He is getting too big...

I finally found the cord to the camera and was able to get the pictures off of the camera that Matt took of Christian while I was out one day. He is getting too big, too smart, and too daring for my health. He WILL be the death of me!!

Wow, what a day that was!!!

Total time to drive 4 miles: 1 hour. Total amount to park in a crappy lot: $20. Getting out of a $35 parking ticket: Fabulous.

It all started on the morning of the 26th. Matt was going to do our taxes. He needed Sarah's social security number. I fetched her papers to get her card. But was it there? No. So we turned the house upside down. Nowhere. We came to the conclusion that Matt must have thrown it away when he was 'cleaning' one day - a.k.a. just throwing everything in a garbage bag.

So I had to print off an application and get all her papers ready to take to the Federal Building. Not excited. The F.B. is downtown. On a very busy intersection. It opens at 8:30am. That means that I have to leave the house by at least 7:30 to try and get there before it opens and get a place in line.

What happens when the morning of the 27th comes? I don't get out of the house until 7:45am. Sarah is hungry and screaming her head off in her carseat. Traffic is horrendous and I take the wrong exit and end up taking the semi-long way. It took me an hour to go literally 4 miles.

I don't know where to park and find a sign that says there is public parking off such-and-such street. I find it, pull in, go to the little self-service parking meter to put in my money and get a receipt to put on my dash. I choose the 1-3 hour parking option since I have no clue how long it will take me to get Sarah's SS#. It says it will cost me $8. I put in a $20 and wait for change. Nope...nothing happens. I just get my receipt. I was in a hurry, ticked off that it took so long to get there, ticked off that I had to park in a horrible lot, and ticked off that I didn't get change. I head off to the F.B. - forgetting to put the paper on the dash of the car.

I get to the F.B. Was lost...asked for directions...found my way. I take my number - A109. When I sat down A105 was being called. Not bad. Four windows were open so I figured I had a good chance of being there about 30 minutes at the least. But was I? NO!!

FIFTEEN MINUTES TOTAL!!!!!!!

It took me over an hour of driving there, finding parking, and then finally finding my way to the blasted SS place and FIFTEEN MINUTES to be called and talk to someone about getting a replacement card for Sarah. Egads!!!!!! Seriously, not cool.

So I get her number and leave. Get to the car and see that I have a lovely envelope on my windshield. I look at the time of the ticket - 9:24am. Look at my phone - 9:29am. JUST missed them!! So I look at the ticket (click to make larger):



and see that it is for no payment/receipt. I was a little miffed about my entire day so I called the number on the back of the ticket to complain...not only about a ticket (that technically I DID deserve), but about not getting change back. She says that it is clearly stated on the machines that there is no change. Dang. BUT I told her that I'm sitting in my car with my payment stub and the ticket and I don't want to pay it. She says 'Ok, fine, give me the red number and I'll delete it'. Sa-weet!!!

Getting a $35 ticket revoked made the hour+ drive to get Sarah's SS# worth it. :-) Because if I would have had to pay $20 for $8 parking spot ON TOP OF a $35 ticket....oh boy.

I seriously can't wait to leave here. Rant over!!!

My husband loves me

Yes, he does!! And you know why? He let me sleep in. :-) Granted it was only an hour longer than I usually have to get up. But since he just got off of night shifts and is working on getting his body back to day shifts...he was up at 4am. So when Christian woke up at 7, he went and got him, changed him, fed him breakfast, and played with him. Then Sarah woke up at 8:30. I didn't have a CLUE that he had done all of that with Christian for me. I just slept away...and it felt GOOD! I love that man.

Sarah is feeling a bit better. Not AS stuffy but I still have to suction her out sometimes. Still has a very loose cough. I might have to take her in if it doesn't seem to clear up in the next few days. Don't want her to somehow get pneumonia or something!

Christian is a character. He takes his little cars and trucks and 'drives' them all over the house. It is REALLY cute. He makes me smile. If I could squish him up and eat him I would!!!

Matt still has a bit of a head cold. Ears are stuffy and has a lingering, dry cough.

I did NOT get sick! :-) Always seems to work that way for some reason. The entire house gets deathly ill, I have to take care of them all, I get exhausted, and somehow manage to bypass getting deathly ill along with them. Not that I WANT to! I'm just amazed that I seem to walk away unscathed and am able to fully take care of the family like they need.

I'm going to hopefully get to a movie this week with a friend. And maybe go shopping. :-) I think I deserve it!!

It is time to come clean...

I am a blog-aholic. There is this fancy little thing on Google.com called Google Reader. This is the tool that started it all. Before this I had only a few other blogs saved in my Favorites tab that I would check during the day. But the second I found the Reader...oh boy is that when my addiction took off.

I now have over 150 blogs in my Reader. OVER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY!!!! I have a feeling that is quite a bit more than most people. It's one of the first things I check on the computer when I turn it on. I have to check up on the people that I, as well as many others around the world, have come to know.

Anyways - I have been wanting to do this post for a long time. I wanted to add a few blogs here in hopes that you would go take a look at them. Support them, laugh with them, cry with them. There are so many amazing people in this world that I need to share with you.

1) A woman who will "simply be MckMama, a sinner saved by the King's grace, wife to my Prince, mother of Many Small Children."

2) The Riggs Family. You can read about Abby here.


3) Harper and her Mommy Kelly


4) Jen over at Cake Wrecks. If you are a blogger and haven't seen this one yet...you have been living under a rock!!! The title of the blog says it all. Go take a look and bust a gut.

and

5) Matt, Liz & Madeline. Touching story of a single father.

I just had to share some of my favorite blogs. I seriously check every day to see if any of these have posted something new. Please go take a look!!

My poor Sarah Bear

Well she has been stuffy and congested the last few days. Yesterday (Tues) my friend Krisanda told me that she would watch Christian at her house for a few hours that morning while I rested with Sarah. WHAT A WONDERFUL PERSON! I needed it so badly. I got a few hours of sleep with her and even squeezed in a shower. Hooray for being clean, huh? Then I picked him up and he came home and napped almost FOUR hours. So I literally didn't deal with him until almost 4pm. Her daughter Madison musta wore him out! Nice change. ;-)

Anyways - back to Sarah. Last night she started to get quite hot. I took her temp and it was 100.2. Not good. :( Poor thing was already feeling crummy and now this. Matt had just gotten up and he told me to call the on-call PCM at Hickam. I did NOT know they had this!!!! If I would have known this sooner...geesh! So I called and asked if it was alright to give her infant tylenol even though she wasn't quite 3 months yet. He said it was fine and told me what to look for in the next few days to see if she has a possible viral infection.

This morning at 3:30am her fever finally broke and she was able to stay sleeping. Before this she was up quite a bit because she still wants to breath out of her nose...but she can't! So gasp away she did. But after the fever broke she slept for a few hours...therefore I got some sleep...before Christian got up at 7:30. Ugh..what ANOTHER long week this is going to be.

But I have some good news!!!! Matt walked in the door at 9am this morning from work and told me the bestest thing I have heard all year (all 20 days worth haha). HE TOOK ALL NEXT WEEK OFF! I cried...not kidding. He told me that he knows I need a break. And this I do! So next week I'm going to schedule a massage and use some of the gift certificate that I got from Matt for Christmas, go to a movie with a girlfriend, and maybe even do a bit of clothes shopping. I need bottoms badly.

Only a little bit left of January. February HAS to be better.

Is it February yet?

Seriously. February can't get here soon enough.

I jinxed Sarah. She is now sick. I can hear it in her throat/chest. I had to suction snot out of her nose at 6am because she couldn't nurse well, therefore getting her back to sleep was rough. She got up at 7:30 this morning and it is now 11am....with no nap. :-( Every time I get her nursed to sleep I put her in the swing but I think she has trouble breathing in it and she gets mad. She has coughed/gagged each time.

So when Christian goes down for a nap I'm taking Sarah to bed with me. Matt is sleeping sine he works tonight at 9pm. We haven't done night shift in a LONG time....so we aren't liking it. Oh, well, just a week. We can do it!!!

All for now. This week should be nice since I'll have the car and can go places. Hopefully I'll have more to blog about!!!!!

Rehab...other updates...

It didn't work out this week for me to have physical therapy yesterday. So it is rescheduled for next Tuesday.

Christian is getting better. YAY!!!!!! I didn't think he ever would. He is still a snotty mess, has a cough, and is tired..but he is getting better!

Sarah and myself are currently germ-free...as far as we know!

Matt is sick. No signs of getting better OR worse, though.

I can't find the USB cord to the camera so I haven't been able to add pics to the website. I still have to finish putting up the Christmas ones!! I'm so far behind - I'm sorry. This stupid back of mine REALLY put a kink in things, didn't it?

Matt has to stay up as late as he can tonight and Saturday night. He starts 12-hour night shifts for a week on Sunday. Boo.

Don't have much more to update, I guess. We are still alive, just taking it easy.

I'm going to rehab!!!!

You heard me right. I'm going to the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific. I have an appointment set up for Thursday at 4:15 pm.

These last few weeks have been so hard on me. I seriously would have rather broken a leg. At least then I could probably nurse Sarah without crying in pain. I could move my upper body to eat. I could sneeze without thinking I was going to break my back in half. I have thrown my back out a few times prior to this, but none like now. By far this is the worst.

I have my last chiropractor appointment Wednesday evening and will get to see all my x-rays then. I'm anxious to see them to see the 'extent of damage' that my body has. A 24-year-old should not have back issues like this. From the x-ray that I saw briefly last week, I have scar tissue and arthritis in my lower vertebrae (L5) and my disk that is either above or below, I forget, my L5 is supposed to be one of the biggest in the back and mine is one of the smallest. Not much cushion down there and when my back goes out it literally crushes those nerves and sends excruciating pains all throughout my right side. Not fun stuff.

So, I really hope that this physical therapy helps me out and that I can get better. It still hurts to move some. I can't bend over to even put a towel on my head after a shower. I'm so unbelievably sore and stiff. I seriously feel about 60. But enough of me.

~~

Sarah isn't sick....yet. I hope she avoids all of the germs that Christian has going on.

He has an appointment today at 3:45. He woke up this morning burning up BAD and we called as soon as we could to get him in. We think he might have strep?? His poor little body is taking a beating. Please send a prayer his way so that he can get over whatever he has. I think a week is long enough.

Well, my update is going to be cut short. Sarah is awake and I'm sure she wants to eat!!!

2008 - Year In Review

January:
We found a park near our house that had a baby swing! After what seemed like 5 different parks we found one. The boys enjoyed themselves while I snapped some pics.

We also finally started brushing Christian's teeth. Isn't that sad? Not like he had a ton to work with but we figured it was time!

Christian also became a Pirate


February:
We took the LONG hike up the Makapuu Lighthouse trail. Thank goodness for Matt. He pushed Christian up in the stroller most of the way. I don't think I could have done it...at all...without him.


March:
Could this have explained why I was SO tired a few weeks earlier? And yes, there are three of them. I wanted to be sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

Our baby boy turned ONE!!


April:
Christian started walking! He took an actual step on his birthday a week prior to this photo but this is the first picture I got!!

Matt taught Christian how to stick out his tongue.

Matt started Project Pinky

Matt's Mom came to visit at the end of April and bought Christian his first pair of tennis shoes!!

Nancy took Christian to the park A LOT. He was in heaven.

Mother and Son for one last picture.


May:
We took Christian to the new pool that they built in our housing area. It has fun little sprinklers that he really likes!


June:
We took a Pearl Harbor Tour courtesy of our neighbor (who's house we are now living in - they PCS'd).

Anne visited and we went to Bellows Beach. Christian had fun for about 30 minutes before he decided he hated it.

I had an ultrasound to find out that Baby #2 was a GIRL!


July:
My sewing machine finally saw the light of day after a VERY long time. I made a dress for the new baby!

Matt sold Pinky. He sat in it one last time with Christian.


August:
We moved next door from Apartment A to Apartment B.

Matt started collecting different coins (currently on the pennies) and took Christian to his first coin show.


Christian has his first dentist appointment and he started using utensils.

I graduated!!! I am now the proud recipient of an Associate's Degree in Medical Office Administration.


September:
I became Martha Stewart. I started planting little flowers and did more sewing.






The BUSY month of October:
Christian bowled against Matt for the first time.

The boys befriended a pigeon that they named Charlie. It happened after we put out a feeder that literally was mauled by birds.



Christian got a haircut.

Matt reenlisted and added another 5 years and 11 months to his military career.


I HAD A BABY!!!! Sarah joined us on October 27th. Christian is a great Big Brother.



November:
While my parents were here, Matt booked a charter boat for some deep sea fishing. He took my dad with him. They made it about a half hour before they both were sea sick. Matt looked like this most of the trip:

And they only caught ONE fish. Then they used it for bait to try and catch some bigger ones. Nope, didn't work.


We made it to the Zoo one more time.

We also all went to Bellows Beach and Christian FINALLY had a good time.

Christian had a speech eval.

December:
Matt accumulated more guns throughout the year and I was finally able to go shooting with him!! We had a lot of fun.

CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! We had a good, but lonely, Christmas here. I am still in the process of getting up all the pictures from the day but you can re-read about our day here if you want!

The day after Christmas we had a power outage. That was interesting. I wasn't sure what to expect with a toddler and a newborn but it went well. Christian had fun in the dark.


Then New Year's Eve I threw out my back!!!! It was HORRIBLE!! I'm slowly getting better but it was not a fun way to bring in 2009.

But, there you have it folks. This was our year in review!!!!

I should've listened to my husband..

Matt is at the ER with Christian. Been there for about 3 hours now. :-(

His fever just wasn't going down. Matt wanted to take him earlier but I wanted to see if the Tylenol would help. It didn't and now Matt is stuck at the ER on a really busy Saturday night. I was wrong and Christian should have gone to the ER sooner to get checked out. He looks like the plague. Watery, red, itchy eyes. Horrible cough with phlegm. Runny nose that won't stop (at least it's been clear). We kept getting temps of 102.5 (or thereabout) when we checked him with our home thermometer. The ER said it was 101.1. Better than 102+ but still up there. Poor kid. :-(

So I hope they get back before midnight. That would be a miracle, actually! The ER at Tripler is horrendous. We have never had a good experience there. Well, I guess last year when I miscarried I was taken care of fairly well. Seen right away and we were out of there within two hours. But still...you know what I mean - long waits, too many people, and you still feel like crap when you leave.

Now that Sarah is finally sleeping at 10:30pm *knock on wood* I'm going to not try and do my Year In Review post for 2008!! :) I'll also give an update, of course, when the boys get back home.

When it rains it pours.

This week went downhill...and fast.

I briefly blogged about my back going on Monday night. I got in on Tuesday and was able to get adjusted.

Matt made an appointment for me on Wednesday at the base clinic to be seen by our Primary Care Manager(PCM) and to at least get my back problems on record. I never did see the PCM. He was called to surgery and an hour later I finally talked to a nurse to get some pain meds. They gave me muscle relaxers and an anti-inflammatory. So far, the muscle relaxers haven't done THAT great. I feel a slight difference but I'm already at the max dose and won't take any more. So hooray for a little bit a pain relief!! They also put in a referral to Physical Therapy and I have to call today to see if I'm good to go or not.

Then Wednesday night we noticed that Christian was starting to feel crappy. He would sneeze and you could hear that his throat was quite sore. Sure enough he woke up Thursday sick. :-( We had an adjustment Thursday evening and had to bring the kids with. They did well considering.

We have another adjustment on Saturday at noon. Hopefully we will get to see our x-rays. I feel like a hot mess and really hope that these adjustments and the physical therapy will help me out. I have to babies to take care of. That is what makes me the most sad. I can't take care of my family like I should be.

So, here Matt and I sit at home with a sick toddler (Matt took yesterday and today off to help me...I'm just in too much pain to do it all myself). Saturday can't be THAT worse than this whole week right?! I sure hope not. I hope to maybe get to Wal-Mart on Saturday to just get us all out of the house. I think it might be good for us.

I also haven't taken a picture every day for my 365. I have a few from each day that I will have to add to get caught up.

Okay, that is my quick update on us. We sound like a hot mess, huh?! Ya, I thought so.

Just great

I threw my back out again while putting Sarah to bed last night. This is getting old. Please pray that I can get through this. I have an appointment that was already scheduled for tonight but I'm trying to get in earlier. Just send some well-wishes this way please.

Sarah's well baby visit

We just got back from Sarah's two month well baby visit. She did so well!

We went back and got her weight and height and she is growing so well. I always worry about the growth of my kids for some reason. Like they are starving or not getting what they need. But Matt calls her Piglet because of her chin rolls. :-) So, it shows in her face that she is getting what she needs from me. And that makes me feel great. Like I have said before, I can't believe that breastfeeding is going SO well. I'm glad to be able to give this to Sarah.

Anyways - her stats!!!

Here is the refresher of all her other stats:
Birth:
7 lbs 13.7 oz
19 inches

2 week visit:
8 lbs 6 oz
21 inches

1 month:
9 lbs 12 oz
almost 22 inches

Her 2 month today:
11.8 lbs
23.25 inches

She is just great. She is in the 75% for weight and 80% for height. She is now in almost all 3 month clothes and even had a 6 month onesie on today. Go, Sarah, Go!!

She also got some shots today. The HIB shot has run out so I'm on a waiting list for it so not sure when she will get that one. But she got an oral vaccine and two shots in the thighs. Of course she cried...but that little lip pout that she has is seriously the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Even cuter than any face Christian ever made as a baby...and he was pretty darn cute! It just makes me laugh and want to cuddle her up. But she did well. I went to a room and nursed her a bit to settle her down then put her in the car. She fell asleep on the way home, I put her in the swing when we got in the door, and she passed out again. She will hopefully sleep well tonight. Just have to keep an eye on her temperature to make sure she isn't allergic to anything.

That is all for an update on the kiddos. Christian has nothing to report as of late. :-)

Be on the lookout for my 'Year in Review'. I have seen a lot of other people do these posts with pictures from their year. So I'm going to look through my folders and see what I can find for each month and give it a whirl. It will most likely only be pictures of my kids! haha. I don't seem to take pictures of actual PLACES. But we'll see!

XOXO

Anne came to visit!

"Thank goodness for Anne" is all I can say about this last week. She got in the Saturday after Christmas. I was excited to have her see Sarah and we could go do girl stuff. It's been a while since I had a fun time at the mall. Matt just isn't a shopper. ;-)

So she got here and we just hung out for a few days. She watched the kiddos so that Matt and I could go out on a date to Ruby Tuesday (Thanks Nancy and Kerry!!!!) and see the movie Marley & Me. Then on Wednesday Anne and I got ourselves and the kids ready so that we could head out to the swap meet and the mall. She put Christian in the car and I went to get Sarah from Matt to change her and get her in the car. But the second I picked her up from Matt I heard a pop in my back and I about dropped her! I threw my back out AGAIN!!!!!! Seriously..this is about the 5th time. So there went our girls day out with the kids. :-( I seriously ruined Anne's week here and I feel horrible about it. But at the same time I'M SO GLAD SHE WAS HERE TO HELP!!!!!!

So, since Wednesday morning I have been going to a new chiropractor to get myself fixed. I go again Tuesday evening. I am feeling better now, hence all the new posts, and will have to continue to keep going to keep this up. I'm still sore and have a few pains here and there when I move but overall...fabulous compared to Wednesday morning!!

I just have to give a shoutout to Dr. Mike at Chiropractic Oahu. He did a great job on my back and I'm going to keep going back to him. He is a former nurse, former body-builder and athlete. This guys wing span...massive. His muscles...massive. I feel like he could break me in half when he adjusts me. Seriously...look at this guys chest!!!!


Anne and I eventually got out to the mall but it was sloooooooooow going for me. She left Saturday night and Matt went back to work today. I'm all alone and I hate it. Well, not hate it...but I sure wish I wasn't sitting here by myself.

Sorry, Anne, for your crappy week here!!!! :-(

The days following Christmas....

Oh, the fun we have had the last few weeks!!!!

The day after Christmas was like most of the other days this last month. Rainy and blah. Matt wanted to get out of the house and go to a movie. He wanted to see Valkyrie and I didn't so he went by himself. As soon as he left it started to pour. He got to the movie through pouring rain and I was at home with the kiddos. All of a sudden, the lights flickered and everything went black. DANGIT!!! The power went out. My first thought went to my fridge...and all the milk within. Milk is EXPENSIVE here and I HATE when it goes bad before the expiry date or the power goes out and spoils it. Seriously....it's horrible.

So, I quickly get some candles going and find a few flashlights. Christian was very confused as to why the light and fan stopped working. He wouldn't stop pointing at the blades as they slowed down. He eventually found it fun to be in the dark. Eek..not me. Sarah was none the wiser and slept in the swing. :-)

I called Matt and asked him how things were on his end...remember he is in a theater!! haha. He said they are making people leave but he doesn't want to and wants to see if the power will turn back on. But they made him leave without ever getting to start his movie. They said they would give them a raincheck and get them into the movie for free if they brought back their stub. So he makes his way home in the horrendous traffic of people trying to leave all the dark buildings.

I entertained Christian in the dark some more and took some pictures. Check HERE for all of them. Matt finally got home and we got the radio going. Twelve plus hours until power could be restored. Windows were opened and we all went to bed. I was woken up at 3am by LIGHTS! Yay! But then they went back off. Boo. But then at 4am they were back for good.

Best of all...my milk was saved!!!!!!!!!!

Our Holidays

So, I’m finally getting around to our Holiday post!!! Hooray! :-) You can see all the pictures HERE

It was a good Christmas. We were really bummed to be here in Hawaii and not with family but we made the best of it. Originally we weren’t going to do much of anything for Christian. We didn’t even buy him gifts! But last minute the day before Christmas Eve, Matt and I took the kids to K-Mart to get a few things. We didn’t want to NOT get anything that was specifically from us. We felt bad that we were being all Humbug about it at their expense. It wasn’t fair. So, we hauled the gifts home and I wrapped them up and put them with the gifts from the grandparents.


Christmas morning came with the usual breakfast of toast and peanut.
Then there was the obligatory ‘run-around-the-house-in-socks-and-fall-on-my-face’ from Christian. In some of the pictures you can see his fat lip. He has been doing this A LOT lately. He just runs and then gets his feet tripped up and falls on his face. We hate that this house has linoleum everywhere. So two teeth went through his lip…blood everywhere.

But all was well when he was able to open gifts!! He had a LOT of fun and had his ‘concerned’ look on his face the entire time. Just the ‘what is going on’ crinkle of the forehead.

But he knew to rip off that paper!! It was cute. Matt helped him with his

and I helped (a.k.a. opened) Sarah’s. Christian wanted to take hers away and open them but I kept taking them back and telling him no. He got mad.


Although we were in Hawaii for Christmas, it was still a good one. Thank you to everyone who wished us a Merry Christmas. Next year we hope to be WITH you to celebrate it!!!

My project 365

I have finally gotten some pictures up for the Project 365. :) Yay!!!

Go HERE please!

You will have to wait...

...for the proper update.

I threw my back out on Wednesday morning as the kids, Anne, and I were headed out the door. Great timing, huh?

So I've been in a lot of pain the last few days and have a few more chiropractor appointments to get to. Hopefully I'll be feeling better by the time Anne leaves and Matt goes to work. I can't lift the kids and I can't bend certain ways. I'm basically useless right now. :-(

Once I'm better I'll get on here and start with some update posts.




I also have gotten held back from starting my Project 365 because of my back. So Hopefully I can find a few pictures to take to make up for it. *Sigh* What a way to bring in the new year... :-(