What A Week!

Wow, I am so glad this week is over! Well, I guess it started 2 weeks ago. Victoria had diarrhea after having eaten some ice cream and got what I thought was a small diaper rash bump on her bottom. It looked like an itty bitty pimple for about 2 days then went away (or so I thought). Well, Sunday evening I changed her diaper and it was back, only 3 times the size. I didn't feel like going to the ER so I figured after I dropped Tom off at the airport Monday morning I'd just call and schedule an appt. Ha Ha. I called the appt line 3 times and each time there were 20+ people ahead of me. So I figured I'd just stop at the hospital and go talk to them instead of going on home. Well, no appts that day so I just walked over to the ER and waited. Luckily it was only a little over 2 hours for the entire ER stay. The docter said it looked like a boil or absess so he scheduled an appt for the surgical clinic the next morning. Ugh...had to reschedule my dentist appt because getting her in was more important. So we go wait an hour for her medicine and I finally get home around 12:45pm (mind you I've been up since 5:15 so far). So now I'm a bit worried for her and on top of that I am alone...Tom is in Alabama at school and I have to deal with this. So I pick myself up and deal with it because that is they only logical option I have. Well, needless to say Victoria decides to stay up until midnight. Thankfully my parents are watching Gabriel and his parents are watching Katheryn (though this makes me even more lonely). So Tuesday rolls around and go to the Surgical Clinic. Thankfully I brought the papers from the ER because they didn't see where they had an appt for her. The doc was really nice though. He tried to schedule it in the OR so that Victoria would be able to be more comfortable (not put to sleep, but just made a bit sleepy). The anestesiologist was ok with it because he had done this before, but hospital rules say...nope, no one under one. Ok so on to plan b. Oh I guess I should say that they are going to take a scalple and poke a small hole in the absess to drain it and take a culture. *Insert Amanda getting nasueus.* Well, they put some lydocane gell on it and do it (with me standing outside the door because I'd probably pass out). End result...no puss inside...apparently it had all drained out already. Ugh. Oh, I guess now would be a good time to say that Victoria had never once cried or complained when I changed her diapers which is why I didn't think it was anything too bad (well until it came back). Even after having this done they warned me she'd be really sensitive and would fuss when I went to change her diaper and that I should expect blood on her diaper (so me the worrier was expecting a lot). Well, I was worried for nothing. There was barely more than you would have if you gave blood and she never once cried not even the first time I changed her diaper afterwards. She has never once acted like it has bothered her. So Friday I took her for her follow-ups with pediatric and surgical clinics. You can barely tell that anything has happened to her there. It's almost 100% healed. Oh and the only time she has fussed about it (aside from when he did it) is when he went to check it at the follow-up.

Oh and I'd also like to say that the best way to get an appt is NOT by calling the appt line. Instead go straight in to the clinic. When I went in on Monday to make her follow-up appt with the pediatric docter, I asked about making a well-baby appt (well, if I needed to make one for 9 months because I was scatterbrained). They said yes and that she had an opening at 2 (it was around 9:45), but that she could see me then. So I was back seeing the regular doctor within 10 minutes of asking! I was surprised because I usually had to wait. There's always a loop hole, you just have to find it. The almost 10 month well-baby went great! Victoria still is eating every 2 - 3 hours (unless I substitute with regular food) and giving me maybe a 4 or 6 hour break at night, but that is normal! I am so lucky to have a doctor (well nurse practitioner) that promotes breastfeeding and reassures me that my baby's is normal. (The first one I had with Gabriel was horrible.)

Oh and my dentist appt went great again! No cavities! Woo Hoo!

Kiddos, Updates, and Ponderings

So, wow summer break is almost over. Gabriel starts school on Wednesday...why Wed...I have no clue. Crazy if you ask me, but they never do. I'm both dreading and looking forward to it. Gabriel is looking forward to it. He has a great teacher (I used to work with her when I worked there before kiddos). I asked him if he was looking forward to school...he said "Yes, so I can get away from you." Wow...brave kid. LOL Apparently I'm too strict, unlike his grandparents. Oh well.

Katheryn is talking non-stop now. She is a princess and will twirl everywhere. (seriously) We are not allowed to call Victoria (Tora as Katheryn has named her) a princess or Katheryn will have a fit. So she is Tinkerbelle (with Katheryn's approval).

Victoria is growing like a weed! She's pulling herself up and standing on things and she'll move if she's in the corner from one side to another, but that's the extent of her walking. She talks at home, but when we go out she puts her serious face on and studies everything. She's going to be my mastermind.

We finished the Pergola yesterday. YAY! Now I get to go get some furniture so we have somewhere to sit. We've figured that since we'll be moving around alot that we're just going to get some stackable chairs and a couple side tables. I'll post a picture as soon as we get everything done.

So something that I read recently and something my neighbor said sparked me thinking about people in general. There are alot of people who for one reason or another have to have every aspect of their lives scheduled. My neighbor recently lost her husband suddenly (killed in a motorcycle accident), said that she never realized how short life was and that you never know when you might die and that she has now just stopped worrying about alot of other things and has been spending more time with their 1 yr old daughter and enjoying the time she has with her. It is sad how tragety causes us to open our eyes to what we have been overlooking. Having been one of those people, I can see both sides. Maybe it took several people dying and the loss of a baby to realize how short and precious life is. The last 7 years I have really changed who I am and have "grown up". LOL I'll admit I was extremely selfish and things had to be my way and I couldn't see past my own nose to really enjoy things. That is one thing I regret when my son was a baby. I tried to make him fit my idea of a schedule in my head that I wanted. I was too busy trying to make sure I stayed to the schedule that I didn't have time to relax. Yes, I enjoyed the time with him, we had fun, but I always felt something was missing. I felt so pressured by "experts" that I tried to make him fit their idea of what he should be doing. After about 6 months, I kinda gave up because I was discouraged. I couldn't take a step back and see he had his own way of doing things. Having lost a baby really changed me. As hard as it was it caused me to take a step back and open my eyes. When I had Katheryn, I decided that I wasn't going to take the short time she was a baby for granted. I took a step back and let her set her routine and then I would tweak it here and there if we were going to do something (I knew she ate every 2 - 3 hours so if we were going to be somewhere I would start feeding her where she would eat right before I left for whatever it was I was doing). She probably started giving me 6 hours of sleep when she started eating solids. So I would give her some cereal and fruit before she went to bed. So, because the feeding on demand and a free flowing schedule worked so good with Katheryn, I have been doing the same for Victoria. Maybe I'm crazy, but this is what works for us. I guess what I'm really wondering is why it always takes tragedy to open our eyes to what we are missing? I've just been thinking about that alot lately. Ugh...

On another note, Tom had another test done (I forget what it's called, but it's where they poke you with needles to listen to your nerve) and has talked with the new specialist. It looks like he is going to have to undergo exploritory surgery on his shoulder to see what damage he has to his nerve. They have it pinpointed to a section of the nerve. The doctor told him though that he's going to have a nerologist in the OR with him because of the unknown damage. He was told he had 1 of 3 possible outcomes: 1) he'll regain movement in his arm/shoulder, 2) nothing will change, or 3) lose movement in his arm/shoulder. We're aiming for #1 with a stop to his pain. We are just waiting on a call back from his doctor with a date for surgery. Ugh!

I'm Back!!!

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted anything on here! Over a month. Not much has really happened. We've been busy trying to get the updating done on the house and trying to just spend time together.

The March for Babies went well! Tom walked with me so I wouldn't have to walk alone (isn't he a sweetie!). We had a blast! I am so going to do this next year too.

D-day #2 is approaching fast and it's hitting me harder this time. Last time, we had 4 days notice and so I was busy with packing his bags that I didn't have time to think about it. Now that he was given an actual date last week, it's hit! Ugh!

Victoria now has 4 teeth and is about 15 lbs at 6 months! She started biting me while she nurses yesterday. I think she has some of her brother in her. The first time she bit me it was when she first started to nurse and bit me (I think to get me to look at her) and then smiled at me and went on eating.

Gabriel has started acting up more in school. Nothing bad but just "normal" stuff that he knows he shouldn't do (sitting on desks, talking when he shouldn't, moving around when he should be sitting and listening). I'm not sure, but I think some of it is he knows Tom is going to deploy and I think it's also due the fact I think he has night terrors. I looked up the difference between nightmares and night terrors on Friday (because he scared me by how he was acting after he screamed Mommy...like he was hypnotized). It took us 5+ minutes to "wake" him up. So, I am going to try and get an appointment to talk with a doc about it. Ugh...poor guy.

On a good note, Katheryn is trying to potty train. She's telling me when she has to go poop (most of the time) and has on occasion, told me when she had to go pee pee.

Did Yesterday Really Happen???

Wow! So, I'll start out with the small stuff. I tackled a lot of the laundry I had sitting around (both dirty and clean that needed to be folded). While folding the clothes, I had Victoria laying on her back on the blanket on the floor with me. She kept reaching for a toy and was almost rolling over. I decided to get down there with her and "encourage" her to roll over. She finally rolled over!!!!! I'm both excited about her accomplishment and dreading the fact that she's almost semi-mobile. Which means I'll have to keep a closer eye out for small toys, pieces of crayons, etc on the floor. As soon as I find the memory card adapter I will up load the video and lots of other pictures that I have on there of the kiddos.

Tom came home early! Yay! He took me to get my new sewing machine yesterday!!! I'm so excited! I can't wait to get an area cleaned off in my room for the behemoth! I couldn't stop smiling when the lady was showing me what it can do! Great shop up in Louisville! Lots of quilting, smocking, and other sewing items. They also told me about a small quilt shop in Elizabethtown that I'm gonna check out! They said that the lady also does classes. She runs the business in her basement. :-) I'm all for supporting small business instead of the chain stores!


(just looked it up) The store is Uniquely Yours Quilt Shop. Check out her site. She lists Quilting Events and the classes she offers on her site.

Little Minion Updates

Ok so it's been a busy week. We've had Victoria's 4 month well baby and dentist appts for Gabriel and Katheryn.

We'll start with Victoria. She is 13lbs 2 ozs and 25-1/2 inches long (81% for height!). I think she is working on her top teeth and going through a growth spurt. She's nursing every 2 hours at night (UGH!) and about every 2 - 3 during the day. She's almost rolling over, she just needs to learn to get her arm out of her way. She sits up really good in her Bumbo chair (which Katheryn uses for her teddy bear to sit in and eat, thankfully she is using the play food from their kitchen).

Katheryn had her first dentist appt yesterday. She did really good! Her teeth aren't as close together as her brothers and she has a bit of an overbite (probably from sucking her fingers when she gets tired). We were waiting to get appts for the next one in 6 months and she grabbed her toothbrush they gave her and brushed her baby dolls teeth. So cute!

Gabriel did good too. They did x-rays and his 6 year molars are getting ready to start coming in and he has his first loose tooth! So I guess I'm gonna put on a new hat...the Toothfaerie! LOL

I'm Finally Back

So we've been without cable for about a week thanks to the ice storm that hit. We were lucky and were without power for 2 days, but my parents just got power back on Sunday. I have lots of pictures from around our house and my parents house of the damage the ice did and some "pretty" pictures of the ice. We were lucky that my parents had a gas fireplace, especially with the little ones. It made me realize one thing. We weren't as prepared as we should have been! But as long as we learn from it and that we are all well, that's the important part.

On a good note, Victoria cut her first tooth yesterday. She had been "working" on it and cranky for the past week or so. She also has another one right beside it coming in so I expect her to be cranky for a lil while longer.

I got the kitchen painted. I've only had the paint sitting around for about a month! LOL Not sure how I'm gonna like the blue color, but I'm sure when we get everything the way we want it that it will look good.

Hottest New Beauty Secret

I just had to share this awesome new beauty secret with everyone when I found out about it! I just can't believe I didn't think about it before and it was right there in front of me everyday. What is this mystery you ask...

It's called a toothpaste mask! Katheryn let me in on the secret yesterday with a demonstration. You're skin will look like a toddlers after only one use!

Jumble of Randomness

Ok so I am just gonna clump all my thoughts into one post.

1) Tom was finally able to find a Wii Fit and surprised me yesterday with it! He does love me. LOL So I got it out today and I must say I am sore, but it was fun. I spent 47 mins on it and it didn't seem that long! I love to hula (though I'm sure I look ridiculous!). I am so out of shape!

2) We almost have the play/family/sitting room done (yes it's one room). I just need to get my console radio from my uncle's house (he bought my nana's house) and sort toys into toyboxs. I plan on using the plastic totes we used to move with and customizing them for each kiddo.

3) I need to find curtains for our bedroom. We are so picky when it comes to patterns it isn't funny. LOL We also will have to then get a paint color that will look good with it. That is one bonus for not living on post. I like that I can paint the walls and not have to worry about repainting before I move out!

4) We are also going to re-tile part of the bathrooms and get new cabinets. Take the border down in the kitchen/dining room and paint. Paint the living room and hang curtains. Get rugs. All at the same time trying to stay under budget (which is hard). Everything is getting put on a priority list and we get things as we get the money for it (lol which will probably take at least a year if not more to get everything done that we want done...we are also doing alot of it ourselves to save on labor costs).

5) Victoria is wanting to sit up more now! She actually fusses if I don't hold her in an upright sitting position (unless she is going to sleep). She is growing so much! I'm glad that Tom is here to see it. He missed alot with Katheryn.

Cloth diapers and Poopy

Ok, so I found a lady in E-town who owns a baby store who sales cloth diapers. I have been debating it long enough and I took the leap. I bought 12 to start with (they are adjustable for 8 to 36 lbs...which I liked instead of messing with plain ones and vinyl pants or the ones you have to buy certain sizes for each weight group). She also recommended a natural soap to do laundry in because Cheer, Tide, Dreft, etc all leave residue which will hamper the absorbency. I'm getting in an Organic/Natural kick too. With everything starting to be "bad" for you, I figure if I can lessen the kids exposure to some it will be good. Plus I'm hoping Victoria will not get diaper rash as bad. Her skin seems to be really sensitive.

As for the poopy, Katheryn seems to be getting into a potty training mood. She's been telling me when she has to go poopy and when she pees her diaper (which is also called "poopy" instead of pee pee but she holds her front when she says it). It's a start! Wish us luck!

Doc Appt Results

Katheryn's ears aren't red anymore, but her right ear is still bulging a little bit. I wonder when that will go away?

Victoria has in fact caught the cold that everyone had. Poor girl is very congested. The good thing is it's not in her chest! She has also gained another 1 lb and oz. She is now 9lbs 6ozs! They didn't measure to see how long she is (I'm gonna do that later), but she fits lengthwise in some of Katheryn's old 3 - 6 month footed outfits!

Little Helper?

Ok so I was noticing yesterday that Katheryn's cups were running short in the cabinet. So I started searching around the house (in her favorite hiding places...one being the refrigerator on their play kitchen). I couldn't find the cups. So I asked her to put her dishes in the kitchen when she was done with lunch. We put her to bed and I walk into the kitchen only to notice her cup in the trashcan. Now, she had a habit of throwing her dishes away (which I thought we had stopped a couple months ago). Well, apparently, she has started that bad habit up and I'm sure that is where the missing cups have gone without me noticeing them. Ugh...the joys of having children!

On a side note, I am taking the girls to the doctor today. Victoria seems to have caught the cold everyone had and I want to make sure it's not worse than what I think it is. She has started coughing and seems to have more congestion. Even with me elevating one end of the mattress so she doesn't sleep flat. Katheryn also seems to be messing with her ear again (the one that had the bulging eardrum). She is still taking her antibiotics that end Sunday, but I want to make sure it is working and not getting worse. I can't wait until everyone is well again!

LEAP Assessment Test

Ok I have to brag a little!

Well, I dropped Gabriel off today for the LEAP (Learning Enrichment and Acceleration Program) Assessment Test. I'm proud and excited for him. Only 18 out of the 400 Kindergartners in the school district (which is both on and off post...it's strange here) were chosen to be tested today. We will find out sometime in the next two weeks if he scored high enough to go on to have an IQ test done and then if he scores high enough on that then he will be accepted into the program. She said that some of the Kindergartners have trouble with tests (who doesn't) and when they get more accustomed to school and taking tests then they are accepted, but that they usually get in the program when they get to the 1st grade. Either way if he makes it or not I am still extremely proud of him. Being one of the 18 chosen says alot for me!

I really HATE military doctors sometimes!

So we all caught what Gabriel brought home from school (upper respiratory infection) except Victoria. Well, I'll start out on Friday we took Victoria to her 2 week appt and when they were done looking at her I asked the guy to look at Katheryn's ears. One in particular because it had a bunch of wax in it. He says she has a little bit of fluid behind her right ear and the left (the one with wax) was a little red, but they aren't infected and it's nothing to worry about. So we let her soak her head in water when she took her bath and a little wax came out. Well, Monday Gabriel was getting worse and Katheryn was complaining about her ear (it had a bug in it...so she said). So we take them both to the ER to have them checked out. They gave Gabriel medicine and the same guy that did Victoria's appt was the one that saw them in the ER. Again he says that the right ear has fluid, but is ok and he could see the left ear drum and it looked ok. Nothing to worry about right? Well, about 10pm last night Katheryn woke up with a 103' temp and was hallucinating. So Tom takes her to the ER (which was taking forever and after 2+hours there were still 10 or so people ahead of them. So Tom comes home and the ER calls about 5:45am and asks about Katheryn. Apparently they didn't tell them her heartbeat was really fast and they were a little worried. So they get us an appt today with the clinic. Come to find out, she has an ear infection in BOTH ears and the right eardrum is bulging (enough that the doc said that we need to start her on antibiotics before it ruptures)! Ok how can it get that bad in a day?????

I really hate military doctors sometimes!

One Week Old

Victoria is one week old today. I have to say she is a great baby and I am lucky. Nursing is going good! She took to it alot better than Katheryn did (we had to work at it).

Katheryn is my helper. She is always looking to see what Victoria is doing and always lets me know when she starts crying (even when I'm in the same room) and gets upset herself. She always says that "baby" is hers. lol She helps me change "baby's" diaper. Gets the diapers, wipes, and throws it away,except the poopy ones. She makes the yuck face while saying yuck. It's so cute.

Gabriel is doing ok. I think he feels "left out", but I think that some of it is the attention the others give to Katheryn. I took him aside and reinforced that I still love him and it will take a little time for me to get to feeling better and then we'd be able to do more stuff.

Trip to the Lake of the Ozarks area

We didn't actually make it to the lake. We went to the outlet mall, a really good BBQ restaurant (Wobbly Boots if anyone ever goes to the area), and played putt putt and bumper cars. Well Gabriel, Tom, and Rene (one of the guys in the same school as Tom who is from Slovakia) did the bumper cars while Katheryn and I watched. Here are a few pictures.




The kids in the Truck before we left.

At the outlet mall they had a fountain. I was looking at a shoe store while they went down to it. Well, when I come out Gabriel has his socks and shoes off walking around in the water. This is before that happened. I guess that's what I get for letting two guys watch the kids (both of which are from Europe and grew up playing in fountains).

Luckily they didn't get Katheryn in the water.

Rene is Katheryn's new buddy.

Gabriel wasn't too happy because his shorts and underwear were soaked from the fountain. I had to go find him some more clothes. Which was hard because they had all their summer stuff on clearance and didn't had a hard time finding his size.

This was at the Putt Putt place.

I'm sure I look worn out. This was towards the end of the day at the Putt Putt course and the heat and walking were getting to me.

Misc Pics of the Kids

Katheryn's Fun with Markers
(the aftermath)

Gabriel came walking out of school for a week holding her hand. He told us she was one of his girlfriends. :-) The other one was a bus rider.

Katheryn likes to get my reading glasses out and put them on when I leave them laying on the end table.

We had went to the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield and came across this John Wayne gun safe. If it wasn't so expensive I'm sure Tom would have bought it.

School Crud

Well, right now Gabriel and Tom are waiting in the ER because Gabriel's temp was 103.5. He woke up Saturday morning with a fever of 102.5, but had went down to 99.7 until around 6:30pm today. We had been giving him Tylenol and Dimatap (sp?). It cleared up his runny nose, but his fever went up and he still had a headache. We think it might be the flu, but want to make sure and get something to make him better. So they left around 6:40pm and are still in the waiting room (now at 10:30pm). Ugh. I just hope he will get better and no one else will get sick since we are so close to having the baby. Which is the last thing I want is the baby getting sick. Even though I really don't like seeing any of my family sick, the baby doesn't have the built up immune system to fight it.


Update: Well, they spent over 9 hours in the ER last night. The doctor didn't tell Tom what he thought Gabriel had, but gave him some antibiotics (which said it wasn't for the common cold or flu...so I guess it takes what we thought it was out of the picture). So we're keeping him home from school today so that the antibiotics have time to get in his system. He still had a bit of a fever this morning, but it wasn't as high as it was yesterday.

MAMA...MAMA...Pee Pee

Let me start this off saying that Katheryn is a huge copycat (esp. when it comes to stuff Gabriel does). For instance, Katheryn had to wear a bookbag when we take Gabriel to school and she throws a fit when we don't walk in. She looks up to him.

Anyways...

For the last couple weeks Katheryn will go into the bathroom raise the lid, holds her shirt up, and stands there with her belly to the toilet and apparently pees (in her diaper). When I try to get her to sit on her Princess potty she throws a fit, I try to get her to sit on the kid seat that fits on the toilet she throws a fit... Today though she let me set her on the toilet (after she yelled at me mama mama pee pee). I was like "ok so you want to sit on the potty like mama?" and she shook her head yes. She didn't do anything, but it's good she tried.

UGH! How do you explain to a 20 month old she can't pee in the toilet like Dada and Bubba????

First Day of Kindergarten

So today I was the crazy mom with the camera taking lots of pics. LOL Oh well. I was sooooo nervous today because he said he didn't want to go and wasn't excited at all about going to school. Well, when we got there he pretty much ran into the door and seemed to actually want to be there. Which was a little bit of a relief, but I was still worried because of how he acted last night and this morning. Turns out though he had a great day (which I figured he would, but was still worried).

Well his teacher had a bulletin board up outside the class, so I had him stand under his name so that I could take a picture.

I knew the day would go well when the teacher already had play doh set on the kids desks!

He just noticed us standing there waiting for him.

He was happy to see Tom there! Tom wasn't able to go with us when we dropped him off at school, but Tom got out of class early and was able to go with us to pick him up.

TGIF!!!!

I am soooo happy that this week is over. I am so exhausted! On top of Katheryn being fussy and having to have me hold her almost all day yesterday because she had shots on Wed, I had 2 appointments for Gabriel. We went to his Vision test, which turned out good! Yay! Then to the PX where he decided not to listen to me and sprayed perfume (one of the testers) into his eyes. So I went and grabbed some eye wash and cleaned them out in the parking lot. Katheryn then refused to take her nap and when she finally gave up it was time to go to his Kindergarten screening. Again he did good. They were actually surprised he knew as much as he did. What can I say, we have always just talked to him like he was "big". The strangest thing though is he still gets right and left confused (I think it's more he just doesn't care to learn it). He also still writes some of his letters backwards, but you can tell what he's writing. After that I thought it would be a good idea to go to the Commissary....yeah...what was I thinking?!?!? Ugh... I am soooo ready for this pregnancy to be over!

When I had my appt this week, we found out that the baby likes to stay way down there! I've been having extra pressure and can feel her poking sometimes. I go in 4 weeks to my 32 week checkup and physical so we'll see if anything is happening down there. I just hope that she decides she doesn't want to make her grand arrival too early! And this HEAT! Ugh, it's killing me. I feel so drained just walking out to the mailbox (which is in front of our house).

I would like to say that it would be a stress free, relaxing weekend, but the in-laws are coming to visit and should be here tomorrow. I just need a break after this week where I can just focus on something for me!