. I get off at 6, hopefully out of work at about 7, otherwise dh is going to have to drop the kids off at my mothers to go get them. Then it's crazy xmas day. Then I work tues and then off wed and thursday.

It's going to be hectic for sure : /

I'm probably not going to sign on again until after xmas. So all of you out there, thanks for listening to me vent, and I'll see ya in a few days.

My silly Blue Eye'd monster!

2006-12-23T00:39:00.000-06:00

My silly silly blue eyed and blue tongued monster!!!!

Happy Birthday Hana!!

2006-12-21T00:27:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday My beautiful six year old!!!

Hana's quilt for xmas

2006-12-16T13:44:00.000-06:00

Pictures from the park today

2006-12-16T13:42:00.000-06:00

Finally Done

2006-12-14T19:24:00.000-06:00

Wrapping... my goodness...what a crazy mess!

It feels good to have everything done and just let the holiday happen now. When ever it's ready to show up! hee.

I finally got my schedule date for LLL. I'll be having my surgery Feb. 14th. What a great date, huh? :/ I'll take what I get though. I'm very excited about having a date and an end to miserable cycles.

Dh's family arrives on the 22cd. They'll be staying with us for the week.

I've got tons of new pictures to upload so keep an eye out for them :)

My Little Man

2006-12-01T09:55:00.000-06:00

Okay, not mine really, but the Little Man I sit :) Isn't he so adorable??