10 Months

It's hard to believe that my little boy is already 10 months, well he will be 11 months in about another week. He is growing up so fast and is such a joy. He is already walking, yes walking. He likes to clap, clean out the bathroom drawers, follow you wherever you go, keep up with his sisters, and talk ALOT. He has recently discovered outside and thinks he can go out whatever the weather is. He recently played in the back yard with the girls and wanted to do everything they did. He had his check up a few days ago. He is 30.5 inches long, 20 lbs 10 oz. His weight is in the 25 percentile and has been that way since he was born, his height is in the 90th percentile, and his big old head is in the 95th percentile.

100 days of school already?

The girls had their Valentine parties at school today and Taylin's class also celebrated the 100th day of school. 100 days? That's it? It seems like so much more. I took a pic of Taylin wearing her 100 glasses and showing off a drawing she painted cause she was bored. Hailey, well I got the back of her head cause that's how she is these days, a girl and hormonal. A funny story of the day. One of my daughters I won't say her name, but she has blonde hair and is the oldest. She had quite the mood this morning and she wanted to take a lunch to school so I thought I would get a little "even" with her. She doesn't like to be embarrassed especially at school. So we made her lunch and Eric cut her sandwich in a heart shape, we thought for sure she would hate it. I asked her how her lunch was and she said her sandwich was in a heart shape and she loved it. Dangit! Next time I will get her!






Taylin decided she needed to wear Valentine colors to school. All of them. In one outfit. It worked!

Surgery

My surgery is set for Friday, I am not sure how I feel about it. Though it's an easy short procedure, it's the unknown that I hate waiting for. I met with the doc for my pre-op and he showed me my most recent xrays. The tube that drains from my kidney is definately not normal and there is a blockage of some type that isn't allowing it to drain. The xrays do not show exactly what the problem is and this is why I have to have surgery. The possibilites are pretty stretched out. He told me not to be suprised if he got in there and it had corrected itself and nothing was wrong. I am pretty confident it isn't corrected because there was over a month between xrays and nothing had changed. If it was normal then I wouldn't have pain right. So the other options could be: a blood clot, a kidney stone that tried to pass and got stuck (though he doesn't think that's what it is), the surgeon who remove my appendix could have possibly damaged the tube, or last but not least this option is very rare, but it could be cancer. Those who know me and my medical history know that I always fall into the "rare" category. If it's rare, but possible that is where I always end up.

The procedure should only be a half an hour. He will go in with a telescope, look around and if he finds anything he will remove it, biopsy it, and go from there. If indeed there is something he will put a temporay stint in there to allow things to drain cause the blood and whatnot will get in the way.

Remember all this came about because I went to have a ct scan for my hernia. I asked the dr if everything came back normal if I had his ok to have the hernia removed. He asked if I was collecting surgeries. Eric asked him if he would remember to "punch my card." This is a running joke with everything that has gone on, but we were thinking if I bought 3 surgeries I could get one free. Anyways, so I hope everything goes well and I can't wait to have these surgeries out of the way so I can get on with life!

I hate not knowing....

...what the future has in store for us. These last few months have been such a roller coaster. Eric sold his business back in October and has been unemployed since then. We received money from that sale and he just wanted to take time off during the holidays, as he has always worked some kind of retail. He has since been actively trying to find a job since about Christmas time. The economy sucks and I never thought that my own immediate family would ever be affected by it. He has applied to so many jobs, with each potential employer on a hiring freeze. He is currently at a job interview and I pray that he gets it. It's not his career of choice by any means, but I job that has potential growth.

I have been trying to get 2 businesses of my own going and have not done a very good job. It seems like everything I do just leads to a dead end. I hate that, I want to be successful. I have looked for employment outside of the home, but I know I need to remain at home and be the best mommy I can be. I have been dealing with some medical stuff that has been really stressful. Back in Novemeber I started getting a pain in my belly button area and knew it was a hernia I just knew it. Being a mom, I sucked it up and ignored it because I didn't want or have the time for another surgery. Well basic tasks became painful and I sucked it up and went to the dr, had a ct scan and had it confirmed that indeed it was a hernia and I needed surgery to have it removed. I met with the suregeon who informed me that he couldn't remove the hernia quite yet because the scan showed that there was something wrong with my right kidney. Well, not the kidney itself, but the tube that drains from the kidney. He said I needed to have a full work up with a urolgist before he would remove the hernia. He said it would be about a month before I would get in with the urologist and then sent me on my way. Well, the urologist office called me 2 days later and had an opening the very next day. The urologist then ordered more xrays which consisted of a not so nice 3 day special diet. Let's just say 20 ounces of liquid laxatives were involved. Enough said. Had the xrays and didn't hear anything so I called and of course the dr hadn't seen them yet. So finally the dr called me yesterday. He said that the tube is definately not normal that there is something in it that is preventing it from draining properly. The xrays did not show exactly what it is, but it could be a stone, a blood clot, or possibly a vein that just runs through it. So now I am set to have surgery next week. He is going to go through the bladder inject some dye, take more pictures and then take care of whatever is going on. Then once all this is done I can have the hernia removed. I am overwhelmed knowing that I have 2 surgeries in my very near future. I just want to get them over with and get on with my life.

As I sit I am mentally going over my to do list which includes deep cleaning my house. But I can't really start that because I am out of cleaning supplies and paper towels and remember my husband has the car. So that must wait. I need to go grocery shopping for my Scentsy party. My party that I am stressing about because I am afraid that nobody will come. That's just the luck I have had. I think about how stressful my life might be right now and scared of the unknowns, but I am trying to stay positive. Although I do feel like I am at my breaking point I realize my life isn't that bad and there are people out there that have it a lot worse than I do.

Updated Photos

Thanks to my friend Rachelle, we now have updated photos of us. FINALLY.. She did an amazing job and also took pictures of my whole family. All 25 of us!

Please excuse the dust

I don't really have anything to blog about. I still have family in town and we are just enjoying our time together. Most of us have been hit with some kind of cold/illness, I guess that's to be expected when 25 people get together. I have already changed my background to Valentine's Day. The stores already have Valentine stuff out so why can't I have a Valentines background. I promise I won't get the decorations out yet. A friend took some pictures of my whole family while everyone was in town so as soon as I get them I will update my photos.. So please excuse the dust. I know my background doesn't match with my fall photos!

Family Fun Night

This year my whole family will be in town for Christmas. Every single one of us along with spouses and children. That puts the total right around 30. Last night was the first of many family fun nights. Not all of us are here yet either. We decided to play Scattegories last night. We started with 8 players, but ended with only 5 players. It was so fun and decided that we wouldn't count points to determine the winner, rather we were excited that we just made it to the end of round 12. There were so many distractions, let's see. There was one little child who peed his pants, one little girl who needed to use the bathroom quite a few times, one pregnant one who also needed to use the bathroom. Fun was had by all, well at least those of us playing the game.



There are so many little girls that the boys are out numbered. I didn't want them to feel left out so I put a bow in their hair. They didn't like it. Blackmail for later on in life.


Taylin entertained herself in the pack n play.




I assure you that no one passed gas in this picture.




Papa keeping Ausin entertained while we finished the game.


The big boys keeping the little boys entertained.