A quiet, decent, scrappy day.

Wow. I actually got two scrapbook pages done for a circle journal I'm doing with my grandmother. (If you are reading this Maw don't go check my sb.com gallery or your surprise will be ruined!!) It's been a pretty quiet day. I really haven't had to fuss at Alexis much which is a relief. I hate having to fuss at her. I feel like that's all I do sometimes! Brandon is in his swing watching the dog itch in her kennel. Hey if it keeps him occupied! He's on a no nap kick today. So he's getting cranky. Hopefully the monotony of the swing and staring at the dog will knock him out.

OMG last night I about died laughing. You have to check out this blog http://bbroadwater.blogspot.com/ about nocturnal knock knock jokes. I just had to tell them to my DH and I was crying laughing. He said "This is the kind of thing that makes me wonder why I married you." Hehehehe. Then he cracked up laughing. Poor man. He has no idea how in trouble he is. A lifetime with me. Jeez. I'm glad I'm not him. =0)

Oh here's a super cute picture of my son. IMO humble opinion...

Now for the (DRUM ROLL PLEASE) Journalling prompt of the day... Do you play an instrument? How did you learn it? Is it useful? How proficient are you?

Hmm well... In 3rd grade everybody HAD to take music class and HAD to play an instrument. Music to me feels like math. With lots of numbers. 1/4 notes 8 beats. Phooey. I hate math. So I really didn't care what instrument I played. (My vote was for drums but for some reason my parents vetoed that really fast. I wonder why?) So my parents figured out that the cheapest instrument to buy was the clarinet, and since I wasn't really interested they didn't want to spend a ton of $$$. So a clarinet it was. It took me FOREVER to figure out how to put it together. (Still not sure I did it right to this day.) I got it together in the classroom and then was instructed to wet the reed which had something to do with sticking it in your mouth and soaking it with spit. Ewww! It reminded me of the tongue depressor thing at the Dr's. So not appetizing. The music teacher was Dr. Himel. I find it rather ironic that he had a doctorate and was teaching whole bunch of moronic 3rd graders to play music but Hey to each his own right? He had a huge bushy beard with hair to match. He kind of reminded me of the guys that they always get to play Zeus on the cheesy movies. And he did not like me. Which was fine with me because I didn't like him either. I wasn't coordinated enough to get my fingers on the right buttons and blow at the right moments. You could pretty much say I blew at blowing on the clarinet. Hehe. Oh well. This guy thought he was conducting a symphony and half of us didn't cut it. Needless to say in fourth grade when we got to choose our elective I did NOT stay with music. I did end up joining the choir in High School because I LOVE to sing. I ended up singing solos and duets (Several with my partner in crime Lisa) at a bunch concerts. At the first concert where I had to sing by myself I was so grateful that I wore a long skirt because my knees were shaking SO HARD I was sure I'd have been laughed at hilariously. I thought it was pretty funny myself later. You can see on the tape my dress moving slightly. It was nothing compared to what was going on underneath it. =0) After being such a prominent singer in High School (My one claim to fame.) I've been relegated to rousing renditions of the Backyardagins and Wonderpets theme songs. I have a extensive repertoire of Disney songs as well. Oh well at least the kids like them!

I've got a talking butt too...

Well not really. Remember a couple of entries back I posted about Jordan's talking butt? Well. Today was my lovely 3 mos. checkup after having the baby. My wonderful in-laws came up to the house to watch the girls so I could escape with only 1 kid at the appointment with me. Brandon and I get to the Dr. and I go around the back to get the stroller only to realize... It's in the other car! Great. I have to hold a 15 lb. monster on my chest on top of being forced to have a pap test. Ick. We go in and sit for a minute and this totally rude chick just STARES at my son. Ok start a conversation, ask me how old he is, but quit looking at him like he's edible! Seriously. Thank goodness my Dr's office is quick. We go to the back and I tell the nurse I forgot his stroller and they very happily volunteer to hold the baby for me. So far so good. I change and they come back in with the baby and hand him back to me. He's sitting on my chest and the Dr. comes in and doesn't say anything until... you guessed it... he sits down between my legs... and says "Hi Mrs. Landry, How are you today?" I just about die trying not to laugh because all of the sudden I have a mental picture of my rear end talking to him and saying "Just fine doc, and you?" I mean come on look at my face when you talk to me! My butt doesn't answer. Oh and he had put me on birth control but it made my milk dry up. I tell him this while he's doing the lovely breast examination. And he giggles and says "It's kind of hard to imagine your breast milk drying up." (I am rather um well endowed.) Then he recovers and very professionally says "Of course it doesn't have any thing to do with breast size." Umm ok.

But my daughter's butt does answer questions. Yep her butt is still talking and it says yes to every question you ask it. "Jordan, What does your butt say about going outside?" "Yes." "Jordan, What does your butt say about taking a nap?" "Yes." Apparently her butt is much more agreeable than she is. =0)

Okay now I know you've only been reading that to get to the journalling question of the day... So here goes....

What is your favorite kind of comfort food? Do you enjoy cooking? What is your favorite thing to cook?

Not fair to ask this question on a day I'm dieting. Phooey. Okay my favorite comfort food is mashed potatoes with country gravy, not pretend mashed potatoes. Real ones with cream, and real butter, salt and pepper. Yum! And homemade gravy made from a roux. Yum! I don't mind cooking. I don't really love it. DH loves my cooking thankfully though. I know I used to make a lot fancier food for him. Homemade cookies and bread and all kinds of stuff. He jokes that once we got married I quit cooking. NOT SO! =0) Just soon after. Hehe. One of my favorite cooking disasters of mine is the time I tried to cook Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Everything came out beautifully. The mashed potatoes, peas, stuffing, etc. It was time to take the turkey out of the oven and I was too nervous to carve it b/c I'd never carved one before and had no clue what I was doing so I let my mother-in-law do it. Well she starts carving with the electric carving knife and I see something white. Really white. Not white meat. Umm what's that? She stops cutting and we discover that I left a bag in the turkey. I had known there was a bag in the turkey and I pulled it out. Well apparently sometimes turkeys have TWO bags according to my mother in law. Great! My lovely, sweet, supportive Ronnie died laughing. Rolling on the floor almost hurting himself laughing. Have you noticed there's a theme to this blog? People laughing at me maybe? =0)

P.S. We ate the turkey anyway and it was awesome. Apparently leaving the bag in makes it extra tasty. You should try it! LOL

It's never a calm day around here.

EVER! Last night Jordan was eating her dinner. I was eating mine and chatting with her and the rest of the family when all of the sudden she started choking. Ronnie hit her on the back like he usually does when she does that and nothing happened. She was starting to turn red and was gasping for air. I ran over unbuckled her booster seat and had to do the Heimlich maneuver! She spit out a huge piece of bread on the floor. OMG! I was so upset so I'm hugging her tight and telling her it's okay and she says.... "Put my down Momma. I want to walk." Crazy kid! I'm trying to make sure she's alright and she wants down. Ok HOW ABOUT A THANK YOU?! Or I'm ok Mom. Anything but "put my down". LOL

Such is life I guess. I'm just glad she's ok. This morning I went on my first run on the program that's supposed to have me running a 5k within 2 mos. Ugh. It actually wasn't that bad. The hardest part was trying to keep Jordan in the stroller. She so didn't want to be in that thing! She did find it hilarious when I started running and various things (both in the stroller and out) started jiggling. Jordan and Brandon were in the stroller and Alexis was walking/jogging with me. Alexis was not impressed! I thought she'd be glad to be outside but she mostly whined and fussed about having to run. Seriously I'm old and out of shape and she's young and energetic but she whined the entire time. I wanna go home. It's hot. I'm tired. My shoulders hurt (This while pointing at her sides). I don't think she's invited next time I go. But the plus side is that she seems to be in a better mood and isn't as hyper. So maybe on second thought I'll make her go. LOL

I decided to start doing my journalling prompts on here. So here's today's... Feel free to join me if you want to and comment to tell me if you did it and I'll visit your blog and comment.

Do you consider yourself a good driver? How is your driving record?

Oh ick. Okay... I'm probably not the best driver. I'm one of those distracted people you're probably cursing at when you drive behind them. I've been in 3 wrecks and 1 almost wreck. And I backed my truck into a fence once, and an SUV into a ditch. LOL Jeez. That sounds so bad! When you add it all up. And there's the one ticket where I was going 97 in a 55. ( I wanted to see how fast the car would go. It was on an open road. I got in BIG trouble when I got home.) They EVEN TOOK MY LICENSE UNTIL I PAID THE TICKET!! I will add that all of these instances except the almost wreck happened before I had children. Maybe having children makes you a better driver. Anyway for your entertainment I'll describe backing my SUV into a ditch. =0) It was late one night and a friend and I were planning to go out. No I wasn't drinking! My Mom had parked her car in an awkward position and I was trying to back up out of the driveway with a ditch directly behind me. I thought I had it clear until I put it in drive and started to go and then didn't. Instead I slid back. Into the ditch. Headlights pointing to the sky! And at this point my best friend (Thank You Lisa!) is dying laughing. She's always so helpful! We tried EVERYTHING to get that stupid SUV out of the ditch. Including my brother sitting and jumping on the hood while I pressed the gas. (Yes I know not smart!) But nothing worked so finally I had to call a tow truck to pull it out. Full of mud and all nasty. The tow truck driver was rolling laughing too. Hey can I help it? I'm a blond! Hehe.

The Bones

Since my daughters internal clock is set to Barney time I've been up since the crack of dawn this morning. Barney comes on at 6 and that child wakes up every morning at 5:52 on the dot. Can someone explain to her what summer vacation means!

Yesterday was really wild. Bringing Alexis with us to therapy is NOT an ideal situation and it really doesn't help that she's not on her meds. REALLY! She was jumping on the furniture. She flat out told me NO when I told her to sit down. It was awful. Then the worst thing happened when we were fixing to leave. Jordan was sitting in a chair and Alexis was harassing her. Just getting in her face and talking really loudly and Jordan reached out to push her out of her face and Alexis moved. Jordan lost her balance and fell hard right on her nose. Her nose was bleeding and she was screaming and Alexis just laughed and laughed. I was so upset. Jordan is ok. Her nose is a bit bruised but she's doing well today. So I called the psychiatrist's office to tell them that she is acting bizarrely and HE'S NOT EVEN IN TOWN! AND HAS NO BACK UP DR. SET UP. Great. They told me to take her to the ER but the emergency room doesn't handle mental illnesses. Lovely! So we have to stick this out until the 2nd. OMG.

I've been doing some journalling lately. Not just the kind on LO's but writing in a journal. One of the journalling prompts got me thinking about one of the scariest things that happened to me as a child. I was convinced my parents killed someone.

I was around 8 or 9 years old when I went out to the shed to switch out laundry. My Mom said, "Don't look in that box in the shed." "The cardboard one by the door." "If you do you'll be punished." Well I was 8 years old and that was like engraving me an invitation that said LOOK INSIDE THE BOX! So I listened for the first few times I was out there but after a while the curiosity was killing me so I peeked and OMG there was a HUMAN SKULL in there! And other bones. HOLY CRAP. So here I am freaking out. OMG there's a dead persons bones in my shed. How did he get here? What happened? OMG OMG What if my parents killed him? And are hiding the body? I mean how else would they have bones in here? Should I call the cops? Oh my God!

That night I must've been the most well behaved child anyone's ever seen because I was terrified that they were killers! I just knew I was next! After all, I got fussed at alot and just KNEW I was a pain in the butt. I wondered how they were going to do it and decided I wasn't ready to die. I was too young. (Ok I was a bit of a drama queen.) To this day I remember how hard my heart raced and how scared I was. After about a week of being terrified I decided that if they hadn't killed me by then they must've wanted me around and I admitted that I looked in the box.

My Mom, an emergency technician (EMT) paramedic explained that the bones were for teaching purposes. She taught other people classes on how to be an EMT and do CPR and stuff like that. They had come from a body that someone had donated to science for that purpose. I don't think I was punished for disobeying. I think she thought me working myself up over it was punishment enough. The bones were moved after that. LOL

Isn't that a crazy memory!? I just had to write it down for my kids to have to know I didn't always listen as a child either. =0)

Hugs,
Heather

A nice surprise.

This weekend was really nice! Friday Ronnie's parents and sister came over and we all went out for lunch at the Olive Garden (which I love). Ronnie never takes me there b/c he doesn't like Italian food. Crazy man. He was at work and was mad at us for going out without him. LOL He "wanted free lunch too". Then after that we went to Chuck E Cheese which of course thrilled the girls. Brandon had a giant poop while we were there. So bad I had to change his clothes and wipe him down from head to toe with wipes. Thank goodness I'm the prepared type and had 30 wipes in the box and an extra set of clothes. Grossness! On the way home my van made a noise and then the check engine light came on. It never fails! Something always is up.

Then on Saturday we dropped off the van (thanking goodness that we had the new car that fit all of the kids seats) and we set out to drive to Ronnie's sisters for bbq and to let the kids visit with their grandparents. Five minutes after we got there the phone rang. It was the dealership and our van was fixed. So we headed back to pick it up. The grandparents watched the two girls and we took Brandon and switched out cars and headed back to eat COLD bbq. But it was still good and visiting was nice. We ate fruit salad and Alexis complained about eating blueberries because she "didn't like them". We insisted that she eat at least one and then she discovered that she liked them. On the way home she informed me that the blueberries were in her belly "right here" while poking herself in the belly and telling me that her belly hurt. Umm I don't think it's the blueberries. It's the other junk you ate. Then Jordan chimed in to tell me that she had "bellybuttons in her ears". I must be going crazy because it only took me a second to figure out that she meant that she had holes in her ears like the hole in her bellybutton. Kids!

On Sunday Ronnie went out to cut the grass and then came in and told me to get a change of clothes for everyone that we were going to have a surprise. So I packed some clothes and some towels b/c I had a sneaking suspicion that we were going to the beach because Jordan has never been and keeps asking to go. Well I was right. We drove down to Bay St. Louis for a bit and let the kids play in the sand and the water. They had a blast! It was such a sweet surprise to get away for a bit. I get tired of being cooped up in the house.

This morning we've already been to hippotherapy (horse riding) for Jordan. Alexis is on Mach 10 hyper! She's bouncing off of the walls and is so disrespectful. And the new kicker... Whenever I tell her no to anything she punches herself in the head. So not cool. So I call the Dr's office and he's out of town until the 2nd and there's no alternate Dr. Fabulous. I'm really worried about her. This is just awful.

On a funny note... My DH is a huge Dale Jr fan and his announcement that he's moving to Hendrick Motorsports has him all riled up. Especially since he loves using the sponsors of the NASCAR drivers he likes. (No he doesn't drink Budweiser. LOL He never drinks.) All of the other sponsors though. Like Gatorade and Oreos. Etc. Well there are talks about Jr. being sponsored by Pepsi. And DH hates Pepsi. So Alexis and I have been teasing him that he'll have to drink Pepsi. All of the sudden Alexis says... I know we'll call Daddy's new car Pepsi. (All of our cars need nicknames.) DH hates it but it stuck. So Pepsi his Jeep is! LOL Poor man. He doesn't have a chance!

Hugs,

Heather

TOOT!, Favorites, and Animals

First off I got some pretty doggone awesome news this morning. My scrapbook page was selected to go in the Basic Grey Gallery! Those of you who are fellow scrappers know how awesome this is! You can check out the link to it here. http://www.basicgrey.com/catalog/idea_gallery_info.php?idea_gallery_id=21311I'm a Basic Grey "designer". How awesome is that! It just rolls off of the tongue. Now I have to top this LO with another one. I'm working on one now about my childhood. Which is always a very difficult subject to me. But hey you scrap the good, the bad, and the ugly if you ask me. So being put in the gallery is called getting a TOOT for my non-scrapping buddies. (Yes I have buddies who don't scrap. Imagine that!)

Alexis is still off of her meds. She is so hyper she's beside herself and she's also being really really sassy. She actually has been cursing and talking back. We were having such a calm, nice summer. Jeez. It's only day two and I'm wondering how we are going to make it two weeks without meds. Seriously. She's so loud she keeps waking Brandon up and he's not getting enough sleep so he keeps screaming hysterically. Ugh!

I have been really upset lately with Ronnie's sister. She has a favorite out of all of my kids and isn't even shy about it. She takes Alexis everywhere and buys her things and does nothing for Jordan. Jordan is 3 and is big enough and well behaved enough to go places but she never invites her along or asks for Jordan to go in lieu of Alexis. This really upsets me because my step-father's family did the same thing to me. The other day she came and got Alexis brought her to the store and bought her a dress up outfit and then bought her ice cream on the way home. They walked in the door and she said well I guess you'd better save some ice cream for Jordan. It was all melted and nasty. It really upset me. Plus she hadn't gotten Jordan anything from the store. I wasn't upset about Brandon b/c he's too little to understand but I'm sure Jordan did. I don't know what to say because she is my babysitter. She's the one I rely on when things are insane, but how to tell her she's hurting Jordan's feelings? DH is upset about it too. This has been an ongoing situation that only seems to be getting worse.

Animals... Well Jordan has another new idea. Apparently we are all animals. (Some of us are acting more like animals than others around here.) She says she's a sea turtle, I'm a dolphin, Brandon and Daddy are sea lions, and Alexis is a chinchilla. Umm? A chinchilla? Where does a 3 year old get chinchilla from? And why is Alexis not a sea animal? These are the things I wonder. LOL I spend half the day wondering what is going through these kiddos heads. Oh and then I asked her what kind of animal Lady (the dog) was and she gives me this look and says a dog Mom. A smart aleck at 3. Jeez.

You HAVE to be kidding me + Talking Butt

It's been a few days... and guess what? Things are insane as usual. Does anyone watch South Park? If so I know you remember the episode where Cartman is on ADHD meds and sees little Christina Aguliera bugs chasing after him. That was pretty funny right? Well turns out it's kinda true. Alexis has ADHD and she had a hallucination the other morning. She swore up and down that there was a "big worm" under the couch that looked at her and stuck it's tongue at her. Umm my first thought... Holy crap there's a snake under my sofa. I put the baby down and ran and got a flashlight to look under the sofa. There was nothing but a piece of paper. I asked her is that the worm and she said yes. I reached under and pulled the paper out and showed her that it was just a piece of paper and she insisted that wasn't it there was a WORM. It went away. So my heart stops pounding and I go back to feeding the baby. She comes RUNNING into my bedroom all excited a few minutes later saying the worm was back. Come see! Again the same thing happened. I went in there and nothing was there! By that point I am freaking out. I try to get her to admit she's pretending. Being imaginative. Whatever! But she was insistent that she SAW THE WORMS! Jeez. So I brought it up to her psychiatrist and he says it's a hallucination and she has to go off of all of her medicine. OK YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?! He said I'll just have to put up with the hyperactivity. It's not just an issue of me putting up with the hyperactivity. She gets so upset. She kept telling me all day. Is it time for my medicine yet? My head hurts. Great! So she's bouncing off of the walls. She's also been counting obsessively. The child counts everything. Over and over. I am worried about her. The Dr. says it could've been the Adderall causing the counting and the hallucinations and they should go away within two weeks, but it they don't it could be something else. GREAT! Oh and... our appointment was for 9:45 and at about 10:30 after sitting in the room for 45 minutes Jordan starting fussing and getting loud. I was trying so hard to get her to be quiet. The Dr. had the nerve to send his nurse in to ask us to use our inside voices. Ummm yeah. After waiting 45 minutes to see you the kids no longer have inside voices anymore! Am I wrong in thinking that 30 minutes is the uppermost limit that kids can sit still and be quiet. Especially a child with ADHD!? Argh! I wanted to tell him off but since he's the closest Dr. within MILES I didn't want to tick him off too bad. At least he apologized for making us wait.

My lovely husband bought himself a new used SUV. In his defense he kinda needed it. But I really didn't want another monthly note. So he bought me a Cricut cartridge to make me less mad. =0) I've got the Disney font collection now! Awesome!

A funny for you... Jordan's butt has developed it's own separate personality. You heard me right. LOL Remember how Jim Carrey made his butt talk on Ace Ventura Pet Detective? Well she talks to her butt and apparently it talks back. I was in there changing her diaper the other day and I asked her a question. She got really quiet like she was listening and then all the sudden said " My butt says yes Mom." Umm.... Does it say anything else?!? I am so outnumbered here! What do you say back to that? Honey your butt doesn't talk? Your invisible friend can't be your butt?! Pick a new invisible friend. And they say staying home with your kids isn't work!

Brandon James has discovered a wonderful thing.... His feet! He's fascinated. He talks to them, kisses them, and sucks on his toes. Gross I know but at least they are clean. As long as his feet don't start talking back. ROFLOL

Help!

Hugs,

Heather

Whew! + Act Like a Lady!

Oh thank God is all I can think. Brandon is okay. The follow up with the surgeon went well. He put some more medicine on his belly button which still isn't healed up from 3 mos. after the umbilical cord fell off and said that his intusucception is fixed. Thanks go to everyone again for their prayers. I really appreciate them more than words can possibly say!

I spent all last night putting paper into my new Cropper Hopper scrapbook organizer and was in heaven! I tell you it fed my OCD really bad. Organizing everything exactly perfect. Ahhhhh! Almost better than... well you know... LOL

We've been trying to teach Alexis to act more lady like lately. I swear she burps and toots like a man and then dies laughing about it. Well it's starting to get embarrassing in public. Another favorite part is when she lifts her skirt or her shirt in the air and starts twirling around. Umm cut that out! So we've been doing etiquette lessons. I've been trying to explain that ladies sit with their legs closed and don't show the world they are wearing Princess panties, and ladies say excuse me after they burp, and if it's at all possible toots should be tooted in the bathroom. I've told her time and again to act like a lady. Well the other day she was burping and laughing and I gently reminded her to "act like a lady". And she came up to me all exasperated and said. "But Mom, what I don't understand is why we are supposed to act like the dog." OMG our dog's name is Lady. THIS WHOLE TIME SHE THOUGHT I WAS TELLING HER TO ACT LIKE THE DOG! I just about died laughing. Seriously. OMG She is just so funny!

Jordan is her little sassy self as usual. She just loves singing. And the Backyardagins. You who have been seen it know what I mean and you who haven't should count yourself lucky! The songs are so catchy that you'll catch yourself singing them at weird times. The I Love Being a Princess song in the bathroom at Walmart! I'm sure people loved that. Hehe. Oh well. When you've got kids I swear you turn into a weirdo. So now every night before Jordan will go to bed I'm forced to sing a Backyardagins song. I'm running out of new material. =0)

I'VE BEEN TAGGED! by Leah!

10 FAVORITES

Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Food: Chocolate!
Favorite Month: December
Favorite Song: Right now Avril Levigne's Girlfriend.
Favorite Movie: The Notebook
Favorite Sport To watch : NASCAR Yup I'm a big ole' redneck!
Favorite Season: Winter
Favorite Day of the week: Fridays
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Pralines and Cream
Favorite Time of Day: Afternoon when my kids take naps!

CURRENTS

Current Mood: Frustrated!!! Too much to do and too little time!
Current Taste: Hmmm, I'm not sure what this one means. LOL
Current Clothes: Still in my pajamas I know I'm a slacker.
First Pet: Scrappy the dog! Hey, Larry The Cable Guy says if you combine your first pet's name and the first street you ever lived on you get your porno name! Mine would be Scrappy Sketchler ROFLOL What's yours?
First Piercing: Ears
First Crush: Oh Lord it was my Mom's bosses son. Skye. LOL I wrote him a secret love note and spelled special wrong. They figured out it was me when they asked me to spell special and I spelled it the same wrong way as in the letter!
First CD: Hootie and the Blowfish I think.
First car: 1989 Chevy Blazer. I loved that car! I even slept in it a few times but that's a whole other blog entry there!

LASTS

Last Cigarette: 2002
Last Drink: 2001
Last Car Ride: Yesterday to the surgeon's office.
Last Kiss: Last night
Last Movie Seen: Talladega Nights.. told ya I was a redneck.
Last Phone Call: Ronnie fussing about the electric bill
Last Music Played: Country Music in the car yesterday

HAVE YOU EVERS

Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: Nope
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Yes
Have You Ever Been Arrested: Nope
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Yes
Have You Ever Been on TV: No
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Yes

THINGS

Thing You're Wearing: white t-shirt, Tigger pj pants and underwear. There's a mental picture for ya!
Thing You've Done Today: laundry, dishes, cleaning my scrap space, updated my blog!!
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: Brandon has the hiccups and the girl's TV.
Thing You Can't Live Without: Internet, my family, chocolate, my cell phone, scrapbooking. Thing You Do When You're Bored: Surf the net, aggravate the kids.

PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY : No where! Yes!
PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO: My grandma, Lisa

2 CHOICES
1. Black or White: Black
2. Hot or Cold: Cold

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE: Be published in a scrapbook magazine!

Brandon is fussing to eat again! So I'd better jet. Hugs to everyone and I hope that everyone is having a FABULOUS day!

Days from Hell!

We have had a very very very rough few days around here. The weekend started out pretty nice. The kids and Ronnie and I just chilled out around the house mostly. Saturday night we went out to dinner for the first time as a family. We were all worried about Brandon acting up but he just sat there and looked around fascinated by the music and the people. Alexis did really well and inhaled her dinner to get to her dessert. (I swear that child can eat!) Jordan played at eating and serenaded the entire restaurant with her lovely singing at the top of her lungs. =0) All in all not bad. I fed her a cookie and she got quiet. Bribery works wonders. LOL

Sunday morning I took Alexis to get her hair cut. I'd been telling her if she didn't stop chewing on her hair that I'd cut it short so she couldn't anymore. It was gross! Her hair always looked oily and nasty. You'd have sworn we didn't bathe the child. So Sunday I had enough and brought her. Her hair came out really cute and she even likes it. So that's a good thing. She'll just have to wait to have princess (long) hair until she's old enough to manage to not eat it. Ick! We came back home and Brandon was fussy. Really fussy. I'd been thinking over the past few days that he might even have colic. He would draw his legs up and cry.

Well Sunday afternoon I cooked a big homemade dinner and his Dad got him out of his swing and was holding him while I put the food on the table and he threw up all over him. I mean lots of throw up. I wiped him down and changed his clothes while Ronnie went and changed his. While I was holding him he threw up again. All down my back. Gross! So I was thinking he had a stomach virus. I passed him to Ronnie and went and changed my shirt. I sat down and held him while I started eating and he started throwing up again. TONS! By this time I'm thinking okay something is wrong with this child! He now is out of stuff to throw up so he's just dry heaving and I call the pediatricians emergency number. They don't call back quick enough. I get dressed and we pile everyone into the car and rush to the hospital. By this time he is pale white, lethargic and almost completely unresponsive. I had to keep waking him up in the car I was scared that he was going to pass out and not wake up. It was terrifying.

We get to the ER and I get him out and go register him. Ronnie takes the girls home because his sister is meeting him there to watch the girls so he can come back to the ER with me. While I'm doing the admit paperwork he threw up yellow/green looking stuff and was just gagging and heaving. It was horrible. He couldn't even cry and I was freaking out so bad. They brought him back to the evaluation room. Looked at him and noted no temperature and the guy made a joke about him being fine unless I was feeding him radiator fluid. NOT FUNNY MISTER! Then they sent me back out to the waiting room where of course I call my grandma freaking out. She suggested that it might be an Intussuception. A problem where part of the child's colon or intestine telescopes back on itself causing tissue to die and possibly rupture. (See link for more info) http://children.webmd.com/tc/Intussusception-Topic-Overview Well I suggested it to the Dr. when we got back to see him and since we'd had other members of our family have it he sent Brandon for x-rays.

We got the x-ray results back and it looked as if he indeed did have a blockage so they wanted to do a Barium enema to try to use the water in his rectum to correct the blockage and force the intestine to correct itself. But the catch was if the intestine ruptured he'd have to have surgery and they didn't have a pediatric surgeon on staff. So they asked us if we wanted to transfer him before the enema but the longer we waited for the enema the more likely it would rupture on it's own and require surgery instead of just getting the enema to correct it. The Dr. advised us to go ahead and do the enema. We had it done and they found the blockage and when they did the x-ray after they said it looked clear but we had to be transferred by ambulance to another hospital with a pediatric surgeon on staff. We got there at 3:00 in the morning. Brandon kept trying to sleep but people kept coming in to poke at him. They wouldn't let me breastfeed him so he was furious.

The next morning the surgeons came in and evaluated him. It was a teaching hospital so 8 different people were in and out of the room. Two of them were Dr's and 6 were interns. Every single last one of them pushed on his tummy and his little genitals to check for a hernia or something abnormal. It got frustrating because I wondered if they were even looking at his chart to know that the last person did that. It was hurting him so bad. He would go to sleep for 5 minutes and a new person would come in. Being a scrapbooker of course I took pictures of him in the hospital. I will have to do a page about it. I was so scared for him.

Finally yesterday afternoon they let us out of the hospital with a promise that we'd follow up with the surgeons on Wednesday. We will be doing that tomorrow and I'll keep everyone posted. It does look like the intussuception has corrected but there is a 10% chance that it'll reoccur so please keep us in your prayers.

Hugs,

Heather

MR.. I paid you how much to tell me this?!

Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking with me and for all the prayers about my MRI that I had on Monday. I went in last night for my results and my Dr. had gotten braces put on and I swear I was flashing back to the Doogie Howser series from my teen years. I could even hear the theme song... Do, do, do, do, do, do (Great now you have it stuck in your head too right?) (Don't pretend you aren't old enough to know what I'm talking about!!!) I mean seriously I'm expecting Vinnie to crawl through the window any minute. The Dr. already looked about 15 and the braces so didn't help inspire confidence!

So without further waiting he told me that everything on the MRI was normal. My blood pressure was normal, my cholesterol was normal(I brought it down 35 points by eating Raisin Bran every morning. I don't recommend it. LOL) My blood sugar was normal. My thyroid was normal. Everything was "NORMAL". (Whatever that means! I've never been normal in my life.) Of course he had to get that little dig in there about my weight. He said I'm healthy but he doesn't know HOW I'm so healthy. (Well bite me Doc!) I'm trying here. Well everything being normal doesn't explain why I can't remember anything and am exhausted all the time and am losing my hair and am seeing bright lights in my vision. His diagnosis? I'm stressed out.

Really? No kidding? Imagine that! Me stressed?! I had no idea!

I just paid you a small fortune to tell me everything I already knew. He then had the nerve to ask me why I was so stressed. Crazy man! Umm I have a 5 year old with ODD and ADHD, a 3 year old with Cerebral Palsey and an attitude problem and a 3 mo. old that I'm beginning to suspect has colic. Not to mention a husband with an Uncle Crab who visits all too often. (See previous post on that). Umm I'm not sure why I'm stressed. So his soloution? Put me on Ritalin. You know the ADHD med? I asked him if I had ADHD and he said " No but it might help you cope with the stress." Huh well sign me up then.... One problem? I'm breastfeeding and it passes through the milk. Basically he can't help me until I stop breastfeeding and I'm not stopping breastfeeding just to take meds. So that's out. So I'll just be stressed! He suggested that I "Come in after I finish breastfeeding." Lots of help Doc thanks a bunch.

I am extremly thankful that the MRI was normal though. I was REALLY worried about that. Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts. They really meant a lot. Okay so here comes your favorite part of my blog right? The pictures....

My inlaws just came back from Disney World and bought the girls matching Jasmine outfits. They love playing dress up and were really excited... Alexis jumped right into her costume Boys Ma Ivy and all and had a blast. Jordan on the other hand... Well when I went to put her costume on she started screaming like I was killing her. Apparently she's scared of the little coins on the top of the costume because they jingled and made noise. I spent 15 minutes convincing her that they were not evil death ray coins out to get her. I swear! And I felt so bad b/c my mother-in-law kept saying well maybe we should've bought her something else. I finally got it on her and of course she looked like a doll baby! They both looked so cute. If you didn't already know Jordan's middle name is Jasmine. So perfect! My cutie pie girls.

I've gotten several comments about DH giving me the baby to change his diaper. He does change diapers when he has to for the baby but he changes the 3 year old when I need him to. He's just a bit freaked out by how little the baby is right now. He's a really good Daddy. I swear! =0) It did take him a long time to get comfortable changing the 3 year old too.

And last but not least... Here's what happens when you are a little boy with a very bored big sister. Poor Brandon!

A shave, a shower, and a show!

What is it about getting in the bathtub that makes your children instantly "need" something urgently? I've been doing a photo a day of myself for a scrapbooking challenge and thought that I'd take a picture of my Oh so cute feet. LOL Well my Oh so cute feet are connected to my (then) very hairy legs. =0) So I got a bright idea that I would shave AND paint my toenails in the same day. I know I was asking for trouble. How dare a new Mom try to do anything related to self-care?

I painted my toenails while playing with Brandon lying next to me on the floor. Then I fed him. To the top. I mean he was way full. And then I handed him off to his Daddy for my 20 minutes of bliss in the shower. Well not so much. Have I mentioned I hate shaving my legs? So much that I wish the razor wouldn't have been discovered. I mean if it wouldn't have been discovered we'd all be hairy but we wouldn't know being hairy was bad. LOL

So I'm in the shower for 5 minutes. My hair is soapy and I hear... "Momma!" "Momma!" Daddy wants to know if you are almost done. (Umm yes I bathed and shaved and washed my hair in 5 minutes!!!) "No Alexis! Why?" I said. "Because Daddy needs you. The baby pooed." (Okay I am so not getting out of the shower. I deserve to shave my legs!) "I'll be done in a minute." I say. And then I start shaving at warp speed. By now the baby is crying, I can hear him through the door. I begin to suspect that this is all a grand conspiracy to keep me smelly and dirty so I can't run away. =0)

Alexis is back. "Mommy I gotta potty." (Oh great!) So she comes in and I get to listen to her potty while still shaving at warp speed. We have a discussion about how when she's 18 she's going to be able to do whatever she wants. Just like I get to do whatever I want she says. Ummm exsqueeze me? I get to do what I want?! LOL I try to explain to her that someone will always be telling her what to do. Probably me. And her boss. And her Daddy too. She is bummed out by this. Well so am I! LOL She peeps into the shower to check out what I am doing and informs me that when she's older she's going to shave. Great! I know you'll love it. (For the first 2 months and then it's a chore!) She leaves.

Jordan is in her room across the hallway from the bathroom and she starts hollering. "I want Mommy to sing the Backyardagins!" And she's getting frantic. Those of you lucky people who haven't watched the Backyardagins just don't know what you are missing out on! Now I've been in the shower for 10 minutes. I start singing. I am desperate just to finish shaving BOTH legs. Come on how funny would that be? One shaved leg! I could take a picture of one foot for the photo challenge!?

Still singing at the top of my lungs I finish up and shut off the water. The baby is now screaming!!!!! I am soaking wet. Drying off at warp speed. Jordan is crying... I want my Mommy! Alexis is asking for something to drink and I rush to the bedroom to get dressed. When I'm dressing I notice I missed a few hairs on my legs. (I wonder how that happened?) Phooey! DH comes in and shoves the baby at me.

Is it any wonder I am exhausted?! Argh! Anyway all of that for this photo that I took today to put into the challenge. These are my feet, and mostly shaven legs, propped up in front of the computer I am addicted to. Worth it? I guess so. I feel better when I'm clean! LOL



Hugs, and thanks for reading,
Heather

P.S. Did I mention I love comments?

Boys Ma Ivy

We've had a very interesting couple of days! Saturday the girls had a blast swimming and visiting with their Aunt and Uncle. We noticed Alexis had a dot on her face and one on her leg that looked like bug bites so I put some Benedryl creme on it and called it a day. The next morning she woke up with a welt on her forehead that she blamed on Jordan. She said Jordan hit her! So Jordan got in trouble. See picture. Then on Sunday morning she woke up and the whole left side of her face was covered! It kept getting worse so late Sunday evening Ronnie took her to the ER! This is what it looked like then. See 2nd pic. Oh no!

So I'm freaking out by this point. I'm worried that it's lime disease, or fifth's disease. (I spend too much time on Web MD) Turns out that she's got something similar to poison ivy but we have NO clue where she got it! She hasn't been going outside because she doesn't want to because it's "too hot" So where on earth she got it, I have no idea. Anyway so she's itchy and cranky and whiny and fussy and WOW. This morning. I told her to 'watch how she talked to me' because she was smart mouthing me. And she said "NO YOU better watch how you talk to me". Ummm okay. I swear she's 5 going on 13. And she calls the poison ivy. "Boys Ma Ivy". and insists that "I'm saying it wrong." "It's not poison ivy Mom it's "Boys Ma Ivy". Okay dear. Jeez.

The girls really had a fun time swimming together this weekend. Brandon is really not impressed with swimming yet. I thought I'd include a video of them swimming. =0)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1mZXnK5W54A


Yesterday, Monday I went to get my MRI done. Talk about nervewracking. I'm a teensy bit claustraphobic (Okay a lot claustrophobic!) and OMG I felt like I had a free preview of what it would be like in a coffin. Jeez. I should get my results tomorrow night. I'm still praying like crazy that everything is fine. I really need an explanation as to why I can't remember anything and why I see bright spots. So please pray for me if you are reading this! I've gotta go the baby is crying.

Hugs,

Heather

P.S. Don't forget to leave me some comments. Click below this where it says comments and a seperate window will pop up!

Aunt Flo, Uncle Crab, and a phone call....

Whoo I swear it's been one of those days, and I have a theory. You know how women have Aunt Flo who comes and visits once a month? Well the other day someone on a message board I frequent got to talking about how cranky her husband was and we mentioned that men have an "Aunt Flo" too. Come on you know that men can get a little cranky sometimes! (or a lot cranky LOL) So the girl I was talking to said that if women have an Aunt Flo then men must have an Uncle Crab. I just about fell out laughing because it's so true. Every now and then my dear sweet husband loses his mind and just is so persnickity and picky that you just have to try not to talk to him for fear of provoking him. And I swear it's the craziest stuff he gets cranky about! And men say we're emotional?!? So now I've decided that I'm going to ask him if his Uncle Crab is visiting when he acts that way. You know in the same considerate voice that men use when they say "Oh it must be that time of the month." "Oh honey is it your Uncle Crab again?" ROFLOL

Anyway I got him back for his crankiness. For the first time I left him alone with our darling quiet 3 month old. Who was fast asleep in the swing when I left. Well as soon as I left apparently he woke up and ummm made his Daddy a rather stinky present. Ronnie had never changed his diaper before and was rather impressed by the stink and all that goes along with breastfed baby poop. (Our daughter was formula fed.) I was in PetSmart picking up the dogs medicine and my cell phone rings... "Umm honey I think Brandon pooped." "Well you'll just have to change him he'll get a rash if he sits in it until I get back", I said. His response? "Eww!" Then we hung up. 5 minutes later the cell phone rings again... "Oh man that was disgusting. I think he has an upset stomach or something!" I spent 10 minutes assuring him that the baby was fine while trying not to die laughing. Thanks go out to Brandon for helping me get his Daddy back for being cranky! Hehe And then when I got home he told me that my youngest daughter pooped too. LOL I should leave the house more often!

Hugs,
(Sorry if all of the poop talk grossed you out. I am a Mom you know! That's what we are supposed to talk about. LOL)
Heather

P.S. Stay tuned for pictures posted soon of the girls swimming. =0)

The Great Indoors

There's a tent in my living room. Okay it's kinda goofy I know, but it's summer vacation. The kids are already getting bored and I'm desperate. LOL Ronnie and I had this brilliant idea to send Alexis to summer camp a few months ago. We signed her up and paid the registration fee and then call me crazy but yesterday I decided to cancel it. Why? Am I a glutton for punishment for wanting to have a 5 year old, 3 year old, and 3 mo. old home all day all Summer long? Probably! But the truth is that I missed them when the two oldest were in school. There was no time for fun anymore (or tents in the living room). So here's to Summer.. Bug bites, skinned knees, and water up your nose when you swim. I'm tired of fussing at the kids. Let's play!!!

Why the tent in the living room you ask? Well it's something the girls will probably remember for the rest of their lives! I mean come on who does that? I remember my grandma doing stuff like that. We used to go pick up empty refrigerator boxes behind the Sears store when I was little and we would play in them for HOURS! It used to drive my Grandpa insane! I'm beginning to see the bright side of driving your husband insane too. It keeps them on their toes. My husband must be getting used to it though because I kid you not.. He didn't even bat an eye last night when he came home to this! LOL And yes, I did get in the tent with the kids. You're never too old to have fun!

Speaking of husbands I have to say mine is great! He actually ventured into the scrapbook aisle at Walmart last night and bought me some paper. Cute paper at that! Well I'd better sign off for tonight and make it look like I've been doing something all day. It's why hubby pays me the big bucks!

Hugs,

Heather