Anyone see where I lost my marbles?

While on Facebook last night, there were several people listed on the side where they have friend suggestions.  I saw the name of someone I went to school with and worked with.  Of course, I clicked on her name so I could send a request to add her as a friend and her profile came up.  I noticed her sisters on her “friends” list, which I knew also.  Then I saw her nephew, Peter listed as well. In his profile picture there were 3 people in the picture and it looked like maybe he was in a band.  So, I googled his name to see if he was on his way to fame in the music business or something (kinda chuckling) and it was then I learned that he had passed away in February.

He was all of about 4 years old when I met him while working at a local daycare, and I haven’t seen him in quite a few years, but I now know “what ever became of” Peter Courcy.  He became an American Hero who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and our country.  He lost his life, proudly serving in Afghanistan. I am proud to have known him even for a short time, long ago.  Thank you, Pete!  I remembered you as a sweet, bright-eyed little boy and now I will remember you as a hero as well.

Because I seem to have caught an insomnia bug, I’ve had a hard time falling asleep at night. That makes things a little fuzzy in the morning because the kids are up and ready to go. No rest for the weary.

This morning I fell asleep sometime after 2a.m. which is earlier than I have been. No caffiene keeping me up. No worries, troubles or concerns. Just can’t sleep. Annoying. hmph! I think my body may have learned this from when we were all so sick with the stomach flu. For the whole week combined, I slept a total of probably no more than 10 hrs. Then came the trip to California with the 2hr time change and coming back to our time zone.  Hopefully this will remedy itself soon. If not, I may have to explore other options.

Well, last night J.C. fell asleep right in the middle of the living room floor once I brought him in from the truck where he fell asleep on our way home from the store. It was 8pm, but I figured his nap wouldn’t be long because the other kids were so noisy. Wrong. Even when I moved him to the couch he stayed asleep. He stirred a couple times, but didn’t wake. Then, when it came time for the others to go to bed, I moved him to his bed. I changed his diaper which he briefly woke for. I thought for sure he’d be up for a while. Wrong. Rolled over and went back to sleep. I assumed I’d have an early morning, but sure didn’t plan on 3:41a.m. Yep. He’s wide awake after a nice restful sleep. (must be nice to be a baby. lol) He insisted on..I mean..requested chocolate milk. I tried convincing him to wait, but that brought about crying. I didn’t want to risk the others being waken so I dutifully served him. He is now playing with cars on his mat while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse dvr’d shows. We have mass in about 3 1/2 hrs. so I’ll just get stuff ready. Later this afternoon, hubby and I are going to see GuitarGirl in a Vive Les Arts production of All Shook Up while our kids go play at her house. Looking forward to it as it’s supposed to be a really good show and it’s the first one I’ve had a chance to see her in.

Aside from all that… Why are all the ants moving in to my house?  Really.  I’m tired of being bitten.    Oh yeah.. Hubby put pest control stuff outside last week but forgot to spray inside as he usually does.  I just remembered he mentioned that the other day. Note to self: remind hubby to spray inside.

For those that had prayer request in the last couple days, please know that I am offering prayers up for your needs.  Of course there are others that have long-term needs, I’m still praying for those needs as well. Especially healing of baby Matthew’s heart.  May you all feel God’s loving arms around you.  God bless!

Took B.M. in for her appointment on the 19th . She was a little nervous going in.  Her biggest fear was labs.  The dr was very friendly, very thorough in checking her over.  Found out her ANA was 1:40 which isn’t too terribly abnormal but, because she is symptomatic, further testing is needed.  What I have found is that a negative ANA is more helpful than a positive because it basically rules out things like Lupus.  One test he requested specifically was one for Sjogren’s syndrome.   The more I look up on those kinds of illnesses, the more I notice stuff I hadn’t before.  So, I decided I’d quit reading up on it for now. It’s enough to make you nuts.  So, now we just have to wait.  Her next appointment is on a Saturday, July 18th.  At that time, the dr will go over results and determine if she needs any further testing (i.e. bone scans, x-rays, labs).  He prescribed a new medication, Naprosyn 125mg suspension, for pain since the Ibuprofen isn’t lasting. But..looking up on that, I am very hesitant to give it to her until she absolutely needs it because of the possible side effects.  I’m hoping she can avoid needing it.

Saturday was the much anticipated *squeal* Jonas Brothers concert. Little did she know, dear ol’ dad got a call from MissCreativity’s dad asking if he’d come along because older sister, Guitar Girl, couldn’t make it due to other commitments.  Hubby waited until they were on the way to pick them up to tell her.   They had a fabulous time!  Between the 2 dads, there were over 250 pictures taken and a few video clips.  MissC’s mom put the pictures that Chief took onto a cd for B.M.  She also did a slideshow.  Oh, and as an added bonus..Miley Cyrus showed up for a duet with Nick Jonas.  We’d have to work pretty hard to top that night. ***Thanks again Nina, Nino and MissC for inviting her.  What a memorable event for her and her best friend! (and the dads too. lol)***  Here they are just before the concert:

Surprise. It’s been forever since I’ve posted. This time I won’t even promise to be better about it. lol

At the front of my mind is B.M.’s rheumatology appointment tomorrow afternoon.  In April I mentioned she went to the dr for joint pains she was having.  Well,she’s still having them consistantly and Ibuprofen isn’t helping.  We decided it would be best to go ahead with the Rheumatology consult to see if we can get some answers.  Please pray for a good outcome and some answers as to what is going on with her.  It’s been so hard not knowing how to “fix” it.  I hate for her to be in pain so much.

On a good note for Miss B.M…. She gets to go see the Jonas Brother’s in concert this Saturday.  This has been a wonderful distraction from her worry about the appointment.  She is going with her best friend Miss Creativity and then spending the night with her. I know they’ll have a blast.  They are so excited!

Our California vacation was a blast!  We all had a great time.  The kids did really well on the flight.  I was so scared we’d be on the news for having been booted off with our brood. lol  Quite the opposite; we were complimented on how well the behaved.  Thank you, Lord!  We relaxed on that Friday.  All the guys went to see Star Trek that evening.  Saturday, after hubby did some running around to help prepare for his dad’s birthday party, we went to Venice beach.  Last time we went to Cali the kids got about 10 mins at the beach near San Diego on our way down to Chula Vista so we wanted to let them really have a chance to enjoy it.  Boy did they!  The water was cold, but they didn’t care.  The waves were pretty strong so it offered plenty of opportunity to collect shells. Now we have enough to supply one of our lakes, I’m sure.  J.R. had a little bit of a spill.  A wave came in and water came up over his knees so he spooked. He turned around to run back right as the water was receding and it caused him to fall face first in the water.  He was not a happy camper at that point.  If there is anything he hates, it’s water in his face.  After getting toweled off a bit, he got right back to the water.  We didn’t get any “great” pictures, but here is one with most of the kids.

Here’s one of just J.B and J.M.  They were off looking for “cool shells and stuff”

The birthday party for my father-in-law’s 80th birthday was great.  All the kids and grandkids together was all he wanted.  We are so blessed for having the means to all get there. For a while, we didn’t think it would happen but… God always provides.  I took tons of pictures but this is my favorite one:  J.R with his grandpa

Sunday morning we went to mass at St. Agatha’s in L.A.  Afterwards,we all enjoyed a wonderful breakfast, the kids surpised all mom’s with Mother’s day gifts and we just sat and visited for a while.  In the afternoon we headed down to Anaheim.  We intended to go to California Adventure, but it was late and the line was long so we bought tickets for hopper tickets so we could go the next day and not worry about the ticket line.We wandered around Downtown Disney and had dinner afterwards. 

Monday morning we got started early. Thanks to my sister-in-law, we were able to hit a lot of rides quickly.  She’s been there many times so she has a “method” to it all. (when we went in 2007 we hardly got to do anything)  Here’s a picture from the end of the day, they were all beat.

That Tuesday, we got up for an early flight.   Kids did really well for the return flight.  I was a tad nervous during some turbulance in Austin at the landing.  Glad to be home safely, but we all sure miss California.    God willing, we’ll be going again soon.

Well, it’s (as usual) been busy around here.  At the present, we are cycling through some nasty sort of virus (which all the news reports have this paranoid momma sure is the swine flu. Ahhhh!) that is causing sore throat, coughing and fevers of 102+.  A.M. is the lastest to come down with it.  I just had to wake her to giver her some Ibuprofen because she was so hot.  As soon as she opened her eyes, the cough started which led to a nebulizer treatment because she was wheezing.   J.R. was the leader this time.  He actually had to be seen by our pediatrician because he was drawing in around his ribs while having rapid, shallow breathing.    He would start coughing continously without being able to catch a breat.  He seems to be on the mend after 3 days of steroids and neb treatments though he’s still somewhat rattly and wheezy when he breaths.  B.M. seems to have gotten off easy with a sore throat that woke her about 1:30 am Thursday right after I got J.R. to sleep.  She’s pretty much over all of that, thankfully.  However, we found out some news 2 weeks ago–she was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.  After being sick with a respiratory infection the week before, she was sore in her joints but it kept changing locations.  Her chest was constantly hurting, so we took her in to get checked out, dr had labs galore done.  Found she is ANA positive and with her history he made the diagnosis. Thing is, he can’t rule out (or in) another autoimmune disorder because she doesn’t “fit the bill” for any specific one just yet.  We’ll be keeping an eye out for other symptoms that point to SLE because her symptoms go along with that more than the other disorders.  For now she is on Ibuprofen 3x’s a day.  Whenever we feel that isn’t working, the dr will refer us to the Rheumatologist for further evaluation and stronger meds.  I just pray that she doesn’t have much pain to deal with.  The good news is, children can outgrow JRA.  I’m praying for that to happen.

We are getting ready for our vacation to California.  Everyone is super excited about that. I’m rounding up suitcases and clothes already. 

Saturday, April 25th, I had the great honor of sponsoring a wonderful young lady for her Confirmation.  I pray that as I walk with her on this spiritual journey I will be led by the Holy Spirit to always help and guide her in being a true witness to Christ.

Well, it’s another month of no blogging, another sick child. This time is BM, my 9 yr old. She’s been fighting allergies along with a respiratory infection for almost a week now. I took her to the dr yesterday and he prescribed Zithromax once a day, Z-cof 3 times a day and Xopenex every 4 hrs. Last night was the worst of the symptoms. I was up with her until just after 3am because she was having such horrible coughing fits. At one point she moaned, “I’m just so tired and I can’t sleep. I just want to sleep.” Every cough brought extreme chest and throat pain and just tore me apart not being able to fix it. As if that weren’t bad enough, she had a really bad stomach ache after the meds. Tonight she seems to be a wee bit better but the real test is when she lays down to go to sleep.

We had a few birthdays this month.  My dad (God rest his soul) would have been 79 on the 17th.  On March 22nd JR turned 5 and AM turned 7. We were very blessed and grateful to have their godfather back home after his 2nd time in Iraq.  Thanks for being there, Chief, even though you were hardly even over the jetlag!  Hubby also had his birthday on the 24th.  He won’t let me say how old he is. lol

We’re still trucking along with school. I’ve already been looking at books for next year. You’d think starting so early I would have my mind made up by August. Nope. Darn not having the money for all of them. lol

In May we’re flying to CA to celebrate my father-in-law’s 80th birthday.  The kids have started counting down already because they are so excited. We have plans for a day at the beach, 2 days at Disneyland and a day of party-those are certain, the rest is up in the air. I’m fortunate enough to have great in-laws so I really look forward to seeing them. I’m not looking forward to the flight though. I’m not a big fan of flying.

I know I had something else to share but it’s totally left my sleep-deprived brain.  If I think of it I’ll post it later.  I’m really doubtful it will come to me. lol  For now, goodnight to those of you lucky enough to catch some sleep.

and it still gets tagged.  Things have just crept up and this has been on the back burner more than usual. 

Some things keeping me busy:

School-

..for me, hubby and the kids.  I knew there was a reason I didn’t want to take Accounting. ugh!  I’m doing well at this point, but I have my first test this week.   I’m also taking Small Business Management which isn’t too hard if I actually read. Of course, that would require finding time.   Homeschooling is very time consuming right now since classes are getting a bit harder for some of them.  Hubby is 2 of his last 3 classes right now.  He’s been having to work in study time because his work is keeping him late at work on top of the hour commute. 

Family-

Had a tragic death in our family- My brother-in-law.  My sister and 2 nephews are dealing one day at a time as best they can. 

I’m up right now with AM who had an asthma attack.  She did a nebulizer treatment of Xopenex and is shakey from the meds.   Her sleep is interrupted by coughing fits.  I’m praying I don’t need to take her in to the ER. Coughing seems to be slowing down, but hart to tell.  JC is up keeping her company because he is up from a late nap. He napped to late and too long. Why do I do this to myself?

We’ve made arrangements to fly out to CA for my father-in-law’s 80th birthday party which is being put on by my sister-in-law.  We’re looking forward to it.

Prayers for me over the next couple weeks.  I’ll be having some medical procedures done that include sedation.  Please just pray for me for a good outcome.

That’s about all for now.  I’m  going to now try to catch some Z’s. I’m doubtful, but hopeful on that.

But I don’t like worms. I’d rather be sleeping!  2:32 a.m. and I can’t sleep.  J.C. is so sick.  He started with a slight fever Saturday night about 11:30 p.m.  I figured just his ears because he’s had allergy issues all week.  Well, he woke up the next morning with a higher temp and a cough.   Poor baby now has a cough that makes others cringe because you can just hear that it must hurt.  That is how he and I woke up around 1 a.m.  Dimetapp, motrin and a nebulizer treatment later-cuddled up on my side of the bed- he’s finally able to rest.  I can’t sleep though.  Anytime I wake up it’s super hard for me to fall asleep again so I figured now is a good a time as any to catch up on here.

Christmas was nice.  After mass Christmas morning the children opened their gifts.  They didn’t get much, but what they truly loved what they got.  After we had breakfast they  all disappeared to enjoy them.  Lunch was pretty laid back because they were still busy with gifts.  Dinner was good with all the typical Christmas dinner stuff..turkey, stuffing, yams, etc.. I made a pumpkin pie, but we were all too full for it.   After dinner we went to our dear friends home to exchange gifts.  It was really nice to spend some time with them. Both families being so busy, we don’t get much time for that lately.

Two days after Christmas we celebrated J.M.’s 13th b-day. We enjoyed a nice dinner out at a favorite buffet place.  I now have 2 teens. How did time pass so quickly?? 

New Years was really low-key. We never go out because it’s just not safe with all the drunk drivers and such.  Besides, sleep is so valued here we rarely make it to midnight anyway. lol  Well, we did some room changes. In that change, J.C. (2) and J.R. (4) moved out of our room and into the one J.B. (14) and J.M. (13)shared. Those 2 now share a slightly bigger room which used to be hubby’s office (which is now moved to our room and the sunroom. lol)  Everyone but me was asleep about 11:30 when the fireworks started overhead.  Poor J.C. came running and stumbling out of the room terrified!  I brought him to bed with me. That helped but his poor eyes were huge and his heart was racing! He’s been scared going into his room lately and I couldn’t figure out why. I was thinking it was something one of the kids said, but tonight I realized the fireworks MUST be it. I totally forgot about that! Poor kiddo!

So, I mentioned the room changes.  All the boys are pretty happy with their new rooms–well, most anyway. J.C. is getting there.  I was sorta sad for them to make the move, but I must admit.. It’s nice not to have the toddler bed taking up the space in our room and to have a home for the toys.  We still share a bed occasionally with J.C. but I don’t mind that.  We got twin size beds that have 3 drawers underneath.  They are low to the ground so if they roll out I don’t have to worry too much about them getting hurt.  Both got bedding with the Car’s movie characters along the matching curtains and lamp.

The weather here has been so up and down. It’s awful!  One day is 84 for the high and the next it’s 32 and raining with ice forming on the trees.  No wonder my poor boy is sick.   Ugh..he just had a coughing spell in his sleep.  Looks like we’ll probably need an appt for later today. He sounds croupy.

We started school yesterday. None of us were excited about it, but we made it through.  The sooner we do it, the sooner we’re done. Right?  Hubby’s classes started yesterday as well.  Mine start next Monday.  Should be lots of fun ’round here.  *yawn*

A bit of exciting news. Looks like we will be heading to CA in May.  Hubby’s sisters are planning an 80th birthday party for their dad with the whole family.  His birthday is on a Saturday so the party will be on that day. Then there are plans for Disneyland! Yay!  We went last year at Thanksgiving time, but we didn’t get to do much. We got a late start and it was so crowded.  This time we know (much) better.  Hubby’s sister works for Disney and she gets good rates so that is a plus! 

Well, it’s 3:23am now.  I’d better at least try to get some sleep now.  Sounds like I’ll be up again soon since he keeps having coughing spells. Say a prayer for him, if you would.

God bless!

This is the 3rd Sunday of Advent.  We wait joyfully for the birthday of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Today in church the 2-5 yr olds acted out the nativity.  I was thrilled to hear that J.R. was picked to be Joseph.  He was so serious-looking the whole time.

As for preparations, I am one present shy of being finished shopping for my kids.  We are going to put up our tree today.  Normally it’s already up, but things have just been so hectic lately.  This year we decided to get a live tree.  I’m excited about that. 

I have lots of decluttering to get done.  While dh has the week of Christmas off, he is going to clear out his office so we can move the boys around.  The older 2 will move to the office room, the younger 2 will move to the room the older ones are moving out of.  This means…………   dh and I get a room to ourselves again!  Well..in theory anyway.  I have a feeling some little boy is going to protest a bit.  A certain godmother asked if we were “making room for someone.” Sorry Nina, not just yet.  But, it will mean room for everyone since the toys will be moved to their room instead of the living room and our bedroom.

I hope to get some baking and crafts done in the next few days.  I’ll be making a trip to the craft store soon to gather more materials–that’s always fun.

Well, I have made some progress on getting ready for Christmas.  I know have 5 out of 6 lists from the kids-I’ll have to do the baby’s list.  They each had between 5-7 ideas and none went overboard.  As a matter of fact, most of it was stocking stuffer-like stuff..things like: Webkinz, dinosaurs, Thomas trains, cars, cloth, thread.   But it’s a start and that’s better than nothing. Right?  Hubby still has yet to give me ideas and I’m no closer to an idea for myself so we’re even. :0P