So far so good!

Danielle has now been dry for 4 days...including 3 nights! Woohooo! She had one accident Saturday night but immediately ran to me and told me she was wet. She's not spending an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom either. So I think we can claim a victory in the potty training front. She's excited that she'll be getting a bunch of new undies next time we go to the store. I haven't decided whether I'm going to buy the Dora Toilet seat or not. Guess it depends on whether she remembers it and how much she whines or says PEASE MOM!. lol

Saturday was a pretty productive day and as usual you can't tell by looking at my house. Sean cooperated by taking the longest nap in his life. Tom ended up waking him up when he walked in the room while on the phone (he forgot Sean was in there). I thought for sure it meant he was getting sick but he's acting fine. In order to do a bunch of the things I wanted to do, I had to ignore the stuff that needs upkeeping daily...like the livingroom floor. Mr Man has decided to show me that I can't do that anymore though...he's getting ALL OVER!!! He does a half crawl where he's on one knee but the other leg he's on his foot. He steps forward with his foot anchored leg and then drags the knee anchored leg up to the foot's new position. He's also started using the furniture to help him stand up. I need to go find some rocks to stick in his pants.

I'm a bit surprised to find that I'm not extremely sad over Sean growing up. I thought since he's my last one I'd be clinging to him, begging him to be a baby longer. Instead I'm really enjoying the strides that he's made and look forward to seeing what his next conquest will be. I'm sure I'll be bitten by the baby bug and have times when being done will hit me hard. But for now I'm ok!

Had to edit above since it took me almost 24hrs to get this finished. lol

Sunday was a BEAUTIFUL day! And while I kept putting off Tom's request for me to go outside for a bit on Saturday. I spent a decent amount of time out there on Sunday. I am SO looking forward to summer, the swimming pool, decreased laundry, and summer vacation! Sean is going to be an outdoors man I know it. He's constantly exploring and wanting to go. Plus Sunday morning he practically broke through the glass storm door to get someone to take him outside. lol Tom was working on the van and BIL had walked up front with his dog. I'd placed Sean infront of the glass door (yes, it was secure, I tested) so he could watch. He immediately started rocking like crazy, grunting and bashing on the glass. I had to move him so he wouldn't cause the door to unlatch and go flying out.

Tom fixed the van yesterday! Woohooo! He had Pat run him into the city on Saturday and they exchanged the radiator, no questions asked. We were a bit worried the parts place wouldn't honor the warranty because it looks like the van's fan scraped the fins of the radiator. We didn't test it but I'm pretty sure where the scrape marks are isn't where it's leaking. We have NO idea how the marks got there, they weren't too bad, so we're thinking it didn't happen for long. The newest theory is that something got lodged between the fan blade and radiator and was dragged around a few times. Either way he worked in the dark to put the new radiator in on Saturday night and finished connecting everything on Sunday morning...just in time to drive Michelle to work.

I called Tom on the way home to see where he was. I wanted to take the kids to church when he got back and it was getting close to leaving time. Instead he told me he would be home soon and planned to change the van's oil. He was already grungy from the radiator and I didn't have the heart to whine that I wanted to use the van when we got home....so we skipped the meeting.

Michelle has this week off from school for spring break. She also doesn't have to work today or tomorrow which means I can stay home during the day. Woohooo! (kids still need to go to soccer tonight) It's been great being stuck at home since Thursday night. It was great to decompress and actually get things accomplished around here. Greedy me though is wishing for about a month of this though lol.

Sean ISN'T cooperating today though! Everytime I go to lay him down he pops back up! Or I'll walk out of the room and get to the kitchen only to hear him crying again. I guess if I had a crib I could let him be for a bit. But that's not how we roll right now, so I'll just deal with it.

Now that the kids are getting home from school I need to get some help from them, so I'm off.

BY JOVE! I think she's got it!

It looks like Danielle has finally gotten the idea behind using the toilet and the funness of wearing undies. The last few times she's taken a bath she's ended up on the toilet. Everyone's praised her and talked it up. This time she mentioned undies and I mentioned the red Dora toilet seat she saw. When she was finished she asked for undies and I decided to get a pair for her. And she's been dry ever since!! Granted she's also spent almost the whole day sitting on the toilet and used nearly a whole bottle of liquid hand soap washing her hands afterwards. But hey! At least she's washing her hands. :o)

Last night Eileen decided to go lay down with Danielle. I didn't realize they chose MY bed to use until it was time for me to climb into bed. I also failed to realize until 6am that no one put Danielle into a diaper before she went to bed!!! I'm crossing my fingers that she wakes up dry this morning. With my luck she won't, even though she's been waking up dry for a few weeks now. I don't know what I'd do if she wets my memory foam mattress. We're using 2 of the oldest twin mattresses stuffed into our waterbed frame....they don't fit well and are showing their age. We can't live without that mattress topper! Even with that heavily on my mind I can't bring myself to fight her in her sleep to get a diaper on her (and risk waking Sean up too).

Guess that means when the van gets fixed I'll have to mosey on over to Walmart and buy her that Dora toilet seat and more undies. I've been kicking myself. I hadn't saved the receipt of purchase for the radiator so had no idea how long the warranty was good for, much less proof of purchase to enforce the warranty. Last night Tom came home with a bit of good news though. He stopped by the auto supply place where we bought the radiator (through their online site). They had documentation in their computer of our purchase and the warranty was a lifetime one! A different local store even has one in stock we can pick up. So looks like we may have a new radiator in hand with little out of pocket money soon, hopefully today! I'm sure Michelle shouldn't be expecting it to be available to take her to work at 3 today though. Maybe tomorrow.

Yesterday was a bit lazy. I was achey from falling, Sean was clingy and I spent most of the day researching and posting in a discussion about right to die and Terri Schiavo. I admit I sidestepped the political aspect of the discussion though. I have to admit politics just isn't my thing. If that makes me uninvolved or worthless to complain about the state of things (I try not to complain) sobeit.

I'm hoping today is a productive day. I have a list of things that I want to tackle, most of them no one would notice unless you lived here. Even then you might not. Those type of jobs make me wish we came with a placard that shows how hard we work. I know it's just me wanting to look good to others, wanting acknowledgement of the work I do around here. I'm sure there are a lot more days when I'm glad that how hard we work isn't shown to the public....like yesterday. Could you imagine being labeled as....sat at the computer all day...held and nursed infant, changed diapers. Not so great.

Well if I want to be productive I have to finish up online stuff. So time to update my food blog and then to work I go!

It IS always something

Three posts in one day, go me! lol On the way to the dr's office the van was running really rough and smelled hot. When we pulled out of our parking spot I noticed a puddle approx where my radiator had previously been. I was due to pick up Michelle so drove across town with my fingers crossed. I called Tom to let him know we may have a problem and that I'd stop at the college to examine things.

I picked up Michelle, pulled into a parking spot that I was sure was puddlefree, turned off the van and got out. No doubt about it, the radiator or one of it's hoses was leaking. Oh how I wished it was a hose! I updated Tom and headed to Walmart by now the waterpump is protesting the shortage of coolant with a pretty decent scream.

We decided to take our time in WM so the engine could cool down enough to handle. We were all starving so stopped off at the Subway inside the store and bought a few things to share. D walked in while we were at Subway so we chatted for a few minutes. We kept bumping into each other. We used to go shopping together all the time. Not having the luxury of the same schedule to walk and/or talk was odd. It made me miss our shopping trips. We finished meandering through the store, paid for everything and headed out the door. Michelle put groceries away while I popped the hood and filled the radiator. We called Tom to let him know we were leaving and crossed our fingers that the engine survived the ride home.

I popped the hood again as soon as we got in the driveway. Tom and I started looking for the source of the leak. I was the lucky winner. I spotted a stream of water shooting out of the back of the radiator, right in the middle of it. It wasn't a hose :o(. It was going to take a lot of money and time to fix. I have no idea how Michelle's going to get to work for the next 3 days.

Val's appt was noneventful. They checked her urine. While it had red and white blood cells in it. There were tons like you'd normally see with an infection. So it's being sent off to be cultured. He'll decide whether to treat based on what the cultures show...so we're in wait mode.

I have to get to bed now that Sean' snoozing. My eyes keep getting stuck in the closed position.

1 down, 8 more to go

I managed to get Michelle to school at 8am this morning. It wasn't easy nor pretty. Of course true to form I wasn't organized and ready like I should've been. I also managed to space out midway through preps and forget that getting out the door included Eileen and Olivia who were still sleeping soundly at 7:05 (departure time was 7:25 - 7:30). Olivia does not wake up well and is very sluggish. Needless to say she wasn't happy with how the morning was progressing. Eileen totally forgot that today was Thurs which meant she needed her library books and she didn't have them. The older kids seemed to be not doing well with the extra bodies up and about. Michelle put a kink in the shower taking schedule (4 girls washing in 30min...fun) but everyone managed to get in and do what they needed to do.

We all ended up running out the door at the same time. I'd really like to get out before the 1st trip kids leave so I can get ahead of the bus and Michelle can get to school before 8, not AT 8. I was a dumb clutz and managed to roll my right ankle as I was getting ready to go down the porch stairs. I ended up falling down all 4 stairs. As I was falling I was thinking, don't break anything, don't break anything! Then as I got up I was thinking, I'd have broken my neck for sure if these were D's stairs! (main door is on the 2nd floor so have to climb lotsa stairs to a deck to get to it) Luckily Sean still uses his infant seat and was buckled into it because I dropped it and it landed on the porch. I scared Danielle senseless because the seat almost managed to push her off the front porch.

I felt fine as I got up but the longer I was in the van, the more things started hurting. It's only an ache and nothing that says...get me checked out...mostly strains. I have to laugh though because the only things that don't hurt are my ankle and back (which I'm extremely thankful for!). Mostly it's my left knee and right shoulder and thumb that are bothering me.

Anyways, I now get a week long break as next week is Michelle's spring break. YEAH! Actual days with NO driving required whatsoever! Woohoo! Next trip with the girls I have to remember to bring a snack for them to eat in the car. They usually eat breakfast at school so it's not so important that they get something at home. Driving in the car on an empty stomach seemed to bother both of them. They were both complaining of feeling queasy. Luckily once we got home I had time to grab them a bite to eat before the bus came. I still think they weren't feeling 100% though.

Sean's fever seems to have disappeared and he's in MUCH better spirits today. Last night was pretty rough for him. Val is heading to the dr's this afternoon. She's still not feeling great although she went to school. She texted me and told me she threw up but was trying to finish the day out. I'm pretty sure she's throwing blood in her urine, it didn't look so great this morning.

Well I have to get up and keep moving. I've been up since 4:20 and have managed to put a dent in the laundry pile. I want to keep at it while the moods here (and the little ones are cooperating).

Am I the only one?

Am I the only one that's logging their day in incriments of 140 letters/characters or less? Yep, I recently found Twitter and I'm having fun. For those that don't know it's the blue box over in my right sidebar over there ->. Now I can keep you all spellbound by my exciting day ANYWHERE I am, even if my internet connection is down, thanks to unlimited text messaging. (can post through texts or the web) And all it takes is 140 letters/characters (maximum number that's displayed each time)

I thought it would be fun to try to document my whole day. So I'm keeping twitter open on the computer and will be posting whenever I sit or even pass by the computer.

I'd love to follow my friends. If you have a twitter acct, leave me a comment with a link to your profile so I can start following you.

You can find me here

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

I jinxed myself!

When Liz and Carrie were being seen at the dr's on Monday the NP asked me...so how's everyone else at home? The respiratory stuff still around? I proudly said NOPE! We're all healthy! *smacks forehead* FOOLISH FOOLISH WOMAN! That's a jinx waiting to happen!

And here it comes...Val stayed home from school yesterday and slept unti 2:30. She said she didn't feel good. I thought it was just the aftermath of going nonstop from the play. She's home again today, she's still sick and now says she thinks there's blood in her pee...sounds like another infection and a trip to the dr is in our future.

ROFL!!! The school nurse JUST called to report that Luke got hit in the FACE with a bowling pin. It put his teeth through his lip and she wasn't sure if it needed a stitch or not. She wanted to know if I wanted to come get him or if he should ride the bus (it leaves in 20mins). I picked the bus for him. (not laughing at him or his injury...but at the fact that I it fits so nicely into this post)

Getting back to the original thought here. I'm further jinxed by Sean being fussy all night long. He wouldn't stay asleep for very long and nursed a lot. This morning he woke up with a fever...from what I have NO idea. He is cutting a tooth but this fever is too high for that. Also he never broke out in one for the other 3 teeth he's gotten. I'm sure my SILs and niece are thrilled with this tibit since we were all together yesterday.

And wouldn't you know Eileen was complaining of a sore throat this morning. I think she's working on a cold starting. I feel bad for hoping it's a cold but I'd rather it be a cold then strep. I'm so done with strep this year thankyouverymuch.

Anyways enough whining...onto fun things! Val's friend had pictures from the play on her facebook. I grabbed one to share here that featured Val. She's the one in the center of the pic with her hands held high.



UPDATE on Luke....he's off the bus and ok. While it looks ouchy, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do anything with the cut. It's on the inside of his lip (thought it was THROUGH the lip meaning needing a stitch on his face)

My poor Michelle post has turned into

a poor US post! lol

Michelle was set to get her 2yr degree in May. Then a a 5wk course worth ONE credit hour put a monkeywrench into the plan. It's a required course (computer literacy) that she's held off on taking because it's offered at either 9am MWF or 6-9pmTues. There's no physical way I can get her to school at 9. Eileen and Olivia catch the bus between 8:30-8:40 and it takes a minimum of 30mins to get to the college. So this semester she bit the bullet and registered for the Tues night course and resigned herself to having a 9:30am - 9pm day on Tues (2.5hr break before her last class).

A few days before the class started she was told the computer literacy course was dropped due to low enrollment. They told her she could enroll in the same class that's offered in the 2nd half of the semester...and she did. First day of class was April 1st. On March 31st I took a call from the school informing her that it was dropped AGAIN but she could take the MWF course that had started that day. Ummmm no she can't! Well then she can take it in the summer or next semester. There is no next semester...she's suppose to graduate in May. Besides if she doesn't take it now she'll have to pay for it out of pocket. (it's covered under her tuition now) I texted her and she immediately made an appt with her advisor for the next day.

On the way to school on Tues I was giving her a pep talk. You have to raise a stink! It's not your fault that this is happening and you shouldn't be penalized because it's not fiscally beneficial to someone (college and/or professor) to hold the course. Afterall, if it wasn't a required course she could've taken another course at any time in the last 3 semesters. She could've even taken one 3 credit hour course this semester instead of 3 separate 1hr courses (lessening her course load).

At her appt they wracked their brains for almost an hour before they could find something that works. That's where the poor US comes in. The only solution was for her to take a Tues/Thurs course at 8AM!!! That means I have to get Eileen and Olivia ready for school over an hour earlier so they can ride to the college with Sean, Danielle and I. We should be back home before the bus gets to the house. If they miss it, it won't be by much and I should be dropping them off at school right behind the bus's arrival.

As much as I'm going to hate dragging the little ones out of bed at such an early hour. I can't fault Michelle, it wasn't her doing. She's a Dean's list student. To let 1 credit hour mess her up would be insane! It'll mean I'll have to be a bit more organized and get things ready the night before (which I should be doing anyways). dr5w. I'm trying to keep it in perspective. It's only 10 classes. She's already missed the first one (yesterday), then there's tomorrow. After that I'll get a bit of break (or the little ones will) as she has the week off for spring break. Then the following week the younger kids have a week off for their break. That means I can run out the door to do the running without any kids, leaving them all snuggly warm in their beds.

Can I just say...I can't wait for GRADUATION! (Although I think I'm deceiving myself thinking things will get easier once that's done. It's always something.)

They just love to keep me on my toes....

This weekend Carrie and Liz were fooling around when Liz accidentally kicked Carrie's thumb...hyperextending it. Carrie was complaining that her wrist hurt and wasn't using it. I didn't see any swelling or bruising and it looked normal....so I said it didn't warrant a trip to the ER. Sunday night she still wasn't using it and would cry whenever she moved it. Then I started feeling guilty and worthy of the "bad mother award". What if she somehow fractured it? I'd had myself convinced I was negligent in making her wait and was going to make a doctor appt as soon as the kids got on the bus.

As Eileen and Olivia were getting ready for school the phone rang. Caller ID put it as the school. I thought they were calling to see why Carrie wasn't there and almost let the answering machine get it while I continued to help the girls get out the door. I started thinking...it's too early for the school to be calling for absent kids and decided to pick it up. It was the high school nurse letting me know that Liz had passed out in class and hit her head on the way down. She asked me to come pick her up ASAP (knew I had kids to get on the bus still)

So I woke up Carrie and Michelle, got the girls on the bus, threw a jacket and shoes on Danielle and headed to the school. They wheeled Liz to the van door and helped her in. The nurse explained that Liz seemed to be ok...pupils were equal and reactive. BUT she was a bit confused and still shakey so I should probably get her checked out. I assured her I would, that I was already planning on taking Carrie in.

According to Liz they were watching birth videos in Child Psych. She didn't think it was bothering her, she didn't feel emotional about it and had seen a ton of videos on this subject before this. This time though it was a forceps delivery, so I think it probably was that. (Tom almost passed out watching the forceps birth video in our childbirth class) She said she felt dizzy and nauseated and had closed her eyes to keep from throwing up. She thought she'd fallen asleep and taken a nap until she opened her eyes and saw everyone's face over her. She said she was confused about what the date was because she didn't know if it was March 31st or April 1st. lol She admitted though she couldn't remember what her locker number was at first. (nurse had to go get her things for her)

We we got home all Liz wanted to do was take a nap, mean me wouldn't let her. I called the dr's. When they heard why I wanted an appt they moved the appt they were going to give me for Carrie (2:30) up to 10:30 (as soon as I could get there). So I cleaned up the little kids, found outfits for us all and loaded everyone into the van. We dropped Michelle off at school and headed to the dr's. Carrie's wrist was X-rayed and didn't turn up anything. She's out of gym for the week though so she can rest it. Liz they did an EKG, bloodwork, and tested her glucose level....everything was fine except for her white count which was higher then they'd care to see. They decided to do a throat culture (she said her throat hurt on Saturday). The dr said he though the increased count was due to the stress of the morning though. I was given the "what to watch for" talk and we were cleared to go home.

On the way home I had to resist the urge to stop at the store and buy out their supply of bubblewrap.

Just what I wanted....

My birthday was a good day. The kids kept wishing and singing Happy Birthday. I of course was hoping they'd be working their fannies off to get the house spic and span but it was a no go. I still had high hopes of getting something done around the place.

I mentioned to Tom that I wanted to remove the table our microwave sits on and replace it with a metal cabinet that was also in the kitchen. The table that's there now was a fabric display table at a craft store. It's really sturdy and the right height to work on. Unfortunately it's too deep, there's not enough room for a kitchen table between it and the fridge. We have a combo kitchen/dining room and in its present state the tables didn't fit in it. We have 2 - 4ft long farm tables that are only 30" wide (which I like and NEED). For WAY too long we've been eating in the livingroom. At times the older kids were even taking it into their bedrooms. Not good for general cleanliness and especially when you already have a mice problem. (yes that's still ongoing...it comes and goes and is on the upswing again, grrr) Anyways, Tom agreed with me and I said...that's what I want for my birthday. I want to be able to eat dinner at the table tonight. Then I ran out the door to drop off Val to the school for the play, drive into the city to pick up Michelle from work and run to grab a few things at a couple stores. When I got home the tables were where I wanted them. Tom hadn't realized I wanted the fabric table gone gone so he moved it. It can't stay where it is as it blocks a door from opening. I really want the room and want it gone...so that's one of my projects for the week...clear off, clean, take apart and lug it downstairs. (or have one of my handsome strong men lug it. ;o))

It's amazing what a small thing like sitting at a table together for a meal can seem. Yet it has a HUGE impact on things. We haven't had as much conversation as we had in a while. Yeah the meal was a bit rowdier since everyone wasn't vegging in front of the tv with their plate, but I liked it. I lost track of the number of times the kids commented on how nice it was to eat there, so they must've liked it too. They also commented on how packed in they were but that was ok. The table only holds 10 chairs so we have to SQUEEEEEEEZE in a few. Sean will eventually sit in the highchair (getting rid of the table will allow room for the chair) so that will be nice. Drew and Allison were there too (Val and Pat were missing) so instead of giving Danielle her own chair with her booster seat on it, she shared chairs with Liz, Eileen and eventually ended up in my lap along with Sean.

My BIL who's staying with us gave me some money to go out and buy a bunch of steaks and some snacks. And buy I did! I don't think we've ever had as much steak leftover as we had. If I'd stop sneaking hunks out I could've probably used it to make steak fajitas for a meal this week. As it is, Tom will be lucky if he has enough to take for lunch tomorrow.

Drew and Allison gave me a 7qt pot with a strainer lid. I really like it. It'll help cut down on dishes (no colander needed), and it'll make me use my lid like I should be (save on energy). Pat and Jess gave me a pot of pretty purple flowers. I'll have to figure out where I want to replant them, although with this weather I'll have a few months to make the decision. Michelle bought me a scratch off lottery ticket, it was a LOSER! but was fun to play anyways.

Michelle set up a sundae bar with tons of toppings and we stuffed ourselves silly with deliciousness. We were so full that we decided to wait to have the cake until the next day.

It's neat to see how my feelings about the kitchen, cooking and the house in general has been effected by the changes in the kitchen. I've always loved to cook and bake but I have only done the bare minimum in there. I wanted to avoid the crowded messy place. The more I tried to avoid it, the worse it got. Now I want to organize, decorate, and actually USE the appliances in the room. LOL And the effect doesn't just stay in the kitchen. The laundry and my room have gotten a bit more attention that it has in a while. My time constraints and full arms can be a bit frustrating when I start feeling like this and then the discouragement starts in again. I just keep reminding myself...baby steps. Pick something and DO IT!

BRAVO! BRAVO!!!

Thank you for the birthday wishes. I really appreciate it. The birthday report may end up being another post. Right now I have to talk about Friday night.

I had a GREAT time!!! It was opening night for the high school play, Beauty and the Beast. Since Val is an enchanted item, a spoon to be exact, we bought tickets for most everyone to go (not Danielle and Sean). I left Sean home Friday night and went with Michelle, her friend S, and my parents. Pat, Jess and Jess's mom were there too. Tom is taking the other 6 kids to the matinee which starts at 2 today. They are so excited!!!

OMGoodness!!! What an awesome production. The costumes were fantastic, the sets looked professional and at first I thought M who played Belle was lip syncing...she was that good. Of course knowing some of the kids and their personalities helps you enjoy the show more. Like J who plays Gaston. NO one else could've filled that role, it was made for him.

None of us went last night. Val got home really late, the seniors had gone with Mrs B to a local diner after the show. Val was telling me all about their adventure, including singing for everyone in the place and some interesting patrons that they encountered. I asked her the other day if she wishes that she found drama club earlier in her high school career. She admitted she did although I'm not so sure if it would've won out over volleyball back then. The reason she was in it this year was because she wasn't fit enough to be on the volleyball team this season. If you ask me, drama club seems to suit her personality a bit better....but what do I know. lol

Even with Val being super busy with play practices she still managed a trip to the mall on Monday. When she got home she reported that she found her prom dress and asked if I could go get it the next day. lol It was on clearance and there was one her size so she was afraid it would be gone before she got back there (since the play was going to occupy every waking minute plus some for the next week). We finally figured out that she wouldn't have practice after school on Thurs (they were holding 4 mini performances all day long instead). So it was decided we'd run to the mall, grab the dress and find some shoes and accessories. I am happy to report...it's DONE! Granted the dress was more then I was hoping to get away with, but it was cheaper then Michelle's. Doling out the bucks made me SO thankful we have a Senior Ball only rule. What the rule is is that we'll pay for the prom/ball experience for the senior year only. If you want to go to other ones, you have to figure out how to outfit and get your ticket yourself. So far they've managed to get it done too.

Lately I suck at time management! There's never enough hours in the day. Here I thought going to the mall by 4pm would allow us enough time to get done what we had to and get home for the youth meeting at 7:30. NOPE! I sorely failed. I had Liz and Carrie with me so they couldn't make it. Luke was stuck home because there was no vehicle. It really bugs me when they miss things for stupid reasons like running late. But it seems I'm always racing against the clock no matter which day it is or where I have to go. I need a pause button!

Happy Birthday to me!

Going to bed but decided for a treat I'd post my favorite video made with clips from my favorite video game, Final Fantasy X. (and FF-X2) I can't hear this song without thinking of this video. Which then makes me want to play FFX lol

Busy week

The kids had Thurs, Fri and Mon off but that doesn't mean my running stops. Thursday Carrie had a TODAY study appt that we've been trying to get done for weeks. Michelle had to work, Val had play practice all day long and Liz was spending the night at a friend's house so Luke on down went with us. The nurses said they didn't recognize Carrie she looked so much older. She really does seem to have grown out of that little girl look lately. Here's a pic of Carrie (on the left) and Liz.



She hasn't done so great with taking her medicine. :o( There's no immediate consequence for her, she feels fine. She's usually rushing out the door for the school bus in the morning. Once she's in school there's no way for her to get her morning dose in, even if she remembers later. Dinner there's little excuse other then it's crazy here and I don't have my act together which is no excuse. She/we've been doing a lot better about it this week :o). Her weight stayed around the same. She's hardly gained any weight since being dx'd a few years ago. She's not growing but everything (thyroid, growth hormones, etc) seem to be testing out normal. It's probably a mix of the side effects of the total body irradiation from her bone marrow transplant and that she was destined to be small. Her bone age scan says she'll probably be 5ft as an adult, she's 4'10" now. She has to have another bone age scan done soon so we'll see if it still agrees with the last one.

We stopped at my parents' house afterwards. Some of the kids hadn't seen them in quite a while. At least I get to talk to them on the phone. It makes me sad to see Danielle and Sean reserved around them. It's solely based on not enough contact. The other kids saw them a LOT more often. Hopefully after Michelle's done with classes and gets her license that won't be so much of a problem. Although I'm probably disillusioned. :o( My mom made us dinner with her homemade Vodka sauce and pasta...YUM!!! I'm going to be getting the recipe and posting it on my food blog soon (link is above, labeled Growlies). We got home just in time for the older kids to go to the youth meeting. The little ones and I went grocery shopping before picking up Michelle from work.

My sister's girls were suppose to be coming for a few days but the youngest was sick earlier in the week. I decided Fri that I wasn't going to have them because I was too frazzled. I've never felt like that before and have never used that as an excuse. Unfortunately it was true and I WAS feeling like it. I still had running to do...Michelle work, Jake to a friend's, Val to play practice. It was BEAUTIFUL day out and the girls went for a walk. He I was busy around here but didn't accomplish much of anything as usual. All in all though I defrazzled a bit.

Fri night Tom brought home another deer for our freezer. With his brother out of town for the weekend I volunteered to help him process it on Sat morning. Tom and I were up bright and early and skinned the deer. He decided he should go for an early dump run and I decided to get started on processing the deer while he was gone. By the time he got back, I was almost done getting the meat off (still had to trim and package it later). I had NO idea what I was doing as I've never done it or seen it done before. I think I did a pretty decent job though. At least I ended up with quite a few bigger pieces then the guys did the week before. After I was done it was time to take Michelle to work. I was going to wait to go shopping for Easter stuff (which I had NONE of) until I picked her up that evening. Tom had asked me to pick up a few things so I decided to go during the day instead. Good thing I did too because when we hit the stores after she got out of work, the shelves were BARE! I ended up at Walmart, Wegmans, and Walgreens without getting anything more that I was looking for. Luckily I had bought enough to make the baskets presentable that morning. I think I might've been reduced to tears if I hadn't. When we got home Sean was having a fit so I took him to bed while Liz, Carrie and Tom did the baskets. That was a first for me....I've ALWAYS done them. Was kinda nice.

Sunday morning saw all the kids wearing chocolate beards and getting hopped up on sugar. The older kids decided they'd hide eggs outside for the little ones to hunt for. I was wishing for a video camera. Danielle was hilarious she'd find an egg, do this adorable run back to her container and SLAM dunk the egg into it. She'd then do her adorable run to another area of the yard to search. At one time I was about to yell at her to get her hands out of the snowbank when I saw her yank out an egg and realized what she was doing. After the egg hunt we got ready to go to my aunt's for Easter dinner. I had made a HUGE fruit salad for it and was drooling at the thought of eating it. Luckily there were leftovers of it and we had some for breakfast and snacks. There's an interesting story of what else we brought home from the dinner on my food blog. here.

Poor Sean. His eczema was flaring up by the time we got home from my aunt's house. I'm not sure why though since no one was smoking and there were no animals. These pictures were taken right after we got home. It seemed to get worse before bed and he woke up oozing in the morning.



Monday was fairly easy going. Michelle still had class so I had to drive her in. I managed to get some laundry done but not much else. Michelle didn't have to work so was out at 4pm. Evening activities were not scheduled so that meant no running at night. YEAH!

I'd make up for it on Tuesday though. School was back in session but we had dentist appts for noon. That meant I had to take Michelle to work at 9:30, go home and had an hour to get ready to leave. Pick up the school kids at 11 and then head into the city. We were there for over 2hrs and Sean was SO ready to get out of there when we left. We headed to my parents again. This time I thought we had tons of time until we had to be home at 7:30 for cleaning. I could finally help my mom figure out how to use the digital frame and a keychain I got her from Christmas (were still in the boxes). Time flew and next think I knew it was 7:00 and we hadn't left yet. (My dad had made us dinner quickly before we left). I had a 40 min drive ahead of us and they were due at cleaning in less then 30mins. Hmmmmm. While driving I realized I couldn't really make it to church and then back to school before 8 when Val needed to be picked up. So we decided to go right to school and wait for Val. Their play went 40mins over!!! GRRRRRRRRRR! That left me with under 20mins to get to Michelle's work which is about 25mins away. Lucky for me she didn't get out of work right away and we got there in time. We pulled into the driveway just before 10pm with the 4 little ones sleeping. Sean and Danielle were hysterical when we got them inside so I took them right to bed. I also feel asleep with them which prompted me to be fully awake, tossing and turning at 2am. So I got up and discovered our internet was still down. Good time to clean...naaaaaw. Time to grab a book! I read until 4:30 when Sean started crying and I climbed back into bed with him, dozing until it was time to get up for good at 6:30.

The kids having days off of school always messes me up in terms of what day is what. I realized that today was Wed and I'd missed chat last night. I guess it was a good thing the internet was down otherwise I wouldn't have been very happy with the thought of missing it. Only two more days of school! I'm not too sure why the thought of the weekend excites me. It's not like there's too much relaxing's going on during the weekends. lol

Aaaah! I finally got one...

I got to take a HOT shower, alone, for as long as I wanted, without anyone knocking on the door! Granted, it was 5:30 in the morning but still I'm not really sure when the last time that's happened. I guess there've been some 2am ones but even those can be interrupted by Sean waking up. Just having the fear he'll wake up while I'm in there and wake up Tom can put a damper on the experience. Besides I'm usually too exhausted to enjoy it.

So what were all the pieces that had to fall into place for me to get this treat....

• A DEEPLY sleeping baby
• A day off from school
• Me waking up on my own at 5:30am
• A husband pulling a double shift :o(

Yep, with all the rain last night Tom ended up having to go into work at 11pm and will work until 3:30pm today. I wish he didn't have to. I hate when he has to. It makes me look forward to the day he retires a bit more. BUT I'm sure I'll appreciate the extra cash when he gets it in 2wks (we sure can use it, things are tight around here again).

I've been waking up really early a lot of days. Probably because quite a few of times I end up falling asleep when I put the little kids to bed at 10 or 11pm instead of my regular midnight - 3am gig. Usually I'll wake up lay there thinking and thinking (and do ALL my work in my head) not wanting to get up and risk waking up anyone else. Quite often I'm playing the...nurse the baby back to sleep before you HAVE to get up with the school kids, race against the clock game. Or I'll just doze on and off, usually mixing in a pretty vivid dream here and there.

Today's a staff development day so the kids have it off. It was so nice this morning to jump up looking for the clock, thinking we might've overslept, only to realize...there's no school today!!! If school was in session today, I'd have been using the bathroom during the time frame that Val and Tom usually get in there. A later shower means a cold or lukewarm one at best, after all 8 or 9 people have used it before that. We do need to replace the hot water heater though. I'd like to get on demand tankless heaters but I doubt that'll happen.

Well guess my day has started....Sean is done nursing and Olivia just came from her room upset. Seems she just had a dream that she went over the falls. :o( I HATE those types of dreams!

The BUS!

That's usually the last thing I hear out of my kids' mouths in the morning. They're screaming to who ever is straggling behind and still in the house. This morning it was Liz. First she forgot her glasses and had to run upstairs. Then it was her shoes. Those pesky shoes, they like to hide and disappear altogether. I'd say I have NO idea how anyone can lose a pair of shoes, but I'm the main one that does it. Our shoe pile by the door isn't even bad right now, you can actually see the floor.

With the bus pulling up outside Liz runs to the shoe rack. She can't find her blue slip on sketchers. I find one, or so I thought. I'm informed, no those are Michelle's rocket dogs. I hear the bus pull to a stop. Then she decides she'll wear the black jellies instead. Where's the other one!?! We dig through the pile and can't find it. The 0ther kids are getting on the bus, the driver will only wait a second. Liz says...I don't care! I just have to wear SOMETHING! She grabs the black sequined platform sandals. (I have to wonder if they even FIT her!) and hobbles/runs out the door while trying to slip them on. She gets on the bus and it pulls away, leaving me to grab a fussing Sean (he had to be put down so I could dig) and fall into my chair feeling a bit frazzled. I take a breath, squeeze Sean for a bit, take a swig of my coffee and head for the little girls room to start it all over again. How many more days of school? I am SO glad this week is only 3 days long! Maybe next week we'll all have our act together.

And here I sit

Nope, I didn't make it to church again today. I'm sitting here typing with one hand, nursing Sean while Danielle is draped across my lap. You'd think that THIS weekend would be the time I could/would get out the door. No kids are sick, the girls are at my sisters, Luke ended up staying at my BIL's, Jake ended up having a friend sleep over and Michelle doesn't have to be at work until 3. Technically all I had to get ready was me, Sean and Danielle...which is EASY! Unfortunately waking up at 7:30 with a splitting headache that hurts more if my eyes are open more then a slit and leaves me trying not to barf turns that easy into almost impossible. I grabbed some ibuprofen (which I hardly ever take) and some coffee and sat in my chair. I tried to check my email but the brightness of the screen hurt. Luckily Tom was awake so we got some time to have a conversation with full sentences. Within the hour everyone else was up. The ibuprofen brought my headache to a dull roar but I still felt nauseated when I moved my head just so. Luckily I don't have to look at the screen to type. :o)

It's amazing how quiet it's been here without the girls. Not that they make all the noise but they are a big factor in it. It's weird how even one person's absence effects how things are around here, take out 4 people and there's a big change. Danielle was heartbroken that she didn't get to go. She got over it quickly after they left. She's been Jake's buddy this weekend and was offended when she wasn't included in their games of trouble and battleship.

I wanted to get so much done around here this weekend. The laundry pile has gotten to almost bearable status and I was hoping to conquer it. Then of course I'd have to go into the bedrooms and the piles would magically grow again. I managed to get the small bathroom picked up a bit. I even washed walls. This led me to want to paint the room. I've had the paint waiting for a while now. I just have to find the paint pads and have some hand's free time. Then there was the kitchen that I was hoping to get to sparkling and organized allowing me to cook/bake things without major effort. Right now my kitchen table is full of folded clean clothes so my workspace is TEENY TINY. One thing I'm short of in here is counter/work space. I wanted to get a bunch of bread baked, tortillas made and a container of cookies wouldn't have been too shabby. Oh well, I'll concentrate on getting this week's menu planned and consider myself ahead of the game. lol

I think I've mentioned it before but I'm writing for the Mega Mom Blog now. I put a new post up on the 13th. I admit I haven't been as active over there as I should have been but I'm getting back into the swing of things in blogland and hope to be more regular over there. This month's topic is spring. Not an easy topic to write about when you're covered in ice and snow. The picture on my post was taken between the ice and snow storm. I couldn't get the beauty of the ice to show up on the pic so became a stark B&W instead. I really wish I'd gotten pictures of things after the snow. I must've said...that's beautiful, it's a winter wonderland and I wish I had a camera, a hundred times in the days after the snow hit.

As some of you may have noticed I started my food blog up again. I'm not sure of it's purpose or direction as of yet. It's mostly boring menus and a place to put my recipes right now. There's a link to it at the top of this blog, labeled Growlies. (slang for munchies or supper)

This week looks to be an "easy" week. There's only 3 days of school and then a 5 day weekend. YIPPEE! I can't believe it's Easter week, I don't have anything bought for baskets yet. I usually only do candy but still it requires time, thought and money...none of which I have much of ATM. We're going to my aunt's house for Easter dinner so I also have to plan and buy something to bring for that. I'm thinking fruit salad right now.

This screen is getting very bright and bothersome. I think it's time for another dose of ibuprofen.

I've been around, but not here

This week has gone fairly well as far as going to school goes. Luke and Liz each missed a day. Liz probably would've tried to skip it yesterday (really bad cramps) except then she'd miss going to my sister's for the weekend. I should have that incentive EVERYDAY...Eileen and Olivia got up half an hour early on their own! lol

The birthdays were a bit subdued. I was surprised when Val didn't ask for a party. She's had a decent one each year and she was hitting a big milestone...18! She opted to just stay home and have cake with us and her boyfriend. Tom and I took the two of them to Red Lobster for dinner on Monday. Michelle and Cory gave us $50 giftcertificates for Christmas and I borrowed the rest from Michelle. Things were a bit tight here this last payday.

Olivia's celebration a bit pathetic. I ended up running all day and didn't have time to bake a cake like I'd planned. So we stuck some candles into some ice cream sandwiches and sang Happy Birthday to her. I'd feel horrible about it but we're planning on having a Libby Lu type party for her next week. I was hoping to buy some Hannah Montana wigs for the girls but that looks to be more then I'm willing to spend. So looks like we'll be doing a princess theme. I saw a lot of awesome things for a princess party at the Dollartree. They also had a lot of options for accessory things. I should be able to go shopping for it on Wed or Thurs. I'm having fun thinking of everything we could do.

Luke still hasn't mentioned doing anything for his birthday. Maybe once the weather is nicer he can have a bunch of boys camp out back with a bonfire and everything. He's not so into group stuff and at times has to be pushed to participate. I really have to watch not allowing this tendency be an excuse to let things go for him. He's not on to readily show how he's feeling which scares me. I wish he'd be the squeaky wheel once in a while.

Normally I love to have parties and people over. On the way home from taking Michelle to school the other day I was thinking about it. How I wish we had the funds to have people over for dinner or a party on a regular basis. Then again I'd also have to start maintaining the house a LOT better. I'm guessing it's the time of year that it's hitting me. Being stuck in the house, having sick kids so much lately. I am SO missing seeing my friends. I haven't been to church since the beginning of the year. At least there aren't any sick kids or schedules to keep me from there tomorrow.

Sean and Danielle are a riot! Sean's getting more and more verbal everyday. Seems like his mouth is always going. It surprises me how I find his actions so amazing. You'd think having done this more then a few times it'd be old hat. Sometimes I feel like a first time mom who's never seen it before. I also feel blessed that I have the experience to pick up the tiny things that could be missed. Things like the little tiny finger movements of when someone's counting on their hands and he's trying to do the same or when someone starts to walk out the door and he's thinking/saying bye-bye. He's all about Daddy right now. Tom barely gets the front door closed before Sean's rocking and humming for him. He throws a fit if Tom doesn't pick him up whenever he gets near him. I'm happy to report that he also stopped chomping while nursing. I was on the brink of forcing him to wean it had gotten so bad. As I suspected his 2nd tooth on the bottom erupted. Hopefully this won't get to be a habit every time he's teething.

Danielle's new thing is to insist on doing everything by herself....except walking on the snow. She's afraid of falling on the snowy walkway so usually asks me to carry her. Once we're past that though it's all....me do! Me walk! me do! She wants to climb in the van, brush her teeth, get dressed. She was struggling with her skirt and I was asking....Can I help? No! Can I help now? No. Now? No. Finally she said...You help now please. LOL The other day she started asking...WHY? to everything. You can't say anything without that question being asked. I asked her to pull the plug on the tub....WHY? So the water can go down the drain....WHY? So the dirty water will go away...WHY? You get the picture. It's cute for the first few times...after that notsomuch.

This morning the phone rang bright and early (luckily we were already up). It was someone that Tom works with telling us he had 2 deer for us. He has special permits to hunt deer that are considered a menace. He'd asked Tom if we were interested and Tom said sure. So he called his brother and they butchered them. I felt sorry for Tom though since he also had to juggle running all over town with trying to get that done. He ran to the dump, took Val to play practice, then Michelle to work. Picked up the deer and started butchering it then it was time to pick up Val from school, went back to butchering then pick up Michelle from work. I couldn't help but realize if we had our car that this wouldn't have been a problem. I could've done the running while he was working with the deer. Sometimes I really wonder if selling our car to Pat is a good idea. I wish we could find a nice minivan for really cheap. The amount of money I'm putting in the van gas tank each month would practically pay for a brand new car. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so nice. I find myself wondering lately if I'm really doing my kids any favors by helping them out like I do. If they were to suffer a bit more they might be more motivated to do things on their own and for themselves. Oh well, I am what I am.

Back in they go!

Yep, I had to take the kids back to the doctor's on Wedneday. Luke was feeling worse on day 4 of his meds then he had been when I took him in for the throat culture. Eileen and Liz were complaining of stomach pains and along their diaphram hurting. Having had kids with pneumonia that I would've sworn was appendicitis I decided it was best to get checked out.

Luke had me a bit scared the night before I took him in that I considered a trip to the ER. He was snoring very loudly and then he'd suddenly stop. I realized it was because he'd stopped breathing. His tonsils were HUGE , ugly and red. The original thought was that he also had something viral ontop of the strep. They decided to be on the safe side though and prescribe another med incase the original med wasn't effective against the strep.

I was starting to feel like an overreacting mother when it came to Eileen and Liz. I mean come on...stomach pains? She was examined and had her urine tested. It was decided that her meds were probably causing cramps (a side effect) so they put her on a different one. As of this morning she's still feeling achy. I'm starting to wonder if it's viral. Liz said a couple of girls at school were complaining of a similar pain (but not as intense).

I knew most of Eileen's pains were probably muscle related (hurt her when she coughed...which wasn't often...or moved her arms) but I didn't feel it explained the lower ab pains she was having. After her exam it was decided her urine should probably be tested too. It came back chock full of white cells. So now we're waiting for the cultures to tell us what it is so they know how to treat it.

I've had so many kids home so much lately that I'm afraid the school is going to think I'm being negligent and report us to CPS. Besides Monday I haven't had everyone go to school in forever. It makes me wish I homeschooled so I wouldn't have that dilemma/fight every morning. It also makes me seriously consider whether homeschooling should be in our future. I hate sending my kids out the door every morning! The things holding me back are...I rarely complete anything and am a major procrastinator. This state is so highly regulated that I'd be on probation before I knew it. (Carrie's standardized test scores alone would cause me to be put on probation) Tom' s not in the homeschooling mindset although I don't know if he's against it either. They'd miss being with their church friends and cousins. (some moreso then others)

I'm so glad it's the weekend! Now to get these kids well and keep them there!

Quick Post

I'm exhausted and headed to bed as soon as I'm done here. I've been wanting to get a post up all weekend but something kept calling me away.

It's the start of birthday week here. Luke turned 15 on Sunday. We didn't do much since most of his friends were out of town this weekend. He wanted meatball subs and stuffing for his dinner and he got it. He picked a devil's food cake (had the mix) with canned chocolate frosting. I didn't have any oil so melted a stick of margarine in the micro. I then proceeded to FORGET to add it into the batter. So Luke's cake was the nonfat version. I thought it would flop something awful but came out not too shabby. We gave him the Zelda DS game, not knowing that Pat already had it and Luke could use it. (Luke didn't know either). I decided that I'd splurge and buy him something else too. Originally I was thinking a big bag of peanut m&m's and a mylar balloon from the dollar store. I ended up getting him a Zelda collection tin with a DS lite starter set, plus some extras inside. He seemed to like it and brought it with him when he left. Yes, he left to go hang out with church friends after dinner and before cake. So Luke's birthday night was kinda quiet around here. He on the otherhand had fun with his friends. Olivia's next with her 8th birthday on Thurs. Then Val hits the big milestone of 18 on Sunday the 9th. Another adult in the house.

Saturday I found out that everyone I took to the dr's on Friday tested positive for Strep AGAIN! This time though I only had 5 of them tested. Liz on down to and including Eileen. Liz and Luke tested positive for Group B strep (body can fight off itself) the rest all had Group A (need an antibiotic to treat). I asked for Luke and Liz to be treated also since they've been sick on and off with this for a few weeks now. Even today Luke's not feeling so hot. I am SO sick of having a houseful of sick people. I think I'm coming down with something now too. My chest is heavy, I'm coughing and like I said in the beginning..I'm exhausted. At least Sean and Danielle seem to be healthy.

Today was the first day since I can't remember when that EVERYONE went to school. It wasn't easy. I had to practically push Eileen out the door. She was oh so sore from falling off the top bunk this on Fri night (has a few bruises, but you know how the make it impossible to do school work! lol) Got her out the door and thought she was headed back in after she slipped at the bottom of the porch stairs. Then she tried to use it again...showing me her wet pants and "bruised" knee. Unfortunately for her I was a meany and wasn't buying. Then I was sure Olivia was headed in after she slipped on a patch of ice and landed squarely on her bum. Luckily she got up without falling again and then the bus was coming down the street. I slammed the front door shut and literally said PHEW as they climbed on the bus.

Sean is getting to be quite sharp. He seems to be picking up new "tricks" everyday. This week he learned to clap. Early in the week he kept running his thumb under the first few fingers of his hand. I couldn't figure out where he'd seen someone try to snap their fingers. A few hours later while seeing him do it again and again I realized.....he was trying to count!!!
Tom had been using his fingers to count to five. Sean was trying to copy him. Then Sunday Val and I were in Walmart waiting for the pharmacy to open. I was perusing the toy section, looking for a trinket to buy Luke for his birthday. Sean was in teh cart behind me with Val standing next to him. All of a sudden Sean yells BAAAAAL! Val shouts...did you just say BALL!?! Mom, did he just say ball? I admitted it sounded like he did. When I turned around the little stinker was reaching out toward the opposite side of aisle....toward the huge ball bin. We grabbed out a small ball for him to play with. I have yet to hear him say it again. And today.....he was trying to pull himself up into a standing position on SIL, D's coffee table and then her son's big box of hotwheels. D and I were laughing at how different we viewed that step now that we know what's ahead of us once they get mobile. Drew by now was standing on his own, taking steps and would be walking in 2wks time. Of course being first time parents we were so proud and excited. Now I'm like...someone push him down! Put a rock in his diaper! I'm not ready for him to be getting into everything yet! LOL Funny though I feel like every new trick he learns, I'm seeing it for the first time and it's just as amazing as it was when the first kid learned it.

OOOPS....Sean just woke up. Going to run in and jump into bed with the guy. Tom's on call and has gone into work for midnight. He's gearing up to deal with a storm that's headed here in a few hours.

Nightlife and Last Day.... #3

We bundled everyone up and headed out to view the town. Our hotel was in the Clifton Hill area which is very touristy with tons of lights and attractions. This is a picture Carrie took of the Skywheel and some shops.



We walked down to the bottom of the hill. This brought us to the Niagara River facing the American falls in it's lit up splendor.



Walking back UP the hill was a killer. Sean weighs a ton! I had him wrapped inside my coat with me to keep him warm (I was wishing I had a sling about then). Danielle rode in the stroller. After buying some fudge Tom and I decided to take the little kids back to the hotel and take them swimming before bed. The older kids decided to explore a bit more. One of the places they visited was the Hershey store. The storefront is a huge Hershey bar. Here's Carl and Val fooling around with a Hershey Kiss...



And Michelle getting a pet from him....



The last morning we checked out at 11. Drew had to give the van a jumpstart since the back door hadn't shut all the way (latch is touchy). The inside lights being on for 2 days killed the battery. We got the van going and headed down the Horseshoe Falls parking area. Here's the beauty before it was shattered...

The river/rapids above the falls...



The brink of the falls...



Everything gets covered in ice because of the mist....



The only picture I could find of Jake (includes Eileen and half of Tom lol)...



Here's a picture of both falls on the way out of town (American side to the left, Canadian side in the center)...



And everyone exhausted on the way home...



Since we didn't end up spending any money (besides buying the fudge) we decided we'd order Pizza and wings and pick them up on the way through the village. It was GREAT not having to make dinner! When we pulled into the driveway we found something attached to our storm door. It was a HUGE green and gold ALOHA sign. We're not sure where it came from but was hilarious to come home to.

The really neat thing....on the way home from dropping Carl off Val says to me...that was the BEST vacation I've ever had. Considering what she'd been through that day and she'd been on Carrie's Make a Wish trip to Florida/Orlando for 10 days....that's an awesome statement. Money well spent IMO.

For those accessing my blog from this post directly...check out my other Niagara Falls posts and pictures...

Fallsview Waterpark...#2
Now Onto the Fun Stuff...#1
Thanks for linking to me Access Niagara

Fallsview Waterpark...#2

Walking into the place was suffocating at first. The temperature was a very humid 86 degrees (fahrenheit). We went to the front desk and had our bracelets put on. It allowed us entry to the park all that day and until 3pm the following day. We rented a family size locker (yeah right! we could've used 3 of them) and went to change our clothes.

The place is AWESOME!!!! There are 4 main areas...

The Tot splash area...


Interesting tidbit but probably TMI...Danielle ended up causing the tot area to be closed down on the first night. She'd gone down the little yellow slide shown on the right with a poopy swim diaper. They had to sanitize it and keep it closed for so long.

The Beach clubhouse...



The wave pool and slide area...



Everyone had a great time although Danielle needed a bit of encouragement at first. Here's Liz and Allison trying to psych Danielle up to go play...



Her favorite spot was sitting on the end of mom's lounge chair. Usually she was people watching (just like her mom)



Eileen and Olivia were going nonstop. Here they are in the wave pool...



The clubhouse had a huge bucket on the roof. As it got full of water it would start clanging. Then this would happen...



Resulting in this...


That's Michelle, Allison and Liz getting drenched.

Here's Luke and Drew relaxing for a bit...


Jake was almost impossible to get a picture of because he was on the go constantly.

Liz and Carrie showing just how much fun they are having....



I know I already showed off Sean in the water but he's just too cute to not share again. Here's him and Olivia in the tot section....



We stayed at the park until 3 the 2nd day. As we were leaving it was announced that the wave pool and slides were closed. Seems someone either got sick or pooped in the wave pool. Both sections share the same water supply. I'm not sure how long they were closed down for. It made me glad that Danielle only affected the little tot section. LOL We headed back to our hotel room and ate dinner which was cooked shrimp with cocktail sauce, seafood salad on pita bread, veggies and dip and cheez-its. (so solved the lent/meat dilemma)

The next post will be our night and the last day of our vacation.

Now onto the fun stuff.... #1

I have over 20 pictures to share so I'm breaking the trip up into a few posts.


As it usually goes I left too much to do until the end. I was forced into bed at 4am when Sean started crying for me. There was lots of discussion about what time to leave. Opinions ran anywhere from 6 - 10am. Knowing that people would want to shower before we left I thought getting out the door at 10 would be doing well. We rolled out of bed somewhere between 7:30 and 8 and we were pulling out of the driveway by 10:30...not too shabby.

On our way....



We got to our hotel about 1:40. Our hotel rooms (we had 3 of them) were ready. We went up, settled in and had lunch. Here's the view from our rooms...



The pool wasn't too big but with the waterpark package it didn't matter so much. On the 2nd night a little boy walking along the hot tub seats knocked Danielle into the tub and underwater. When I realized that she wasn't suppose to be underwater I grabbed her arm and pulled her out, sputtering and crying. She was ok but scared. I took her into the sauna to keep warm while I dried her off for the night.

After everyone had enough lunch we headed across the street to the waterpark. This picture was taken on the way OUT of the park, but oh well. The park's built on the roof of the casino's hotel. That hooded figure is Allison.



Next post is the waterpark.

I couldn't leave things as they were

I just couldn't leave the last post as a first post on my blog....it's too sad. So I'm showing off my waterbaby. Sean LOVED the waterpark. He's always liked water but I never realized how much until yesterday. I put him in the tot section of the park and he played and played. We finally took him out after he was in there for an hour and a half. He splashed, he tried to catch bubbles, he laid on his belly and put his face in the water. The rocking you see him do is what he does when he's really happy. (it's also how he dances). I apologize to my friends on dial-up. I know videos are a PIYA for you. I promise not post them very often.

Tragedy mars our GREAT vacation

First let me say that everyone arrived home safe and sound. Secondly let me warn...the next story is disturbing. I have to start at the end of our vacation for a few reasons. I need to get it off my chest and stop thinking about it. I also want to get it over and done with since it really does distract me from the rest of what was a wonderful vacation for everyone.

We checked out of our hotel at 11 and headed to see the falls. We had visited it the night before and saw it lit up but the kids wanted to see it upclose during the day. Here's a pic I took with Olivia's camera to show just how close we got to it. The blob on the left is the ice covered railing.



When we first got there we debated on whether to get some hot cocoa at Tim Horton's or to wait until we were ready to leave. The line was pretty long so we decided to go outside first. Michelle, Val, Carl (Val's boyfriend) and Carrie were already in line so opted for the hot cocoa first.

We went out and enjoyed the beautiful view. It was a pretty nice day but still cold. As Michelle, Val, Carl and Carrie came out Danielle started complaining her finger was ouchie. Checking it out I realized that it was FREEZING! So I asked Tom if we could go in and get the hot cocoa now...he agreed so in we went. Tom, Drew, Luke and Jake went into Tim Horton's while the rest of us waited in the center of the "mall".

Tom was about to order when the other kids came into the mall. Val walks up to me and says...MOM! We just saw a man go over the falls!!! WHAT!?!?!? You're kidding right? No mom really! Looking at her face I realized she wasn't kidding me. She was shaking like a leaf. I ran into TH and told Tom then I went outside to see if they were mistaken. The police were pulling up and walked with me to where the crowd was gathered. The officer asked if anyone had any pictures. I went inside to ask the girls and check the cameras. We didn't have anything that would interest the police.

Val said she was standing near the brink of the falls (about where I took the picture) and saw a man in a leather coat swimming underwater with the current. Everyone was shouting NO! NO! He came up and then went back down again to swim some more. When he came up again he shouted something. Val thinks it was something along the lines of....Don't worry and I'm ok (I think). He then went over the edge of the falls. Val said at that moment EVERYONE went silent. Older ladies next to her started crying.

I found a newspaper report about it on Sun the 24th.

At first I was upset that someone would do that. Then I was angry! How dare he ruin this experience for all those people!!! How dare he be so selfish as to mess up a huge group of people. I'm just so thankful we decided to go inside when we did. The little kids are having a hard enough time understanding this (not that anyone really can understand it). I couldn't imagine if they'd actually seen it. Val said she looked around after it happened and noticed that there were no little kids around. Thank God for that. On the way home everyone was pretty somber. I found myself starting to cry on and off. I cried for my kids. To have to live with that scene in their head for the rest of their life. To not be able to look at or talk about Niagara Falls without thinking of that horrible instant.

I keep looking at the 4 kids, wondering if they are ok. Wondering if/how this will effect them. Carrie has me worried. She hasn't really said anything about this. I did tell her I'd call school on Mon and tell Ms S what happened. She seemed to like that idea. I reminded her that if she wanted to talk about it she could talk to me or to Ms S.

We really did have a good vacation otherwise. I took quite a few pics of the waterpark including an adorable video of Sean the waterbaby. :o) Everyone wants to get on the computer to update their various pages. I hope to have a more upbeat and picture heavy post up by tomorrow night.

A little housekeeping

I've been wanting to update my blog for some time now. It's nice to get it done and off my mind. It's amazing how much energy a thought can suck out of you. Makes me want to dust off and revamp my food blog now. It's always something.

The girls have recouperated well from the flu. I know my sister's youngest ended up with it too. I'm not sure how her other two girls fared. Sean seems to have avoided getting it (unless this is what he had while admitted to the hospital...but he tested neg for influenza). I've been fighting something in my chest. While it's irritating it hasn't gone into something that slows me down. Unfortunately Luke and Jake are not feeling well now (as of last night). Nothing like being sick during vacation. What makes it worse is that it's Island Week. What makes it doubly worse is that we reserved 3 hotel rooms in Niagara Falls, Canada for 2 nights, starting on Thurs...including admission into an indoor waterpark. We have my BIL to thank for the trip, he's paying for most of the bill.

This week is our school's mid-winter break. Those of you who've been around here a while will realize what that means....ISLAND WEEK!!! Yep, it's our 4th annual Island week. This year hasn't been as packed full of plans as past years. I figure actually hanging out in 84degree temperatures in the middle of February is more island like then chicken kabobs (and I might get to making those still. We've been going like gangbusters on decorations though. There's talk of some of them following us to our hotel rooms. lol I'm hoping to have pictures up soon.

We're probably going to bring most of our food (hotel has breakfast covered). I'm thinking we'll probably buy lunch on Thurs and dinner on Fri. I'm a little stuck on what to bring/make (nothing to cook with) for lunch on Friday. It's lent and someone who's going with us is Catholic so that excludes most subs. If anyone has any ideas before tomorrow night when I'll be grocery shopping....leave me a comment and let me know!!!

On Friday I had Val back into the dr's. She'd been nauseated/vomiting and having constant headaches for about 3wks. The dr put her on blood pressure medicine. (listed also as preventing migraines) My first thought was...that's ridiculous!!!! But then thinking back, it makes sense. Her pressure has been high for a while now. We've always given excuses why it was up....she was in pain, she was sick, etc. There's no excuse now and it's still the same. Monday she had a GYN visit and they just as shocked to hear what meds she was taking. They looked back at her July visit though and yep, her pressure was up even then. Amazingly she hasn't had a headache since the day after starting her med. So she's happy. She'd due back to the dr on March 11th when I bring Sean in for his next well child check. By then Val will be a legal adult since her birthday is the 9th. :o)

Sean is growing so quickly. His first tooth made an appearance last week. (Can I just say...OUCH!!!) His newest trick happens while he's sitting on the floor, which he loves to do. He takes both his hands, puts them betweens his legs and pushes himself backwards across the floor. It's adorable! He hasn't figured out that he can get places by doing it but it's still helping him get into things. Might not be what he intended to get into (aiming for somewhere in front of him) but it works nonetheless. I'm still not finding much time with my hands free. Seems he loves sleeping in my arms or on my lap. Not so in our bed. As soon as I try to lay him down he's done! My typing skills don't fare too well with him awake since nothing is safe if it's within an arm or leg's distance from him. (hard to type on a flying keyboard lol) As a matter of fact, he just woke up and is "telling" me to wrap up my time here.

I hope to have lots of good and fun things to share about our trip over the border when I get back...including pictures.

I spoke too soon

Last post I mentioned "Nothing huge like the flu (yet) but there's always something going around to keep these guys feeling off." Well guess what....we have the flu going around. Olivia's been sick since Sunday, Eileen since Monday and Danielle since Tuesday. That's why I'm up at this horrendous hour...Danielle was having a fever induced tantrum. She wanted to be held, but not held. She wanted covers but not her princess covers. She wanted to lay down but not like that! The commotion woke up Sean who also started crying. Tom decided to let us have the bed and went out onto the couch. Danielle decided she wanted to be on the couch so Sean, Danielle and I kicked Tom off and sent him back to bed. After an hour of being juggled around Danielle eventually started snoring again and Sean nursed himself back to sleep. Yet here I sit...exhausted but unable to find the Land of Nod. It's going to be a loooong day tomorrow. Luckily I had already decided to keep Olivia and Eileen home from school this morning, even if they felt well. Why send them back for one day and let them get exhausted and exposed to something else. This way they'll have the weekend to recoup even more. (They're still complaining on and off that they don't feel good)

I'm hoping that Sean and I can avoid coming down with this. I have to call my sister and see how her girls are doing. Yes, her girls were here when Olivia came down sick on Sunday. I'd feel guilty except there is NO way I could know this was coming on. I may regret saying this but generally it's a fairly easy flu to be dealing with. Pretty much just high fevers, a headache along with a few muscle aches and a cough for some. (Danielle hasn't started that part yet). The sick ones spend most of the time on the couch or on my lap. It's also done the classic flu thing where they feel well for a day or two and then get hit with it all again.

Hopefully everyone will be done with this by the time midwinter break and our annual Island Week comes around. I'm not sure exactly which day we'll start but the break is from the 16th to the 24th. Tom's already making lists and planning the decorations. I have a few ideas for food in my head. Danielle and Tom were making a guest list. I guess the whole universe is going to be here according to them. lol

I probably should cut this short and climb onto the couch with the little ones. Val will be getting up for school shortly. (she gets up earliest so she can shower without a hassle) I'm thinking Luke and Jake may try to stay home today since they were complaining they didn't feel good last night already. Maybe I'll call Drew and see if he'll drive Michelle to work for me (needs to be there by 10am). With only an hour or two of sleep under my belt I'm not a safe candidate for the job.

Ramblings

My mind is going in a million directions at once. Instead of letting a lack of specific direction prevent me from posting, I'm going with the flow. So excuse me if this gets a little disjointed. Just consider it a little peek into my brain. lol

First an update on Sean. He's greatly improved over last weekend. Although he's a bit hoarse sounding now, I'm not sure why. It does leave me a bit on edge though. I just keep remembering how Carrie was before her cancer dx. One illness after another at the end of her antibiotic treatment or as soon as it was over. I hate having that always in the back of my brain! I wanna know who to see to get my innocence back.

Generally this has been a weird illness season all around. Nothing huge like the flu (yet) but there's always something going around to keep these guys feeling off. Just this morning I was thinking...ahhh, everyone is feeling well and back at school. Yeah right! I was almost home from dropping Michelle off this morning when my cell phone rings. Olivia's in the nurse's office. She's not feeling well and has a slight temp. Luckily I had just gotten to the village and was only a few blocks from school. She was home, in bed, and napping in no time.

My sister's going to love it when I call her tonight and tell her. We switched kids for the night Saturday night. This was after I assured her that everyone was well...not even a runny nose in the lot! UGH!!!

Talking to my sister this weekend was a bit enlightening. I complained to her that it had gotten so I couldn't mention anything about my life without my mom getting all atwitter. It had gotten so bad that I just stopped talking about what was going on with me altogether. My sister let me know that my mom "had a reason" why she was acting like she was. Seems she had a dream a few months back that my house caught on fire. No one was able to get out or into the house to help us because it was so messy and cluttered. Yes, my house was in such bad shape that it was giving other people nightmares! Things made a bit more sense to me. I know how upsetting those dreams can be, I've had them quite a bit since I was teen. Actually my first one was as a teen. Seems I died in a fire after trying to get my sister awake (she was horrible to wake up in the morning) and then subsequently trying to rescue her when she didn't awaken. Anyways, I wish my mom had TOLD me about this instead of letting it come out like it did.

I'm sure my mom is happy to hear that things are improving here. Tom has really taken an interest in getting this place back in shape now that his mom's place is done. It's been great! Working with him I've realized that I was a quite a bit more depressed then I thought I was lately. Dealing with a demanding newborn, on the go constantly with Tom barely around and working himself to death....it got to me. Thankfully I feel that I'm on the otherside of that now. I'm motivated to get things done, Sean can entertain himself for a bit longer now so I'm able to do some things, and I'm not putting things off until they are unbearable things I HAVE to deal with...or else.

This weekend was productive although I'm not sure anyone would notice except us. Tom and I were busy pulling things apart, cleaning and reorganizing. I actually have cupboards with NOTHING in them!! I haven't seen my small linen closet as empty as it is in a looooong time. I was putting a really good dent in the laundry until this morning. I think I jammed up my dryer this morning. Waaaah! I turned the dryer on and heard the signal that my lint filter was full. (usually empty it every other load, must have forgotten with the last load) I pulled the lint filter out, emptied it and jammed it back into it's slot. Then I heard a horrible noise and smelled hot rubber. My guess is that something got caught on the end of the filter screen and I jammed it into the drum area when I tried to put the lint filter back into the slot. Hopefully that's all it is and Tom can unjam it tonight after he gets home from work. I REALLY want to get the laundry taken care of! I only have about 13 loads waiting for me downstairs. lol

Our community has been hard hit this last week. Midweek NV was killed in a car accident. He was 23 and had graduated with Drew. I haven't seen or talked to Drew since the accident so not sure how he's dealing with it. On Sat morning AM was killed in a headon collision. He had graduated last year and was the boyfriend of one of Liz's friends. His younger brother is in Luke's class. AM's aunt was one of Sean's nurses last week. I had asked her how he and his family were doing. You see AM had a brother C who was in Pat's grade. When C was 16 (AM was 13 or 14) he was killed in a snowmobiling accident. AM was involved with the accident and I knew he had had a hard time dealing with that fact. I feel so bad for the M family. No family should have to go through such a tragic loss once, much less twice. :o(

Well, kids are due off the bus any second now, Sean is sleeping in my arms and Danielle is a bit odorous and needs some attention.

Loooong Weekend ~ The end

So now it's Sunday afternoon, Sean and I are home from the hospital (story in the entry before this). Everyone is clamoring to hold Sean. All I want is to get out of the gross clothes I've been wearing since Friday afternoon and take a shower. Oh and go to the bathroom. Do you realize how hard it is to have to use a public restroom constantly? I'd do terrible in a dorm setting. lol

I get out of the shower and decide...since Sean is still happy with all the kids...I'll clean the tub. It's needed it for a while and it bugs me everytime I go in there. Problem is, I'm usually just running in while Sean is occupied for 2mins. I managed to clean the whole tub and surround, it felt so good to get it done. I then attacked the sink and started on the walls. Before I knew it I had worked my way out and down the hall walls. Yeeehaw! By the time the hall walls were done Sean and the rest of the kids were ready for me to have Sean for a while. So we sat down and had a good long nurse session. Eventually Sean fell asleep and I stuck him in bed.

I then attacked the laundry. I'm embarrassed to admit I've been behind in laundry for a looong time. It literally thickly carpeted my whole hallway. So the washer and dryer were going (Tom had done laundry when I was gone). The dishwasher was going (Luke had filled and started it before we got home) I started cleaning up the pile of pans. It felt good to get something accomplished. It also was nice to actually care what the house looked like (hasn't happened in a while I'm sad to admit).

Sean was still pretty needy for attention and his fever was really low grade. His rash wasn't too bad but tended to bother him on and off (it itches). Tom made me a margarita or two and we just relaxed. Having only had 5hrs of sleep while we were in the hospital I relaxed a little too much. Before I knew it I was headed to bed with Sean and Danielle.

Everyone was home Monday morning as it was Martin Luther King Jr Day. That hadn't happened in a long time. I was up bright and early thanks to going to bed at a decent time. Everywhere I looked I saw things I wanted to tear apart, declutter, clean, and organize. I jumped around from one area to another doing a bit here and there. I hate when I do that as it never accomplishes anything great. I decided if nothing else we would get the hallway cleared of clothes.

We had a good incentive to work and get things done since my parents said they'd be out later in the afternoon. Olivia took care of Sean while everyone got to work. Poor Michelle and Eileen worked for TWO hours sorting clothes. THAT is too many clothes!!! (and that's not all of it) All together we worked for 4 hours around here and got a LOT done. I was spot cleaning the kitchen floor when my parents got here. It's looking a lot better here now. Hopefully we can keep it up and deep clean even more.

We had a great visit with my parents. They brought us a treat of Pizza Hut pizzas. The perfect thing after having done all that work. We had a deep and heated discussion about retirement, pensions, social security and life insurance. lol Pat and Jess were here and stayed until after 10. It was great having them here, they haven't been around too much lately.

By the time my parents were leaving I was a bit concerned about Sean. He was starting to feel warm, his rash was really bad and he sounded hoarse. It didn't amount to anything thankfully. He's still off a bit but improving more everyday.

Michelle's first day of school went well today. Her night class was dropped due to low enrollment so no 12 hour school day for her. She's done by 3:20 now. Tomorrow is only one class for 1.5 hrs. Tomorrow I don't have to wait for her because she has to work afterwards, so she'll walk. This week is Regents week (NY state testing). That means the high school kids only need to go to school on Thurs and Fri if they have to take one of the tests. Luke has a test on Thurs morning, Val on Friday morning. Hopefully we can all stay healthy.

Loooong Weekend ~ The beginning

As I said in the update below this weekend's story is long and needs it's own entry.

I already mentioned that all the kids had been sick and on antibiotics. Val was put on zithromax that she finished up on the 10th. Sean was on amoxicillin which he finished on Mon, the 14th. On Mon (the 14th) Val had body aches and a really bad headache. By Thurs she still had the headache and her glands were swollen. Sean started a fever on Thurs which ran pretty high at night (as fevers usually do). Fri morning I decided to get Val back into the dr's. I figured since I was already going in it wouldn't hurt to make Sean an appt to have his ears and throat looked at. They were scheduled to be seen at 4:15 that afternoon.

Having to pick up Michelle from work at 3:45 we headed to the city a bit early. I stopped by Walmart, picked up some photos I had developed and ordered a 50pc box of chicken to be picked up at 5:30. My thinking was that we'd go to the dr's, go back to Walmart, pick up a few things that we needed (BIL asked me to pick him up some things, we were out of toilet paper, milk and bread). We'd grab our box of chicken and have dinner taken care of, allowing us a relaxed night. WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the time we got to the dr's office Sean was miserable! He was obviously feverish, moaning and crying. While doing his vitals they took his temp which was 102.9. They were surprised when I told them he'd had ibuprofen 3hrs ago. His heartrate was 203 and his O2 rate was 92%. They were all a bit on edge about how inconsolable he was.

The dr walked into the room while reading Sean's chart. He took one look at him and asked him how he'd like to spend some time at the hospital. OH NO! He did a quick exam and throat culture on Val and then turned his attention back to Sean. He did a throat culture on Sean too and then told me he thought it was best to admit Sean. That babies as young as him don't show typical symptoms to many serious diseases like meningitis. He wasn't too comfortable with how agitated Sean was and he wanted to run tests to make sure he wasn't dealing with something really serious. It also would help him from becoming dehydrated which he was heading toward.

So now I'm stuck with a few dilemmas....what do I do about the preordered box of chicken? What about the serious need for toilet paper (down to a few tissues in the house lol)? And of course...what am I going to do with Danielle, Val and Michelle? I make a few calls and we figure out how and who will be picking up the girls from the hospital later. Wonderful mother that I am, I decide to do a Walmart run on the way to the hospital. We literally ran through the store, practically knocking people over as we did. I felt so rude. I felt very deserving of the mother of the year award in the checkout line. It was quite obvious that Sean was pretty sick. He was wimpering in his carseat, his cheeks blazing red from the fever. The cashier kept sneaking looks at him as she scanned my groceries. I kept thinking she's going to stop scanning and call social services any second now. I wanted to blurt out my sob story and defend myself but refrained.

When we arrived in the ER they tell my our dr had called to see if we'd arrived yet making me feel even more deserving of that MOTY award. They have someone come get us and bring us to Sean's room. Everyone scurries to get him admitted. His temp is now 104.5. His diaper change involved a urine collection bag being stuck on.

Tom gets there and Seans calms a tiny bit when Daddy takes him (he LOVES his daddy). The dr arrives, Tom and the girls leave and the fun begins. During the spinal tap we started getting worried because they couldn't get any samples. The poor thing needed to be poked 3 times. According to my untrained eyes (although I have seen samples from spinal taps before) it looked pretty clear to me so I was hopeful for good results. After getting Sean cleaned up they then had to put in his IV and draw blood for tests. I have NO idea how the dr managed to get an IV in those teeny tiny veins but he did. They got their blood, hooked up the tubes and dosed him up on tylenol. The dr explained that we'd probably be staying until at least Monday. If tests showed anything we could looking at a one or two week stay. If it was serious then we'd be transfered to the hospital in Syracuse. So we waited for test results.

Late into the night the dr reported that his bloodwork was what was to be expected for someone fighting an illness and there were no cancer worries. He found the spinal fluid to be clear and free of white blood cells...YEAH! Quite a few of the other tests would take a day to produce results. In the meantime the dr prescribed an IV antibiotic started. Respiratory therapy came in to do a nasal wash. They needed a sample to test for croup, rsv and influenza A. The tylenol had taken the fever down. Sean relaxed a bit and dozed. I decided it was too close to midnight to risk falling asleep. I didn't want to fall into a deep sleep only to be woken by the nurses taking Sean's vitals. So I stayed awake. They finally got to his vitals at 1:30 (fever was still down). I feel asleep at 2 and slept (if that's what you want to call it) until the nurses came in at 4 for vitals again. (fever still down)

Sean woke up Saturday morning with a temp of 99.6. Unfortunately it didn't stay down there for very long and before we knew it he was over 104 again. Tylenol knocked it down into the 102 range. He got another dose of IV antibiotics and they added eye drops after he woke up with gunky eyes. As the day went on we learned that tests for the scary things came back negative. They sent us to radiology for a chest xray. We came back to find out he tested positive for Group A strep again. The dr added zithromax to his meds. Xray showed that he had pneumonia which totally shocked me.

He had the greatest set of nurse/patient care assistant (PCA) there could be. They both were in love with Sean and came in to talk and play with him whenever they got a chance. Just before their sift was due to end Sean got inconsolable again. He was crying really hard and I had NO idea what was wrong. His nurse came in and said...something's wrong for him to be acting like this suddenly. She unwrapped his IV (was covered with gauze so he wouldn't chew on it) and I gasped. His hand was HUGE. His IV had blown and all the fluid was going into the hand instead of his vein. I felt bad since I figured it probably blew when I was holding his hands up and and away from his chest during his chest xray.

The nurse called the dr and reported it. Since his fever wasn't out of control he opted to let him go for the night and reevaluate him in the morning. (dr or someone from the ER has to start anyone under 2yo's IV). Thankfully his body cooperated and his temp stayed down all night.

Not to make things too easy though he decided Sun morning with the potential to be discharged on the horizon would be the perfect time to break out in a fine full body rash. After the dr examined him and said it wasn't a reaction to the zithromax, the diagnosis of roseola was added to the list of things he had. We were prescribed liquid zithromax and discharged. By 1pm on Sun we were in the van and heading home. It was a frigid but beautiful sunny day. The kids were standing in the doorway, jumping up and down cheering as we got out of the van. Tom acted jealous that no one cheered that Dad was home, only Mom and Sean. I told him too bad, so sad he gets to hear it almost every night when he walks in the door.

Sorry this was so long. I actually fell asleep mid post last night. I have more to talk about but will do it in part 2. Of course I couldn't talk about Sean and not share a picture of the cutie. This was taken early last week just before he got sick.

Missed time report

I've been MIA but not quite as much as it looks here. While I haven't been writing, I've been looking and playing with a fresh look for here. (and this tan and blue template is NOT the look I want...so expect to see a change again sometimes soon) I don't know why it takes me so long to figure out graphics. It used to be the most time consuming and frustrating part of making webpages too.

We all had a great Christmas even though some of us were sick. Jake was dx with strep the Fri before Christmas. Carrie and Luke had to miss Christmas eve because they had it also but weren't covered with antibiotics by then. We didn't want to risk exposing SIL's newborn and all those kids, so Sean, Carrie, Luke and I stayed home for the night.

I worked hard and stayed up late the week before Christmas to make sure I had most things done. I still ended up not going to bed until 3am Christmas day. I can thank my older kids for that. I actually had to tell them....go to bed NOW! I have work to do so I can go to bed! For the first time ever I took a nap after presents were unwrapped and Tom did the assembling and unfastening. ahhhhh!

All week after Christmas the kids didn't feel good on and off. After our New Year's Eve celebration at church they were all complaining and were exhausted. The next day I made an apt for everyone (Michelle on down) that weren't being treated already to get a throat culture. The next day it was reported that 6 tested positive for Group A strep (that requires antibiotics), the other 2 tested positive for Group B strep (that the body is able to fight off itself but can be helped by antibiotics). One also tested positive for haemophilus. Needless to say I opted to treat everyone. To make things even better some of us also dealt with a stomach bug. Luckily it wasn't that bad in terms of accidents. It seems most people made it to where they needed to be, when they needed to be there. Poor Val still doesn't feel well. This has been going on since the beginning of November for her (when she was hospitalized). She's feeling pretty broken right now.

I've been enjoying Michelle being off from school. Because kids were home from college she was given less hours at work (they allowed college kids to come back and work while they were home on break). This meant I had days at a time when I stayed home. You'd think that my house would benefit from this, but it didn't.

Michelle starts classes tomorrow and the madness starts. We'll need to be out the door by 8:45am on Tues and Thurs. (as soon as the little kids get on the bus) I am NOT looking forward to dragging Sean and Danielle out of bed and into the cold. The poor girl has to stay at school until 9pm!! Oh well, it's her LAST semester! After this she will have her 2yr degree.

Tom and his brother are done working on their parents' house. Woohoooo! It is now on the market. It was so weird to have Tom get home before nightfall and be home all weekend. We had a bit of an adjustment period for the first few days. I was used to doing everything by myself. We actually ended up arguing over who was going to make mashed potatoes one night. lol Thankfully we're all adjusted and things are going well.

With Tom home I find I'm feeling a lot better. Just before they finished the house I realized that I was barely making meals and totally avoiding the housework. This place was a disaster area!!! With him home and being gungho about getting things in order/fixed up around here my attitude has changed. Until this weekend things were improving but very slowly. I'll talk about this weekend in a separate entry since it's a long story and this entry is already long enough.