Baby It's Cold Outside . . .

And what a way to warm up!! The temps here in NC are unseasonably cold this weekend - been in the low 40's with rain. Yuck! Mike and I decided to light a fire rather than turn the heat back on and the kids wanted to make Smores. My hubby is so sweet that he ran to the store and bought all the fixin's!

The kids had a blast making our camping favorite - smores - inside by the fire tonight! Paige got a little freaked out by the burning marshmallows, but once she got a bite of them . . . yummo!!

Friday's Favorite Five . . .

So many times in life we get focused on what's going wrong in our life, who's sick, why it's been a bad week. I know I fall culprit to this many times . . . more often than I care to think about.

Soooooooo - I've decided to start something new - Friday's Favorite Five. Five things that happened this week that stood out as great, amazing, wonderful, and true blessings.

Here goes it - Friday's Favorite Five: Volume 1

1 - I realized again that I have an amazing husband who is always there for us! He took care of the kids and me this week by cleaning, cooking, chauffeuring, doctoring, and cheering us on.

2 - Devin ran a great race in track Tuesday night. His 4x8 team took 1st place, and although his 4x4 team didn't place, Devin ran a personal best for the year of less than 60 seconds. He's such a funny kid about it though! I had to PRY the information out of him TONIGHT to even be able to post how well he did!

3 - Spring is . . . well, springing! Flowers are blooming everywhere and they're absolutely beautiful!!! Really lifts your spirits when you look outside and see the new colors that appear daily!

4 - Health!! We were very blessed to get a good report on my Dad's health this week! He's even able to participate in a Diabetes study now and his cardiologist feels he's doing great! AMEN!!

5 - And who can leave out Easter! A reminder to us that all of our blessings are because of our Savior, because he Loves us so!

And Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" John 11:25,26

Gonna Brag on My Daddy!!

Sorry Dad - Have to brag about your good report!!

Dad had his 3 month check in Ann Arbor with his cardiologist. According to him - as the doc walked in she said "Wow! You look great!". Heart sounds good, blood pressure is good, sugar is good (when he eats the way he's supposed to!), and he's at a good weight with no excess fluids (in other words - no CHF right now). She even told him he doesn't have to keep going every 3 months - he can now go every 6 months!!! This is way awesome news!!

He gets most of the credit for this good report - but there are others to credit too! His wife (my amazing step-Mom) does a great job of keeping the most stubborn man I know in line with his diet and exercise!! And of course my Mom - the Angel in Heaven that I know has been watching over and protecting him since the day she left this earth almost five years ago.

Love you Daddy!

Home Yet Again!

Today marks day 3 of staying home from work because of this flu, day 5 of not leaving the house! I do feel better and am slowly starting to rehydrate. I was able to stay up for most of the day yesterday in the recliner - dozing on and off while searching the blogs out of complete boredom!

I have an amazing husband! He has been able to keep the house in order, laundry done, kids fed, track meets met, school work done, work his own 8 hour a day job, and take care of me. I am Blessed! What a good man he is!

I miss my patients and my work though! Three of them have been discharged home since I was there last and I didn't get to tell them good-bye or good luck. In the back of my mind - I know that if I were to be there I'd be spreading these germies to even more people who don't have the immunity to fight it. But I miss them all!

So . . . Until tomorrow I sit back and rest some more! Ughh!

Thank you Nikki!!!

It was time for a personal look to our blog and I found the perfect person to help me do that!! I was struggling with making it look too femine (the boys hated that!) or to masculine (the girls hated that!). She did a great job! Thank you, Nikki!!!

For info on how to get your blog customized - click on the Blogs for a Cause link to the right!!

Blessings!

This Story Touched My Heart

Having a premature infant is a tough struggle to get through. Mike and I learned that the hard way with our daughter, Paige.

This blog is that of a friend of a friend. This family has faced many struggles that I cannot imagine. With their Faith they have made it soooo far. But - there is so much farther to go and so many prayers needed.

Please take some time out of your day and pray for this family. For healing, strength, and for a transplant opportunity to come soon. Also pray for the continued Faith in God to get through whatever comes their way!

http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/

Happy Easter 2008!!!

Kayleigh's Makeover by Mom!

(These are the Before Pictures)

Kayleigh asked me to cut her hair tonight. I asked if she was sure - and she said YEP! So . . . I did! It did end up a bit shorter than she hoped. But, after a few tears, a good shampoo and blow dry, it's definitely growing on her! I think it makes her look soooo much older!

As for Daddy - well - he's not home to see it yet. I may need a place to stay tonight though!! He's not gonna like it and he's not gonna like it even more when he finds out I'm the one who did it!

Here are some after pics!

We're Bleaching the Whole House!!!

What a week it has been around here! It all started Sunday with Chase's raging fever - by Monday night he had a horrible rash down his stomach and we immediately thought the worst fearing a relapse of Kawasaki. Turned out - he had strep but no sore throat. Very strange - but with that kid nothing surprises me anymore!

The next through the pediatrician's office was Kayleigh for a fever, constant cough, and stuffy nose. Picked her up from school and went straight to the pediatrician's office - turned out she had strep too!! She was actually MAD at me for taking her because it meant she couldn't go to school for a day!

Then - Wednesday night - Devin comes in at 2am "Dad I'm sick and throwing up, I need Pepto"!! Nice to know even nearing 15 he still needs Mommy and Daddy when he's sick! Well - today he woke up not only sick on his stomach, but sore throat and fevered!!! Off to the pediatrician for the 3rd time in a week!!

As for Paige - She's too hyper to be sick these days! We've been keeping her at pre-school all week and FAR away from her sick siblings!!!

I guess if they're gonna all get sick - it's better they do it all at once and get it over with . . . right???

Anyhow - Mike and I decided this weekend was spring cleaning weekend and we are sanitizing everything in sight!!!

Devin Drives for the First Time!!

"Uhh . . . How do I put it into drive again???"

I took Devin to the church parking lot this afternoon to drive for the first time! Paige decided she wanted to go as well. The parking lot has circle drives, one way aisles, a few cars were parked, and there are various types fo parking places - good place to go and learn! He did soooo well!! He was thrilled!

We left there and headed home - he thought he was done! Ha! After we turned onto Summerglen Drive - I pulled over and said - "OK - now take me home.". He yelled "No way! There's mailboxes here" to which I replied "Yep - and a dog on the side of the road right there too - better be careful"!

He cautiously drove the 1/2 mile down Summerglen towards our drive into the woods. I jumped out to move Paige's bike and told him to go ahead and pull in the garage - he looked terrified! Then - Mike comes out and looks just panicked!! Mike said "No Way! Don't Let Him!". But - he did - and he did it perfectly!

My baby boy is growing up sooooo quickly!! I'm so proud of all he does!!

"Holy Cow! I'm really doing this!!"

"Please Mom - Don't stand in front of me while I'm parking!!"

(if you look closely you can see Paige in her carseat smiling from ear to ear!)

Nurses, Pediatricians, and POISON CONTROL!

Chase woke up this morning feeling dizzy and burning up . . . 104.3 fever!!! I yelled for Mike to come help me get the ibuprofin and in his half awake state of mind - Mike grabbed the tablespoon medicine cup instead of the teaspoon medicine cup! So . . . Chase was supposed to get 2 teaspoons of ibuprofin and instead got 2 TABLESPOONS (or 6 teaspoons!!).

We called the nurse first, then she had us call the pediatrician, who in turn had us call poison control!! Fortunately - they said he'd be ok but we had to watch for certain things like an even higher fever, uncontrollable vomiting, and convulsions. As long as that didn't happen - we were good and told no more ipuprofin until after 5pm (duhh!!).

Mike felt sooooooo bad!!! The look on his face when he realized what he had done was awful! He kept a watchful eye on Chase while the girls and I went to Palm Sunday service at church. The nurse and poison control have both called a few times to check on things - very nice to know they follow up!

As for Chase - even with 6 teaspoons of ibuprofin - the fever only came down to 99.4 and now is back up in the 102/103 range. Looks like we'll be going to see the pediatrician in the morning!

Spring Snapshots

The kids and I went back into our woods today and snapped lots of pics. Here's a few of my favorites. To see them all you can click the "Spring Pictures" slideshow on the right side of the website.

Wind Damage!!

We came home this afternoon to find that a tree in the front yard had completely uprooted and was laying across power lines - as a result of 60-70 mph winds. Fortunately - it didn't take the lines down and we still had power!


Duke-Energy came out and had a rough time getting it all down safely. First - they tried the cherry picker - that was a no-go because of the location of the lines and where our driveway was. So - they used a long saw-stick type thing to manually saw branches off the top. Once the branches were clear they were able to use a rope from the cherry picker to hold it as a man on the bottom sawed through the base of the tree.

Finally - it was all down and we were left with a mess! Remember the pics of the front that we posted not long ago - we were so proud of cleaning it all up . . . yep . . . this is the same front yard and once again - Duke-Energy left us with a mess!

As they finished - we noticed a tree in the backyard uprooting as well. Sure enough - it's on its way. But - because it's not hitting an actual power line - they can't touch it yet. If these winds keep up tonight - I'm sure they'll be back!

Spring has Sprung!

These are blooming all over our yard right now! Penny tells me their daffodils (LOL! A gardener I am not!) They are absolutely gorgeous! The weather here has been consistently in the 60's and 70's all week. I think we've finally turned the corner! We even got some good rainfall (much needed) this week so everything is turning green and budding! My favorite time of the year!

Paige is Registered for Kindergarten!

Where does the time go?!? Seems just yesterday we were watching over Paige in the NICU isolette for weeks - praying for her to be stronger and bigger. Now - she's getting so big so quick that we're wishing we could down the days!

She and I went to the elementary school today and filled out all the paperwork to register her for kindergarten! She met the principal (I'm sure it won't be the first time!) and loved being there. I had a hard time getting her to leave! She's quite excited about being a big girl and even more excited about riding the school bus! She even told me that I'd have to leave her alone after school so she can do all her homework "cuz I'll have a whole bunch"!

She goes back in April for the developmental testing for placement - after that she's all set to be a kindergartener!!

70 Degrees and Lovin' It!

To all of our family and friends back home - today is the reason we moved to North Carolina! We did yardwork all day, played basketball and baseball with the neighbors, and at 7:00pm tonight we were still on the backporch grilling steaks without jackets on! Far cry from the foot of snow on the ground and 25 degree temps back home! Miss you! Come visit anytime!

Mike's Office Surprise

We've been talking and talking about making the HUGE storage room downstairs an office and study room for Mike - - - doing it has been another thing! The kids and I have schemed all week to do this for him today - just us! Last minute, Devin had to be out of town and I panicked! I didn't think we could do it without him - but we gave it a shot and look at the results!!


This was the before picture of the blank slate we started with. Originally it had boxes and boxes of stuff that we just hadn't gone through after we moved in!


And this was the finished product! We still don't have an area rug under the desk - Mike will pick that out on his own later this week.



And Mike loves it!! He was so surprised!! Each of the kids helped in some way with this project and we're so happy we could give him an office he loves!!!