Thomas the Train, Out of Town Friends, Sick and a Housekeeper

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last posted. Time has flown by - I can't even keep up with what day it is.

Last Thursday we had a houseful of friends for swimming and grilling hot dogs. It was a fun afternoon. And the best part was my friend Jennifer and son Paul arrived from Texas! On Friday we just vegged out at the pool and let the kids swim. My friend Leslie and kids came over too. Then on Saturday we went to a birthday party at Pump It Up for a little girl at David's school. It was so much fun and his teacher Vicky was there. That night me, Jennifer and Leslie went out shopping and ate sushi!!! Sunday, Jennifer and I took the boys to Birmingham for the Thomas Stage Show - it was really good. Each night of Jennifer's visit we stayed up way too late visiting after the boys went to bed. I think we all need a vacation from the mini-vacation :).

The only downside of this was I picked up some type of yucky cold. It started with pain in my chest and moved into my head and gave me laryngitis. I finally have my voice back today, but still don't sound like myself and still have a productive chest cough. Thankfully the kids missed it and so far I am the only one sick. I thought for sure David had something as well, but he was seen by our ENT Monday for a follow-up to his surgery and he was in great shape!

Exciting news for me this week - our housekeeper started today!! Dan and I have been kicking around what type of help we felt could benefit us most and save my back and give me more time for our business and we decided a housekeeper was the way to go. She is wonderful!! She will come everyday from 10-4.

Still no word on Emily's ultrasound of her thyroid - I am going with the "no news is good news" mind-set. I will follow-up tomorrow though because we have an appointment with our pediatrician for David's 4-year-check-up.

I'll try and post some pictures tonight of the Thomas show!

Summer "Vacation" - Not :)

Who ever said summer was for resting, etc. didn't/doesn't have kids or either doesn't do much fun stuff with them LOL. Summer is not even a week old and it's already wearing me out - in a good way, mind you, no complaining. Just amazement that we are so busy. How does it happen - one day you sit around the house doing chores and wishing it was warm enough to swim or play outside or wishing the bigger kids were out of school to play with the little kids and then bam it's here.

We are spending everyday swimming with friends, having friends over, eating dinner with friends, grocery shopping more than usual because the kids are here and going to the doctor more than usual because my family seems to attract bizarre health things. We are also having out of town company three times in June and a variety of parties to attend and a trip to Birmingham to see Thomas the Train and I still haven't finalized our actual vacation plans. We may be to busy with all this other stuff to go on vacation - HA HA. And somewhere in there Dan and I are having a short romantic weekend for ourselves for our anniversary. And can't forget that Emily has dance camp at Auburn and David has 2 bible schools. Whew - everyday I am adding something to the calendar.

Oh we saw the kids pediatrician yesterday and she said that Emily's T4 level was elevated and that is indicative of of hyper-thyroidism. There are a few things they will have to rule out of the "better safe than sorry" side of things and we are being referred to a Pediatric Endocrinologist at Children's in Birmingham. There are some concerning things about it all and we'll have to get used to it, become better educated, etc. She'll still lead a perfectly long and normal life just have to be treated/monitored forever. The next step is an ultrasound of they thyroid - we go Monday afternoon for that.

Also - I think I forgot to tell you guys that David is NOT playing t-ball after all. It didn't take me long to realize he is not ready and not mature enough yet. He was the youngest and technically was a few months shy of being old enough, but they let him register anyway. So we'll just wait until next spring when he's almost 5.

Well off to the outside. Hayden's here, Hope coming later, Leslie and kids on the way and Jennifer & Paul en route from Texas. Fun day!!!!!!!

Emily's Surgery

Emily went for pre-op yesterday and her mom mentioned to the ENT that she thought her throat was a little swollen. He thought it was thyroid and said he would run a test(s). Since they were taking blood and running routine tests anyway for pre-op it was essentially a non-event. Well yesterday evening Emily's mom was here picking her up around 5:30 and she got a call from the ENT's nurse reporting that he did not want to do the surgery today because her levels were elevated and that she needs to see the pediatrician today. So I just talked to the pediatrician's office - they have received the report of the test results from the ENT's office and we have an appointment for this afternoon.

I'm sure all is fine and routine, but instead of praying for surgery today how about some prayers for this!!

Quick Family Update

Dan - doing great. No signs whatsoever of the cancer - last scan showed him still to be in remission. Fatigue totally gone now and taste is back to normal. He is working on our backyard and the end is near (finally for those of you that know he's been working on this for YEARS!!). I can't wait to share pictures and have everyone over when he gets done.

Business - going well. BUSY BUSY BUSY!!! We are not going to purchase the large 125-unit. But we are still negotiating on the 22 and 40 unit. He wants to meet with Dan again today. He wants to sell alot more than we want to buy :).

Emily - her summer officially started the end of last week and she brought it in with a bang. Shopping for new clothes and sleeping late. What more could a 13-year-old want. She has been wanting to swim, but I swear Alabama is turning into Washington state we have had rain everyday forever now. We could use your prayers tomorrow - Emily is having surgery on her nose. She has constant nosebleeds and has had a procedure done once before, but it didn't work. This time they will take a piece of skin from behind her ear and put it into her nose where the hole is that the bleeding is coming from. We have to be at the hospital at 7:00 tomorrow morning. A side note during this - her thyroid seems to be swollen and tender and they are testing the blood they drew today during pre-op.

David - school ended with a bang for David on Friday. They had bouncy houses and banana splits at school. So that party aside with all his birthday parties has had him on "cloud 9". He is back to his normal self from the tonsil ordeal, but his ear(s) don't seem to be. When his tubes are clogged he tells me his ear is closed, well he's telling me that again and also saying they hurt. I'm just at my wits end with this. We have a follow-up on Monday with the ENT to talk about the bony tumor in the ear canal so he will check his ears then.

My dad & Barbara - he is improving everyday. Barbara is superwoman when it comes to her knee. A few days post-op and they said she was doing as well as someone 3-weeks post-op. But she now has pneumonia, a common side effect of course after surgery and hospitalization, but that doesn't make it any less miserable!! Thank heavens for Angie there taking care of them.

Me - staying busy with the kids, work and the house and dealing with my back. I don't feel like talking about my back because there is no point, but I will tell you it is not good!! My wonderful friend Leslie has been working on getting my house organized and cleaned up. She is so awesome.

Misc:

*my friend Jennifer and her son Paul are coming to visit!!! They will be here Thursday afternoon. I can't wait.

*I am working on our vacations for this summer and next year and getting frustrated with school schedules, holidays, dance team schedule, etc. I'll get it worked out eventually :) and we'll do the beach this summer for our big trip and probably Six Flags and maybe the Georgia Aquarium for our small trips and next year we'll do Disney again for our big trip and a small trip to the beach.

*Since work is increasing and when David starts real school this fall I will take on even more and since my back is a problem - we are hiring a housekeeper to come in everyday and do a variety of things around here to help me. I am starting the interview process today.

Aside from this rain we have been spending alot of time lately playing with friends and swimming. Having good friends and a pool are the best!! Here are a couple of pictures from the pool.

Birthday Parties Abound

David is a pretty lucky kid, but also pretty typical ,I think of this social period that we live in. He had 3 birthday parties. Crazy huh!?! The main party was at Pump-It-Up and we invited everyone and it was a blast. The second event was cupcakes at his preschool on the actual day of his birthday. The third event was at my dad's - a family event for his and David's birthday (they are a day apart). None of my family were able to come to Pump-It-Up this year for a variety of reasons so we all celebrated at dad's. I have tons of pictures to share with you guys of the parties. As you look through the pictures one thing to note is the amazing cake - my friend Lauren made it. First of all it was so darn cute it looked like a magazine and second of all it tasted great. She was also smart enough to suggest splitting the layers and freezing it so I could use it for two of the parties - and I did and it worked GREAT!!!

Here are the shots from the Pump-It-Up party. What a fun place!!

Well somewhere I also have shots from the family party at my dad's on Sunday, but I have "lost" my camera. I'm sure (thankfully) that between here and my dad's and my car it is somewhere and not truly lost, but I haven't put my hands on it yet. So when I do find it I will share those pictures.

Happy Birthday Little Man!!

I started this post the morning of David's birthday and am just now able to finish it, we've been busy. Good busy though - I'll fill you in on all that in another post.

May 19th, 2009 - 10:30am

I can't believe that by this time in the morning, 4-years-ago today, David was here. I had an early morning c-section, without incident, and our little guy came into the world and into our hearts! I don't remember much about that first day after the c-section. Meds, reaction to meds, meds for the reactions, etc. had me a little groggy. Dan was able to spend alot of time with him and do the whole first bath and all that!

The next day I woke up alone, called down to the nursery for David and they brought him to me. I sat in the rocking chair and just held him; Saying to myself - this is my son and I fell in love that instant. I know some people bond at birth, some later, some much later - well we bonded that morning as we sat there and rocked and talked over a bottle of formula. I also realized that precious morning that he had my mother's eyes - true blue. Since she is no longer with us that meant the world to me and still does, since they haven't changed!!!

Here is a picture of David at just 5-weeks, one of our mother/baby shots. Everybody tells you it goes so fast and you don't believe them, until you are there. I promise you these have been the fastest years of my life. But also the best years of my life!! There is nothing better than being a mom. Thank you God for blessing me with this amazing little boy.

Oh why can't it always be spring!!

All my life I have said that fall is my favorite season. The smell, the cool air and most of all college football!! And while fall will always have a special place in my heart I have switched and now say there is nothing better than spring.

This is the time of year when it is almost sinful to be allowed to stay home with your child. David and I are spending hours each day outside by the pool. Swimming, bubbles, swingset, sandbox, etc. whatever strikes his fancy. I play a little with him and do alot of relaxing under the umbrella and reading. It does require getting up a little earlier and staying up a little later to get all my work done that I normally do during the day, but who cares. The day's are so fun. We are also blessed to have other dear friends in this same position so we have company for this leisure and pool variety. I am honestly cracking myself up right now - who knew sheer fun could be so heady.

Babies abound with my friends. There is a new girl on the way and I have already been shopping and my other finds out today what her little precious bundle will be. I can't wait to hold these sweet little ones.

David has finally turned the corner with the tonsils. Yesterday was the first day he resembled his old self. This is just in time for his birthday party tomorrow evening at Pump It Up, or as he calls it - the bouncy house. He will actually be able to go to school next week for the last few days before summer break. He's been talking about his teacher and his best friend alot lately.

Emily has spent the week doing "boring" stuff in her opinion. They have been studying for year-end 7th grade exams. They'll take these next week. School's out for her on Thursday and she can't wait. Between school and dance practice lately she's been really busy so I know she's ready for sleeping late and swimming!! We pick her up this afternoon from school and David is really excited.