Extremely Dark Week (37 Weeks Pregnant)

Wow, last week was definitely the worst week I had gone through in my entire pregnancy.  It was a painful, dark time and the only time I wished for Jaxon to come out and quick. 

It started Easter day when my son started throwing up and was feverish.  The night I woke up and threw up really bad.  I figured it was no big deal because by the next day, although another kid started coming down with it, Kyle was already back on his feet.  Okay, so it's a 24 bug.  But then it kept going and getting so bad I had to lay in a dark room for most of the day and nights.  Usually at night I struggle with acid reflux and heartburn during pregnancy but this was taken to a new level.  Once it hit about 8pm at night, I was in serious pain and throwing up bad.  Then nothing was staying down including water.  Finally I just went to the hospital because I hadn't been able to go potty in 2 days.  It was getting scary.  It took 3 bags of fluid to finally get me to be able to go.  They sent me home but nothing changed and was back in 2 days.  It took another 3 bags of fluid.  At night I finally just started crying because that time of the night was coming where I was throwing up acid and I was worried it was gonna be like this for 2 more weeks till Jaxon comes.  The acid was now going through my GI track and hurt very bad.  It takes a lot for me to cry but I was balling and balling because I couldn't spend the day with my babies and nights I couldn't sleep till I finally felt relief around 5am, when the sun was starting to come up.  The day after my second trip to the hospital my doctor prescribed me Protonix, which is a stronger version of Prilosec.  Only a half hour I took it all pain left and I haven't had a problem since.  Seriously?  That's all it took?  It was like the clouds instantly left and I slept like a baby for the first time in 2 months.  Thank you, thank you!

 I didn't want my last weeks with Jaxon to be a nightmare.  I look forward to every day but I embrace each day.  I've learned to enjoy living in the moment rather than thinking fun is around the next corner.  I felt serious guilt wanting Jaxon to come out and I felt robbed of my last pleasant weeks with him in my womb.  This is been such an amazingly, joyful pregnancy.  When a mom is that sick, taking care of kids is extremely difficult.  Charles ended up taking off work to care for them.  I'm so excited to have my life back, my babies back and I don't complain anymore about how many times I have to potty being pregnant.  Not being able to potty for 2 days at a time was extremely scary.  Not to mention being only able to eat one meal a day. 

Here's to an amazing 12 days before Jaxon is here!  I may lose sleep again once he comes but at least it'll be for a sweet, little one.  Not some dumb sickness.  :D

Mom's Don't Get a Sick Day

Yesterday I woke up really, really sick and could hardly walk around.  It is soooooo hard for moms to be the one that's sick.  I just had to put up a baby gate in the living room and lay down on the couch.  Thankfully, the little ones were contained in just that area with me so I didn't have to worry.  Man, moms sure don't get sick days.  I kind of ended up with one later.

 

 We needed some van repairs and yesterday I was supposed to be the one to take the van in with the kids to get worked on for several hours.  Since I couldn't, Charles got off work early and took four kids with him to take care of the van.  Then I had just the baby and some older ones plus a friend.  Juliet got into everything possible that you can get into even though I had her in the living room with me.  A good friend came to pick up the kids I had for Vacation Bible School.  Thank goodness for them!  Once Juliet went to sleep I finally could just peacefully lay down without hopping up to rescue her from something.  It was so quiet for several hours.  It was soooooo nice but later it felt a little lonely.  :P

This morning I woke up and felt my old self again.  Thank goodness!!!! I can't afford to be sick with all the kiddos to take care of.  So it was just a 24 hour flu.  Phew!  Back to cleaning, laundry, and taking care of the babies.  With a large family this house falls apart extremely fast. 

Summer has felt so weird not having as much of a schedule.  The kids have had more time to just goof off.  I don't mind but when it's time to do chores they complain more.  I knew it was from just having no schedule.  So we all had a family meeting and voted on a new summer schedule.  Basically no games till noon and chore time starts at 4pm.  Off all devices by 8pm and be in bed by 9pm.  They were getting to where they felt entitlesdto just party, party, party because it's summer and forgot about their regular responsibilities.  When I was sick though that all went out the window.  I think they were surprised when mom got better in one day.  Ha ha.

How I Made Myself Sick and Changing It

Wow, the past few days have been super busy that I couldn't even sit down to blog.  I have to tell you why! 

Friday I turned 34!  Wow, time sure flies.  I've been through some serious illnesses in the last year.  One would be Occipital Neuralgia.  This is like a headache in the nerves.  Medicine through the Neurologist cured that.  Expensive. I had thryoid issues.  Big bills for Urgent Care and testing.  I've even dealt with arthritis.  For the first 10 years of my marriage I had major UTI problems that led to kidney damage.  I was one baby away from kidney dialysis. in fact, while pregnant with my sixth, I landed in the hospital for a week completely unconscious. Why did I have my 7th baby after I was told it would kill me?  Complete healing of God.  In  four years, not only have I not had any kidney problems since a pastor praying for me, but I've only had one UTI from dehydration that healed quickly and never returned since.  I've NEVER had a UTI that didn't go to my kidneys.  The next test was having a baby.  I had her free and clear.  Not ONE issue.  In fact, I no longer need a high risk doctor for having babies.  Kinda sad about that because I have one of the best doctors in the state that is hard to get.  So if God is a healer, I have began to look into His very own creation.  Eating better, and exercising more.  He made the plants and the animals.  Why am I going to so much processed foods?  Am I the cause of alllllll my health issues I've had in 14 years?  YES!!!  When I found out I had arthritis I looked up vitamins that could cure it. Well, I found fish oil and glucosamine, calcium, and vitamin D would do the trick.  Sure enough, I am not walking funny in the morning and biting my lip from the pain.  I no longer need my handicap hang tag for my van mirror.  That was embarrassing for me.  I'm in my early thirties and should not be dealing with arthritis. 

My kids visiting sick mommy in the hospital.  I couldn't even talk to them because I was completely out.  Was very sick and could have died that week.



This weekend Charles and I tried a 48 hour detox.  ON MY BIRTHDAY.  (What was I thinking?)  No cake!  We took the kids to Whole Foods and used the recipe from Doctor Oz's website.  Be prepared because its a bit expensive.  WHY does a burger from McDonalds only cost $1 when my healthy vegetables cost me a fortune?  This is sooooo twisted.  It cost $120 for 2 days worth of vegetables.  Whoa!  I did not go to a regular grocery store where I might have gotten a better deal for a good reason.  Plus, some items would not be available at a regular store. 

Here is an idea of what we did.  Just two of them.

 

1/2 cup pineapple

2 large cucumbers

1 bunch of kale, stems removed (4 cups chopped)

1/2 lemon squeezed

1/4 inch of ginger

1 bunch of mint (1/2 cup)

Put in juicer!

 

 

1/2 cup almond or hemp milk (plain/unsweetened)

1 tbsp ground flaxseed or chia

1/4 frozen blueberries

1/4 banana

1/2 ice

Blend!

 

 

It wasn't too bad at first but then by the second day I felt really foggy.  I could hardly do simple tasks.  Turns out it was because my body is getting rid of the toxins.  If I had kept going, the energy and clear mind would of came.  The frustrations of forgetting a few items and having to getting ready for church on the weekend made me give up on the last part of the second day.  Charles and I were just hungry and at least only ate some meat and nothing else bad.  Very costly to do this!  However, I dropped three pounds over night like it was nothing.  Had I kept going, it would have been more and more.  I might not ONLY do a detox for 2-10 days but I would like to do this for breakfast every morning. 

 

 

3 really good documentaries I would recommend:

 

 

Hungry for Change

Fat, sick, and Nearly Dead

Food Matters

 

If you were to pick just one, please watch Hungry for Change!  I'm learning so much about why I made myself sick and how.  Pretty obvious since I'm a fast food junkie.  You can rent it on Amazon to watch for only $3 or if you have Netflix it's available on there. 

Surgery Scheduled for Caleb

This time in our life has been such an incredible challenge.  Just when things look up I feel like my feet get kicked out from under me.  I have to keep getting back up though because I have a life to live, kids to love and care for, a best friend to have fun with, a husband that is amazing, a ministry to serve, and so much more.  God has somehow brought us through.  I'm amazed.

Caleb showing Nana his new car through the phone

Several days ago Caleb was having trouble going potty so we had to take him into the ER.  He was screaming and nothing would come out.  He would have bright red blood in his diaper.  Turns out, he needs to have a dilation done as it's very difficult for him to go and getting worse from irritation.  They don't want him potty training at all until he's healed and it's approved by the doctor.  He's scheduled for surgery on Wednesday.  It was Caleb's 3rd birthday when we brought him into the ER.  Thankfully, that day we had a fun day with him by taking him out and letting him pick out a toy.  I'm just sad it had to end bad but he's getting help so that's good.  Chaz will be getting an EKG soon to make sure everything is okay.  He's complained about chest pains and his heart pounding even when he's resting.  I'm gonna wait till we get done with Caleb's surgery so we can focus on that first.

Happy birthday, Caleb!

Ewwww.....

Well, this place kindly gave me two lobsters to bring home and cook.  I NEVER buy them and thought maybe it'd be easy.  Well, I unwrapped them at home and couldn't believe what I saw...  Yuck!   It had eyeballs and everything.  I had thought maybe they gave me parts, I don't know.  Now I know why I never buy these because they are so gross looking.  I was being a total wimp and asked my husband to put it in a pot for me.  We looked up a video online on how to cut apart a cooked lobster.  By the time it was done I'd gotten over my fear of these mini monsters and we ate it just fine. Still, I won't be buying one of those anytime soon.  

Germaphobic Era

Have you noticed the change in how many kids play outside?  I don't see kids outside much anymore.  Probably has a lot to do with TV and video games.  Makes me sad because I would love to hear kids outside in my neighborhood.  When I go places I constantly see parents wiping their kids' hands with sanitizing wipes.  I even see parents follow there kid around with them.  I was reading this article on Yahoo.  6 secrets of kids who rarely get sick.  It's all about constantly washing hands and doing it for at least 30 seconds.  

I'm seeing lots of comments where people are saying how germaphobic parents are getting.  They freak out if their kids play in the dirt or get dirty at all.  I used to spend hours and hours outside getting dirty and would just bathe when I was finished.  Man, how times have changed.  

At the actual Mighty Mud Mania event

I remember one time I made a mud mania in  my back yard and some people were freaking out about it. We let the kids play in the mud and with the hose and some people were saying how dirty that is.  Nooooo... duh.  It's mud.  We have really fun memories from that.  Good way to build up immunities naturally.  By the way, the moms I see that follow their kids around with sanitizing wipes that I know, their kids are sick a lot.  Makes you wonder.... hmmmm...Of course there are times IMPORTANT to wash hands like using the restroom, after using chemicals, before you eat, etc.  The article is a bit overboard.  But hey, to each their own.  You know, we used to get the flu shot and our family would get very, very sick.  One year I almost died from it.  Since not getting the flu shot, we rarely ever get it and when we do, it's very small and we get over quickly.  

Large Family Weddings

It's embarrassing when I forget about very important family events and make other plans.  Thankfully my mother-in-law called and reminded me about our aunt's wedding.  We were going to be heading to Mighty Mud Mania and then I was to be going to a baby shower directly after.  Of course we happily cancelled those plans to come and support Aunt Kim.  :)

It was tough trying to get there because my son Kyle was throwing up and he was even getting sick allll the way there.  We were HOPING we would not get sick during the ceremony and even made him hold a doggy bag the whole time.  Seriously, throwing up would not be good sound effects for the wedding video or good floor decor. 

We arrived embarrassingly late because Kyle was sick so we had to stand out in the foyer during the ceremony.  The double doors were open though so we just stood where we could see.  I was SUPER proud of my kids. All 7 were respectful, still, and quiet while we watched.  Any peep or movement would have been noticed since it was so quiet.

Afterwards my husband's family got see Juliet for the first time.  His family is BIG since his grandma had 10 kids.  This picture is of my husband's cousin holding little Juliet.  Juliet is 3 1/2 weeks old now and is almost 9lbs.  They were matching in yellow!  

You know what is so neat about large families?  The support can be amazing.  The brides immediate family was all there, meaning just sisters, brothers, and mom yet it was a good amount of people.  I love that about big families.  :)  In this picture my mother-in-law is wearing black and her mom (who had 10 kids) is in white.  I love to ask her questions on how she managed a large family.  

Moms Don't Get Sick Days

Boy, I haven't been blogging a lot.  There are some major stressful things happening in my life right now and I've been really sick with some sort of stomach bug.  It's so hard to be sick like this AND take care of your kids.  Earlier, I laid almost all my kids down for a nap except for the older ones and laid myself for some merciful sleep.  It's not like a mom can call off for a sick day.  Diapers still need to be changed, kids fed, but forget about cleaning.  Phooey.  The pain in sooo bad right now but I love to blog and it brightens my day.

coupon inserts ready to be torn out and stapled

Second step after putting together by pages,
stapling, then finally cutting out to put in book

This week I've been couponing every day getting ready for another major savings shopping trip.  It takes a good weeks worth of work and is tiring but the results are just awesome.  I'll be happy when it's done.  However, if I didn't get behind and immediately put my coupons away every week that I get from the Sunday paper, it would be so much easier to keep up.  Sigh.  I never seem to learn this.  Okay, so I've been going to the store every week to buy papers for the full price.  I used to go the 99cent store to get them for half the price but because they order very few papers it would always run out within 10 minutes.  I found a different store that also charges $1 for the Sunday paper and they have waaaaay more.  So now I'm getting my papers for half the price every month again.  Yay!  That's another savings.  

Juliet 2 weeks old at the zoo

Juliet is a dream. I know I say that a lot.  I just feel like with each baby I'm learning to appreciate things so much more.  With my first I couldn't wait for their first steps, first teeth, first everything.  Then I couldn't wait for them to crawl, walk, talk.  Then I was excited when they turned five and go to school.  Always waiting for the next thing.  Now, over a decade later I'm realizing that time flies way too fast (I also say that on here a lot) and I just can't help but appreciate things I never appreciated before.  For example, I have been changing diapers nonstop since the year 2000.  Seriously, there has never been a break for almost 12 years.  My first few I dreaded diaper changes.  I would sigh and be like "well, I have to change ANOTHER diaper."  Now, I will wake up all hours of the night to make sure Juliet is dry and just snuggle her up and talk to her.  Before I would be afraid that would wake her but I love to see her chubby cheeks under the moonlight that streams through the cracks in my curtain.  Every moment I get with her is special.  I love giving her a bath and seeing how she calms when you put water on the top of her head to rinse off the shampoo.  It's special just playing with her tiny, wiggly toes.  She messed up her outfit?  That's okay, what other cute outfit can we find?  So much has changed over time and you just start to realize that you will NEVER get those moments back so just love each one.  

Sick Kids, Broken Carts, and Facebook Backlash

Caleb and Kyle playing soldiers

There is definitely some sicknesses going around and my son caught the bug a couple of nights ago.  Agh... I'm fighting with my morning sickness just to talk about it right now.  Kyle was up all night long Sunday night into the morning getting sick and once I finally went to bed making sure he was okay, he did a lot of getting sick in the room.  I didn't know till the next morning when my husband's friend came over.  They were talking in the living room and I walked down the hallway to get something.  I smelled something funny and tried to make a run for it but threw up my coffee right on the floor. Lovely.  So now the bedroom was giving off fumes and wifey is throwing up on the floor.  Whew.... it was just one of those mornings!  It's seems Kyle's sickness was only 24 hours but he was pretty weak and tired for the rest of the day.  I had him homeschool a little bit but he was just not into it.  I felt really bad for him and had him just go rest for the the day.  He's the kid the never complains about much of anything when it comes to work so I knew he really did feel cruddy.

Last  night I went to Walmart with a friend and bought some homeschool supplies. We were being goofy the whole time and were just laughing like crazy.  It takes us forever to do anything when we are together.  She just had surgery so she was riding in an electric cart that kept stalling.  We'd just be walking along and all of a sudden my friend would be gone.  I'd look back and she would be stuck for a few seconds before the cart would work again.  There were no other carts so we were stuck with it. When we're together we tend to buy more because we talk each other into it.  I'm sure our husbands fear that when we say we are going shopping together.  LOL.  I bought a bulletin board to tack up our bible study we're doing each week and then some dry erase markers for the white board.  I got a jumbo pack of construction paper and some other supplies.  It really is encouraging to have a close friend that homeschools and we can give each other ideas.  We are both in the same boat with being fairly new to schooling our kids at home and really trying to find our way.  That is why we use something to help us along.  As time goes on I've slowly begun pulling away and doing our own stuff. So far I only do that with History and Science.  I use a program for Math, Language Arts, and Bible and I'm really happy with it.  

My husband lectured me this morning about working myself too hard and I need to at least stop working by 9pm.  I told him I enjoy being busy and I don't realize I'm doing that.  He said 9pm I'm done so that's that.  My man has spoken.  :)  Hey, at least he doesn't think I sit on my butt all day and eat bon bons.

Last night I dreamt that God took me to view the world from a distance.  Have you ever been in a plane and when you look out the window the houses seem so tiny?  It always gets me in a deep thought about how we get so caught up in day to day life and forget some important things. When going up in a plane the worries of this world seem to get tiny along with all the buildings.  Well, in my dream God took me out of the world to look at it from a distance.  He said the world is so caught up in the rush of things they don't realize what is coming. We needed to remember what mattered and to keep our hearts right with Him. It was a pretty neat dream but I woke up right after it wondering why I dreamt it and decided to just accept it.  It's true.  We take care of our day to day but one day we will stand before God and need to be ready for that.  Relationships are more important than things.  Working, working, working just so we can have more "stuff" is different than working to make a living and support our family.  The other day on Facebook I made the "mistake" (not really) of saying I appreciated my mom being a homemaker and taking care of us.  If I ever post anything like that I definitely get a verbal whipping from some.  Working moms always feel that I'm trying to send a message to them and each thinks I was secretly throwing a dagger.  I'm not.  It was just a thought that popped in my head and I wanted to send a thanks to my mom.  :)

If you get a chance head on over to my other friend's blog.  Her post today is called "Homeschool Chemistry: A Bunch of Advice From Kerrie"  A good read!

Sunday School Dilemma and Homeschool Challenges

Another Sunday morning and I can't go to church.  Since our van broke down we have been having to take turns in our car.  He usually takes four or I take four of the kids.  Also, Caleb got a bug and his nose just won't clear up so he can't go to nursery.  Nothing major but enough to keep him out of the baby nursery.  The nursery has strict rules but for very good reasons.  I wouldn't want to put my healthy baby in and they constantly get sick from other babies.  Sooo, here I am on Sunday morning with my 3 little ones at home.  

Another complication I have is with Ivy.  Some might remember but back when Ivy was in Kindergarten in a brick and mortar school she wasn't doing well.  However, the teacher didn't enlighten me till February, six months after school started, that Ivy had learned diddly squat and has day dreamed most of the time.  Why, oh, why am I being told so late in the year?  I pulled her as soon as I was shown this and began to homeschool her.  Because we had to start 6 months behind she is that far behind everyone else her age.  That teacher was actually let go at that school.  Anyway, when July came around all the kids at church were put up to the next level in Sunday School without my knowledge so I had no warning.  I figured it wasn't a big deal that Ivy is in a first grade class being that she is only six months behind in her schooling than her classmates.  It's been seven months now and they are telling me they want to switch Ivy back to the Kindergarten Sunday school class since she can't read yet.  What?  Now?  She's made friends in this class, she's almost seven years old.  To go back into where it's five year olds is very embarrassing to her.  No matter how I feel they are going to do it and that's that.  So I have kept Ivy out since she is begging me not to have to go.  She is incredibly embarrassed about it.  I don't blame her so she is home with me today until we can all go to church together and then she'll be sitting with us in the adult's class.

I've already tried talking to the leader.  What do you think?  What would you do?  I asked why being in the first grade class is a problem and they said it's because they want each kid to be able to read one paragraph during the lessons.  I just started homeschooling Ivy for the first grade this past week so she will be learning to read soon.

When a Bad Day Increasingly Gets Worse

I had a really, really, really cruddy morning.  It was NOT okay.  Sigh.



It's Friday again and my kids attend a school for homeschooled kids so we needed to get there by 8:30am.  Well, recently our transmission in our van went out so my dad kindly offered his car.  My husband needs our other vehicle for work.

What I felt like inside

I woke up with plenty of time to get ready but because I had such bad morning sickness I was stuck in the bathroom for half hour.  By the time I got out the kids only had 10 minutes to finish getting ready.  I didn't have time to dress the two little ones because I didn't want to be late and the kids have a field trip today.  I put Caleb in with just his pajamas and Ashley also.  As I'm loading up the car seat for Caleb I realize that the straps are so tight I can't fit Caleb in them.  Since it's a new seat I couldn't find the release button anywhere.  I searched all over and just couldn't find it. By now I knew we were going to be late to school.  I finally put a booster seat in the car for Caleb and I hated doing that because it's more for kids one year older than he is.  All the way to the school Caleb was trying to escape his seat so Kyle had to hold him down. Well, Caleb didn't like that so he was pulling his big brother's hair.  I was on the freeway so there was nowhere to pull over.  

Finally we pull into the school and after I wave goodbye I started to drive off.  One of the kids must've not shut the door all the way because the side door flew open. The lady behind me is hocking like crazy to tell me.  I had already noticed so I immediately flew out of the car to shut and lock the door.  Caleb then realize there is a lot of neat buttons on the door he can unlock and open.  Oh man, how were we gonna get home?  I put my review mirror right where I could see Caleb the whole way home.  As soon as we get driving Caleb escapes out of his seat.  I pull off the freeway and onto a main road to rebuckle Caleb. This time I reposition his seat in the middle and discover this seatbelt locks in place.  Well, as soon as I got driving again he tries to escape so I reach behind me and hold his leg the rest of the way. He's screaming because I'm doing this and Ashley tells me that she's carsick and gonna throw up.  I look down at my nice cup of coffee that is still half full and wonder if I need to give it up so Ashley has something to throw up in.  It's my dad's car and there is no way I want to return it with a throw up smell and a stain.  I give her my cup of coffee just in time because she filled it to the rim.  Then I started to heave so I rolled down my window and drove with my head sticking out.   Ashley's behind me trying to balance the cup so no throw up spills out of it.  As soon as I get to a stop light I opened my door and emptied the cup.

Finally..... FINALLY, I pulled up to my house.  I had made it home.  I felt like crying I was so happy to be home.  Then it dawns on me.... when I left with my dad's keys I had forgotten to grab my own so that means we were locked out of the house.  Sigh.  "Why?  Whyyyyyyyy?!"  Charles usually comes home around that time so I was pleading with God to not let him run lots of errands or anything like that.  Caleb pooped his diaper really bad and in the rush of just getting the kids to school (and thinking we'd be right back) I didn't grab anything.  Ashley starts to dance because she has to pee.  About an hour later of just sitting there I finally just get out and starting thinking about hopping over the fence to at least let the kids play in the backyard.  I didn't want to hurt my pregnant tummy so I began to "build steps" so I could climb over the wall rather than jump.  It had already been an hour and now I needed to potty.  Out of frustration I wiggle the front door and it opens right up?  What?  "AGgggggghhhh!"  First I thought someone broke in but then I remember that the boys had went out the front door to get something and forgot to lock it.  You mean all this time I've been sitting out here I could've just walked in my house?  Oh man, the frustration and joy were all mixed together. As soon as I discover the front door was unlocked my husband comes home.  Sigh.  I walked in and just sat on the couch.  I didn't want to do anything.  Not wash clothes.  Not wash any dishes.  Nothing.  I was just so happy I  made it home.  It was only 10am and I was completely burned out.  I laid the kids down for a nap so I could nap but the phone wouldn't stop ringing.  It rang about every 5 minutes and so the kids only napped for about 15 minutes.  Sigh.

Oh well.  What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.  Next time someone asks me where I get so much patience, I'll share this story or one like it with them.  Yeah, you learn patience through experiences.  That's the only way.  :)  We all have some to share!

How to Declutter a Room FAST

I've felt like I've disappeared off of computer land these last few days because of being so incredibly busy.  Last Saturday I decided it was time to stop playing around with the idea and do some real decluttering.  I'm tired of doing it little bit by little bit.  So I made a pact to do one room a day until it's done.  Yeah, I know that's a huge one to make but I just don't want to mess around with it anymore.

On Saturday I took my sister's advice and emptied out the boys room completely, as if we were moving.  I had the kids help me and we just unloaded everything into the living room.  HOLY COW they had a lot of stuff. I never, ever would have guessed they had that much stuff till it literally filled our entire living and dining room.  I also took apart the boys bunk bed since it was never that sturdy.  I threw out the full mattress and put a queen in their temporarily till we can get 2 sets of single mattress bunk beds.

We threw out all old toys and kept the best of costumes they had.  My sister said you empty out the room completely and then only put back what you want.  That advice absolutely worked for me because you start to see how you have to make some really careful decisions to keep it looking nice.  We cleared out that black shelf they had and saved the bottom half for all of Caleb's toys.  Actually, what you see in the picture is what he has now.  We put the books on the top this time so Caleb can't just pull them all out.  We also threw out all old blankets and just kept the new ones they got for Christmas.  Their room is soooooo easy to keep clean now.

This project took me about 8 hours on Saturday and then 4 hours in between church service the next day to finish up.  We were so proud and the boys were really, really happy.  After church on Sunday night I went to the hospital to visit a friend.  After being there for about an hour I decided to just spend the night there and hang out with her through the next morning.  I finally left around 10:30am on Monday morning because I knew that I needed to start another project that day.  It was garage day and we were gonna spend all day cleaning it out and getting rid of a lot.  I have had a lot of favors asked of me in the last 2 weeks but I've had to just be really choosy about them in order to keep certain commitments I've made to get my house back in order.  For the most part I've just ignored my phone because it's rang off the hook.  Sometimes you just gotta do whatever it takes to get the job done and not be distracted.  However, seeing my friend in the hospital was a necessity and I don't regret that of course.  :)

It has truly been an exhausting past two weeks but I am really excited about some changes we've made in our family for the year 2012!  That's another post for a different day.  Happy New Year!!!!

Does God Still Heal?

Every morning my favorite thing to do is get my hot cup of coffee, kiss all the babies that are awake, check my email, and blog.  Don't worry, I only drink one cup of caffeinated coffee a day being that I'm pregnant. If I want any more I just do decaf.  Drinking decaf is like hunting with blanks.  There is just no point.  But, I guess the hunt is still fun.

The weekend was great because we were back in church and I could put baby Caleb in nursery.  I even got to volunteer to watch the little babies in the Sunday morning service.  Unfortunately, because of all the sickness issues my kids have missed every Christmas practice up until Sunday night.  The kids' play is this next Sunday!  Oh man.... it should be interesting to watch.

I had a friend that is moving out of town.  Her son is best friend's with my oldest.  Well, I wanted to come over and help her sort through her stuff and pack.  So Monday I woke up feeling some pain thinking maybe a bladder infection had started. I felt GREAT the night before so this was a surprise.  Wanting to keep my promise to my friend, I just ignored it in hopes it would go away if I drank enough water.  When I got to her house, right away I started sorting and packing.  A couple hours later the pain was so intense I just couldn't work anymore.  I wasn't showing it to her but I was so upset because I made a promise to help her all day and I knew I was gonna have to quit and go to see the doctor.  With a promise I was gonna return a couple days later, I headed to Urgent Care.  I stopped to pick up my other friend along the way to go with me.  The doctor said the infection was off the charts bad and prescribed me some medicine.  I was SO HAPPY!  Do you KNOW what this means?  For years my kidneys were getting so bad that I could no longer feel any bladder infections because it would go straight to my kidneys and I'd end up in the hospital.  The doctor told me my kidneys were so bad that as soon as I felt a bladder infection I had to go straight to the ER.  Don't call the doctor.  JUST GO AND CHECK MYSELF IN.  That's how bad my kidneys were.  In fact, I would just be doing something around the house and fall over in horrendous pain from my kidneys.  Well, 2 1/2 years ago I was hospitalized and unconscious for a week it was so bad.  I'm only telling you that to understand why I'm so excited that I actually felt this bladder infection and it didn't go to my kidneys.  Not long after my last hospital stay (2 1/2 years ago) an evangelist came to my church.  He called out for someone that has bad kidney issues.  I went up immediately  for prayer.  In fact, I was in bad pain that night.  Not only did I have kidney pain but I was scheduled for surgery because I had Endometriosis.  God healed me that night.  Surgery was cancelled and I have not had any kidney problems since.  That is a miracle. So when I found out that I had a bladder infection starting yesterday, I felt panicky at first.  However, I didn't want to just go and get help like usual because I wanted to see what would happen.  The infection was only in my bladder and didn't spread.  That has not happened to me in about 7 years.  I was able to just get some antibiotics yesterday.  No hospital stay.  Nothing.  I feel like crying because I'm still so grateful God healed my kidneys.  That doesn't mean I can't go and ruin them again.  LOL.  That comes from not taking care of a bladder infection when it starts. If you let it go too long it'll hurt your kidneys eventually.  My kidneys had been so bad I wasn't supposed to have any more kids.  I am soooooooo grateful for God's healing grace.

With having pain meds and antibiotics, I think we'll go to the zoo today with the kids.  Today we have some extra kids with us so it'll be fun to take them all.  Tomorrow I'll be back at my friends house helping her pack. I'm so grateful for medicine and doctors!

When Kids are Sick and Optimism is a Necessity

Ivy

Just when we thought we were free and clear from the whole lice nightmare, 3 of my kids came down with bronchitis and had to go on antibiotics. The others ones sick but it didn't get too serious

We were so happy to be back in church and that lasted just one service.  We were back at home again.  The thing about it is the kids are supposed to be practicing for the church Christmas play and they haven't been able to.  So, tonight they'll finally get to practice at church.  Caleb will have to stay on my lap in church though because he's not cleared to go into nursery yet.  Then again, it's extremely hard to hold a baby in church because babies are always in the nursery until 3 years old.  The kids that are sitting in church are well trained to be quiet and stay sitting in their seat.  Often when I bring Caleb I have to get up and just stand in another room so we're not a distraction.  Then I figure since I can't hear anything we should just stay home.  I don't know.  

Ashley and I waiting in Urgent care

The thing about the kids is that they usually come down with sickness one at a time. I first took Ivy to the ER and then Caleb and Ashley another time.  So after I came back from my second trip, literally within a half hour Ashley was crying when she'd go potty.  If only I had known that when we just were at the ER.  So, we had to wait till the next day to go to an urgent care and get her some medicine.  The kids were burning up in fevers, Ivy hacking like crazy, and Ashley screaming about pain.  I feel bad as a mom seeing them that miserable.  They are finally getting better though.  You know what's crazy is ever since I pulled my kids from public school (6 months ago) my kids have been pretty darn healthy. They used to catch what all the other kids had and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why my kids were always coming down with something.  So, to be dealing with this now is no big deal in comparison.  In fact, when my kids were in school they were sick so much that I had to pull out of platform music ministry at church.  I had never connected the dots till seeing how healthy they've been since then.

You know, through all that and having to sit in waiting rooms for each kid, I realized that we had such good times talking and cuddling.  Just being alone with each one.  Often we take kids separately on errands and appointments.  It usually follows with a treat.  Oprah (this is the only time I'll ever quote her) said that moms often feel they don't spend enough alone time with each one.  We forget though that every time we change a diaper, often we're talking and playing with them.  Giving them kisses.  Whether it's to show them how to tie their shoes, potty on the toilet, reading them a book, going on an errand, those all count.  It's so true.


I found this video about how a mother's touch saved her baby's life.  It's so amazing I wanted to share it with you.

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When God Gives Back

We're starting all over and laying good soil down because the
soil you see here isn't too great.  So, no more grass for a bit
till the new soil is laid.

Recently I had a neighbor who went to have surgery.  She didn't come back for 2 months because she almost died!  I couldn't believe it.  Well, she needed me to run her some errands, go to doctor's appointments, etc.  It took several hours but she was just really in a lot of pain and the poor gal had to get in and out of my tall van.  It LOOKED painful.  By the end of the day we drop her off and she can't barely get out because her body was really hurting. It was towards the evening when I get a phone call from her and she says, "I'm sending over a landscaper to do your front and back yard and clean it up really nice."  Wow, what a blessing!  We really spend no time out there during the heat of the summer so it was just looking really bad.  This guy was so fast he had it done in an hour.  An hour!  We take so much longer when we work outside.  I went outside in amazement and the beauty of our backyard and couldn't believe she gave us such a blessing.  It was not cheap to hire him but she did it as a gift.  

What's really crazy was before she called, I was talking to Ryan and telling him thanks for being so patient riding around for so long (along with the other kids).  I told him that we don't do things for a profit or to get something back.  It should just come from our heart and caring for people that need help.  Literally, my neighbor called 15 minutes later with a lovely gift of landscaping for free.  Ryan was so grateful he grabbed a shovel and went outside to work with him.  That boy amazes me.  God amazes me.  It's amazed how He knows your needs, the desires of your heart.