Will's surgery (a scope)

I didn't explain to Will what he was having done. I didn't tell him that he was having surgery or even that he would get an IV. He is very much afraid of pain and very emotional when it comes to things like this. So I told him that they were going to take a picture of his stomach. I left it at that - and he was ok with it.

We got to the surgery center (thank goodness he can't read : ) at 7:30 am. We checked in and they took him back pretty fast.

They gave him a DVD player and let him pick out a movie. His movie of choice: Polar Express (one of his favorites).


Getting ready to go back and get the surgery done. He doesn't look happy, does he?



Back in the surgery room. They told him to "blow up a balloon". This would happen by him putting on a mask and inhaling the sleepy medicine. He stopped half way through and said "I don't want to do it anymore." The doctor said "a few more times." Once more and then he was out. They looked at me and said "Ok, mom - see you in a bit." It was so difficult to watch him go under the anesthesia. I definitely had a hard time leaving him there.

I shut off my flash for these pictures (should of adjusted other settings - but no time) - because they had Halloween lights on the wall. It was really cool.




After surgery.... still alittle asleep. They gave him a "pink" popsicle (as requested). He had a hard time eating it, but he did finish it : )


Alittle more awake - but freeeeeezzzzzzing


Back at home. Laying on the couch eating a frozen gogurt.


On the way home - he noticed the bandaid on his hand and asked what it was for. I tried to change the subject. He said "why does it hurt when I push on it?" I told him what really happened. That the blowing up of the balloon was really sleepy medicine, the bandaid on his hand was from an IV, the procedure was surgery and they put a tiny camera down his throat to look into his stomach." From that moment on - he kept saying "I can't do that - I had surgery. You have to do this, because I had surgery." Nice - huh? Totally worked it to his advantage.

The doctor said he would lay around all day and be tired. NOT SO! She said no activity that required balance until tomorrow morning. He kept sneaking onto his scooter when he went outside to play with daddy and his friends. Boys! Boys!

The surgery was a success! The surgery center was fantastic! From the moment we walked in - it was geared towards kids. A very fun, kid-decorated place. It was all to make the kids as comfortable as possible - and it definitely worked. Will was very Brave!

An answer to the stomach pains????

Will has been having 'stomach issues' for about a year now. It has not been consistent - just randomly throughout the year. A few weekends ago - his stomach started hurting and hurt consistently all weekend. On Sunday, he told me that he may have swallowed a rock at school on Friday. He wasn't real sure and couldn't remember - but thought he did. I wasn't sure if he did or didn't - but the pain was pretty bad.

Sunday evening - I took him to the Urgent Care and they did an x-ray. The x-ray looked normal - no traces of a rock.

Monday morning - he had a check-up with his pulmonologist. So I told him about the stomach pains. He wasn't sure what might be causing it, but thought I should take him to see a GI doctor (luckily I had already made an appointment for Wednesday).

Monday afternoon - we went to the pediatrician. I called them hoping there was some miracle medicine they could give him for the pain. She said she definitely needed to see him. She said "there was nothing else she could do - I needed to see the GI doctor." Seriously?

Wednesday afternoon - I took him to the GI Doctor. He saw this same doctor as a baby when he had reflux and the swallowing issue that he had. The doctor asked if I had tried prevacid - thinking it was reflux. I had and it had no affect on him. He said he needs to do a scope to see if there is an actual rock or something else causing the pain.

Monday morning - I took Will at 6:30 am to get his scope done. It was a fast procedure. The scope was normal. He said everything looked great, except his stomach was overproducing acid. Since we had already tried the prevacid and his pain wasn't constant. He gave me a prescription for Carafate. I am to give it to him when he has pain - so it coats his stomach. If the medication isn't effective - we'll have to go in for more tests. Hopefully, this does the trick. A combination of the medicine and avoiding juice, ketchup, tomato paste. Will isn't real happy about the juice and ketchup - but hopefully it's just temporary.

Fluffy & Kuma : )

My sweet moochies sleeping together : )

Love them!

State Fair Time!

We wait all year for September and October. We love LOVE to the State Fair! All the corndogs, cotton candy, exhibits, Big Tex.... love it!

We arrived at the Fair and found a parking spot on the street. David was so freaked out that we might get towed. I guess it looked like a "park here and be towed" parking spot. Although it didn't say that. So - David took MANY pictures of the truck so that he could prove it did not say "tow away zone" in case he needed too.

First stop - massaging chairs : )

Will, Ben and Andy

2nd stop. Attempt photo in front of Big Tex. We weren't real successful - but here's our try.

Andy, me and .... some of William.

Ben standing reluctantly in front of Big Tex. He really wanted a corn dog : )

 The boys standing in front of Big Tex looking at the train.

If I can't get the front side of them - I guess the backside is just as good and cute : )

A stop by Elsie the cow and MILK!

William, David and Ben

Andy was SOOOOOO excited to be at the Fair!

And even more excited to get to walk around and not be in his stroller : )

I think the boys favorite part (aside from the corndogs) was the petting zoo.

Ben and Andy

Andy - so happy....

Ben and William

William and Andy

David, Andy and Ben (where's Will??)

Here he is : )

My four boys. The loves of my life : )

Taking a break to play in the gigantic sandbox,

Ben and William

Ben and Will wanted to see the snakes. David said it was very sad. Big snakes in small cages : (

We let the boys play a few games.

William, Ben and Me

Stoping to wait for the parade and finishing up some cotton candy

William, Ben, Andy (in stroller) and Me

Our Family : )

David, Me, Ben, Andy and William

Leaving the Fair.

Ben's holding the spiderman glove that Will won.

Actually - William really wanted that glove.

He didn't win, but the carnie saw how sad he was and gave it to him. So SOOOOO nice!

We had a FANTASTIC time at the Fair (as usual) and already excited about next year. And the good news: Our truck was still there : )

Going Dark for Fall!

With Fall blowing in - I wanted something different with my hair. I normally have alot of blonde - which I like. But I feel as I get [gasp!] ... older - I feel it doesn't suit me. So this time around I went darker - and I think I like it. It feels and looks healthier to me - which I love.

here's me before with blonde highlights .... which i do still like.

and me now w/brown hair. i like them both - i think.


what do you think? i love the lighter in the summer - and probaby will end up going back. but the dark is fun for now : )

My mom's cataract.

My mom was told sometime ago that she needed to get the cataracts removed on both of her eyes. She's put it off for quite sometime because of one reason or another. Recently when she went to the doctor, her doctor told her she was about to become legally blind and it was crucial that she get her cataracts removed soon. Obviously - I did not know this information - or she wouldn't of waited this long. I am pretty 'protective and controlling' when it comes to my mom.

Reluctantly she made the appointment to have her cataract on her left eye removed and then she will go back in a few weeks to get the cataract on her right eye removed.

I drove her to her appointment today because my dad doesn't like to wait (he gets nervous). The appointment took about 3 hours start to finish.

The surgery went great. The doctor said once healed her eye should be close to 20/20. She won't need her regular glasses - just reading glasses.

It was pretty funny because they gave her a vallum before to relax her. She's never had any medications like that and was hesitant about taking it, but did. Afterwards she said "I imagine if I were drunk (and I don't know - b/c I have never been) it would feel something like this. I feel woo-sey." It was pretty funny.

Here she is.... I'm sure thinking "really - pictures, now?" But of course she knows me - I always ALWAYS take pictures.



Hopefully in a few weeks she'll get the other eye done. She can't believe how much better she is able to see and what she was missing out on all those years from not being able to see.

Andy has STAPH!?!?

Over the past several weeks Andy's nose has been running (clear) a little bit. He got his flu vaccine on Tuesday, the 15th. The next day his nose was running continually. Our pediatrician told me that if you have symptoms and get a flu vaccine - it can make them worse. I'm assuming that's what happened with the runny nose.

Also before the Flu Vaccine - he was picking at his nose alot. Yes, picking! Not sure what he was digging for - but always had his finger in his nose. So .... with the combination of the finger picking and his nose running - somehow his right nostril got infected.

I took him into the pediatrician and mentioned to her that David has a staph infection on his leg that he's had for 2 weeks. David's actually started with a mosquito bite and turned into staph. The pediatrician was worried since David had staph - so she prescribed Andy a stronger medication - just to be safe.

I tried to snap a few photos - but he wouldn't have any part of it and wouldn't look at me.



it's been so sad. he was in a lot of pain and wouldn't even let us touch his nose to wipe it. i started giving him zyrtec and that has helped to dry up the nose and once his antibiotic kicked in he felt better. Now - he's doing better. It's healing and starting to scab over. I'm just praying it isn't staph and that it doesn't last as long as David's has.

Afternoons outside with the family!

Most afternoons we are outside in the front yard writing with chalk, playing football, riding bikes, and just enjoying being outside with the boys.

It was raining outside - so we put the canopy up so we could sit out in the rain and play. It rained off and on - so we were able to get out from underneath the canopy for a little bit. Normally we have the other neighborhood kids over as well - there's about 14 kids that usually hang out in the front with us and our boys. David and I are the only parents brave enough to sit outside with all the kids : ) Actually - we enjoy it quite a bit (unless it's hot) and we aren't brave enough to leave our boys outside without supervision. Plus - our kids love it that we are outside with them.

The boys love drawing with chalk (and that includes David). Actually - I think David's true calling was to be an artist. He loves to draw and paint and he's really creative. He draws masterpieces with chalk in our driveway. It's great!

Andy's First Day of Preschool!

We decided to start Andy in preschool this year. He loves people and we knew he would do great (after the initial separation period) being around other kids. Not to mention - mommy needed a break : )

He's going to the preschool Will went to - which we love.

We got him a backpack, napmat and lunch box with his name on it that he absolutely loved. He couldn't wait to use it. He was so excited to go to school.

Here he is - he can't wait to get out the door. "Come on mommy."


Going by David's office on the way out "bye-bye dada."


trying to take a few photos of him outside before we get into the car. he wasn't real interested. ready for school....




his cubby at preschool. so sweet! the little girl he was sharing with actually isn't sharing - so he has it all to himself : )


his teachers names on the door to his classroom : )

he loved the pink vanity - of all things : )

decoration on the wall. his name is in green (just below the hot pink one)...

him jumping right in and coloring. i love he way his legs are crossed and he looks so intent : )

this is one of two photos. the other one was better of him - but it was out of focus.

He had a great day. Really enjoyed himself. He didn't take a nap - but I know that will come. I am just so thankful that he gets to have this opportunity to learn and attend a great preschool.

And I'm especially thankful for the time I get to get things done so that I really enjoy him when he gets home.

Grease on Broadway!

I LOVE, LOVE Grease in any form - especially in a musical. My girlfriend, Dena, loves Grease as much as I do. So we knew we had to definitely make this a girls weekend away. We booked a great hotel in downtown. Our showing was at 2pm. We met at the hotel, which was just blocks away from the Bass Performance Hall.

Don't you love the shirts? Dena's daughters BFF made these shirts for us. They were a HUGE hit. Everyone wanted one. We were sad we didn't make a bunch and sell them : )



One of the 'stars' performing was Taylor Hicks. He was the teen angel. He did a great job. And aftewards - we got in line to get a photo with him.



I have been getting pedicures for about 20 years and always get something very plain. This time - Dena talked me into getting something special to reflect the night. She always gets this elaborate art and it always looks great. So I did it ... and it was really cute. I can't say I will do it again, but it was fun! I like my plain jane nail polish : )



Here's Dena and I back at the hotel - trying to get a good shot of us.



After the musical we hit a few places in downtown. Heard some live music (The time Machine Band) and had a great time. It was a ton of fun!

I'm thankful to have gotten to spend the weekend with a great friend doing something we both love. My awesome husband kept the kids and let me have the night away. Thank you David! I love you!

My sweet Moochie!

i love my cat, fluffy, and i love that my boys love her too. they fuss and worry over her as much as i do.

andy loves petting and brushing her. and she really enjoys him doing it.



here's will and andy sitting with her watching tv (very intently).