A little bit about me - Part 2

So, after my first "about me" post, I thought I should continue my story and keep giving a little insight into what is "me".

My feelings get hurt easily - Even if it's something that is not directed right at me. If it's something that I can relate to, someone close to me gets hurt in whatever way, or something that I've done and someone thinks it's wrong, it hurts my feelings. I know, I know...I need to grow a thicker skin, right?

I don't like being ignored. OMG, it drives me NUTS. If I ask a question, don't just blow me off. RESPOND. Or if I'm trying to carry on a conversation with you, don't just blow me off. RESPOND. Being ignored is one of my biggest pet peeves...right along with my next point.

I hate being interrupted - I think this could quite possibly be my biggest pet peeve ever. It's rude, inconsiderate, and downright mean. I hate it. HATE it.

I hate spiders. I don't know what it is about spiders that just creep me out, but holy cow...if I see one crawling towards me (like I did the other day when I was changing Justin's diaper), I jump and get as far away as possible!!! I can't stand those little eight legged things. They give me the heebie jeebies!

I am A.N.A.L. about vacuuming. Seriously. We have a small-ish living room, and with all of the furniture and stuff that covers it, I would say there's about a 10X15 piece of carpet to vacuum. It takes my husband about 5 minutes. It takes me 15-20. I'm very methodical. Everything that can easily be moved gets moved first. Then I vacuum one area and put everything that goes in that area back. Then I move to the next part. Generally moving in a straight line across the floor. If anything can be put back at that point, it gets put back. Then I move back to the next part. All the way across the floor. Put things back when I'm done. Move on to the next part, and so on. I also go back over any foot prints that I or the kids may make in the process. I'm kind of starting to give up on the kids' foot prints because they run rampant half the time, but oh well. I love seeing the lines from the vacuum, especially without footprints on them!

I love to submerse myself into things (books, crochet, photography) but can't. With the two kiddos running around like wild children half the time, I don't get much time to myself. A few days over the last couple of weeks I have sent myself to my room when Michael got home so I could get some quiet time. While Justin is asleep, it's a little easier because Julia will listen most of the time...but I like to spend quality time with her in that instance because Justin still requires a lot of my attention. *sigh* It's a work in progress!

I am working on accepting the fact that I'm not living the life that I thought I would. I had a chance to talk to Michael about it a while back, and he was mostly understanding. I am happy with the life I have, it's just not what I always thought it would be. But that's not necessarily a bad thing! Michael came along into my life and threw a major kink in my plans...in a good way. I love you honey...and thank you for being understanding!

God bless,

Praise God!!!

Julia is better, and Justin has already shown a few symptoms of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. I may be speaking too soon, but I think it's safe to say that he won't be suffering through the fevers that Julia did!!! This makes me very, very, VERY happy!

Oh, and my little girl...my little two year old is about 98% potty trained! She's had a handful of accidents in just over a month. That's to be expected for the next few months at least, probably the next year or so. As long as we keep an eye on her, she uses the potty nearly all the time! She even wakes up from naps and over night dry.

*sigh*

Proud mama moment...  :-)

God bless!

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Help a mama out here! :-)

God bless!

You Give Me Fever...

Ok, so not really me, but Julia! The poor child has been dealing with a fever that just won't quit since Sunday. :-(

We were at my sister's house for a welcome home party. We all went and jumped into the pool for a bit and were having a good old time! The kids were loving it, and it made me realize that we need to get Justin into swim classes right away! The kid is a fish. He didn't want to be held, just wanted to kick and put his face in the water.

When Julia got out of the pool, she sat on peoples laps until we were all done playing. She just hung out, laying back and relaxing. Or so we thought. Once we got inside, she clearly looked like she wanted to go to sleep. After all, this was the second day in a row that she didn't really take a nap aside from maybe 15-20 to or from wherever we were heading. I didn't really want her to go to sleep so close to bed time, but I didn't want her to feel miserable either. Well, she crashed on her auntie Stephie's shoulder so we laid her down on the couch. We figured - give her a 20-30 minute cat nap and see how she feels after. I laid down on the couch in front of her and started trying to wake her up. I brushed her hair back, rubbed her arms, legs, and back. She really wasn't interested in waking up, but when she did, that's when I started getting freaked out. She wouldn't focus on me. Her eyes were all bloodshot, shifty and her pupils would dilate then constrict. I was starting to think that she was still sleeping, but with her eyes open.

I finally got her to wake up fully and acknowledge me. Then I kissed her forehead and she was on fire. I asked Stephanie for a thermometer, and stripped her tank top off. Her whole body was warm. When Steph came back and we took her temperature, it was 104.1. Too high... We got some cool towels and a cool wash rag and started wiping her down, and eventually, just covered her with the cold towel. Between all of that, and Michael sitting in the bath tub with her running cold water over her, we managed to bring the temp down to about 100. We got everything packed up and decided to head home. Michael sat in the back to keep an eye on both of the kids just to be safe.

When we got into our neighborhood and came close to the stop sign, Michael said "Um, why are there firetrucks in front of our house???" All I could think was "Oh please don't let our house be burned down!!!" Well, that's a blog post for another day...I will tell you, our house is not burned down, though! We pulled into the driveway and got inside. Julia was starting to feel warm again, so I checked her temp. It was back up to 103.9. I got a diaper bag ready, and once everything had been unloaded, I took her to the emergency room. Mind you, she had been on Amoxicillin for an ear infection, and for whatever reason, the pamphlet said not to give acetaminophen (Tylenol) while on the Amox. I didn't want to take the chance with Ibuprofen (Motrin), so I didn't give her anything. Well...needless to say they basically made me feel like a fool for freaking out over my daughter having that high of a temp. They gave her what looked like a double dose of Motrin, and sent us on our way saying "keep giving her Motrin".

*sigh*

Sunday night was "ok", I guess. Her temp never really broke, and Monday was when it got really fun. I started alternating Tylenol and Motrin every four hours, checking her temperature constantly. She hovered right around 102 for most of the day. When Michael and I went to bed - around 10:00 - I checked her temperature again and it was 105.6. 105.6!!! I FREAKED. I ran to the bathroom, got some more Motrin for her, and told Michael to bring her to the bathroom for me. I threw my swim suit on, and got the water going. Michael brought her in to me, and sat her on my lap. I explained to her that it was going to feel really cold, but it was only because she was so warm. That was quite possibly the most torturous 10 minutes of my entire life. Poor Julia screamed and cried the entire time we were in there. She kept saying "No mommy!!! STOP!!!" It. broke. my. heart. I hated every second of it. By the time I got out of the tub with her, we managed to bring her temp down to about 102 again. The rest of the night, even with alternating, it hovered right around 102. I was checking every hour on the hour, just to be safe.

This continued on pretty much through Wednesday night, and into this morning. Up until Wednesday afternoon, her temp had only dropped below 100-101 maybe four times. I had called the pediatrician three times, she had been to the emergency room once, and to the after hours clinic once. However...since her ears, nose, throat, and lungs checked out ok, the doctors just kept saying "It's probably just a virus, keep doing what you're doing." Yeah...keep watching my poor lethargic, feverish two year old suffer from a fever that won't go away. Thanks! I'm sure I'll quite enjoy that...

Anyways, thankfully her temp this morning hasn't gone above 100.8 without medications yet. Here's hoping that it stays down...

God bless!

Struggling

The kids are sitting down to breakfast, and I've had a lot on my mind. I'm taking advantage of a small break in my day of chasing two toddlers to get a few things out there.

I've been dealing with a lot of personal struggles lately. Some of which are known, others are mostly not known. I have shared them with a handful of people over the last few days, and it felt good to get it all out. I actually managed to work up the courage to talk to my husband about it last night, and I think that was the biggest relief for me. Now that he knows where my frustration is stemming from, he can be more understanding of my mood swings so to speak. Some of the things are about my husband and myself, some are about my lack of ability to let things go, others stem from the simple fact that I don't want to accept things that are happening. No, I won't go into details here, but know that I am working on things.

This next part should probably be a post for another day - like the "More About Me" post that I have saved as a draft right now, but like I said...I'm taking advantage of some down time!

I don't like having things crammed down my throat. Specifically religion (though I am a practicing Catholic) and politics. I don't mind that people are passionate about these things at all. But having my faults and ideas - or the fact that I've done/enjoyed something that another person looks at as unacceptable - pointed out as a 'bad' thing makes me feel, well, bad and goes right back to those struggles that I deal with regularly. It's even worse when someone that I'm close to points these things out. I'm a very emotional person, and I have a tendency to take things personally. You can add that to the list of things that I'm "working on". If I typed this list out, it would easily reach to the stop sign at the end of the road.

Anyways...the kids are done so I must go!

God bless,

The Unexpected

We've all thought about it, tried to prepare for it, thought about what we would do if it ever happened to us... However, sometimes, we don't really have to deal with it. The "worst case scenario" that you always prepare for, yet hope for the best.

Then, you get hit with something totally unexpected that you can never prepare yourself for. The death of a loved one way too early...at too young of an age. Back in May 2009, a very dear friend of mine, Adam, passed away from cancer. He was too young, but too special for the living world...

Just this past Monday, my family was rocked with the shocking news that my aunt had passed away. Too young...again. She was an amazing woman. She could always make you laugh or smile even if you wanted to cry. I'll never forget one of our trips to Cedar Point. Having a conversation at Cracker Barrel, and realizing that the next table was eaves dropping. Out of nowhere, my aunt said "BANANA!" really loud. The looks we got from that table were priceless, and we were cracking up! She used the word "spit" a lot...and it always made me chuckle.

My heart is breaking for my uncle, their two daughters, and the rest of the family. Please...if you love someone, let them know. All the time. They won't be around forever...I didn't tell her often enough that I loved her. I still do, always will, but now...

God bless,

It's Independence Day!

Not only is it the day that we celebrate our Independence, it is also the day that my little family gets to celebrate our son's birthday! Our little firecracker...our little "all American boy". :-)

One year ago today, Justin decided to join us in a fast and furious way. By this time last year, he had already been keeping us company for almost six hours. He was 7lbs 10oz, 19 3/4" long, and absolutely perfect! We're going for is one year check up very soon, but based on my estimates, and standing him up against Julia's growth marks, he's about as tall as she was at 16 months old, and probably weighs darn near 30 lbs!!! He's our little hoss, and our future line backer.

Here is is the day he was born...

Meeting his sister for the first time...

And today...at one year old! My little big boy!!!

God bless, and Happy Independence Day!

Ultimate Body - Update

Back on June 8th, I posted my "Ultimate Body" plan. Well...I am pleased to announce that I have exercised every Monday, Wednesday and Friday except ONCE! I've even been able to add some walking or swimming on the occasional off day. I am so happy that I've been able to keep up with it, even with being sick for the last five days. I haven't weighed myself, but I can feel a difference. This week, I plan on adding a second workout to the one that I'm doing already, and I plan to get my eating back under control. After all, what good is exercising if you still eat crap food???

Also, a while back I did the GM detox diet which can be found here. It was tough, especially with Michael saying 'Hey, wouldn't this be good for dinner?' and 'You know what would make that salad even better? Slathering it with ranch dressing!' Either way, I succeeded, and will probably be doing it again in the near future. After just one week, I felt a LOT better, even though I didn't see a huge change in my body. I did drop 9 pounds, though!

The challenge this week? Justin's birthday party. Oh man...there will be so much good food!!! Must. Control. Myself!

Anyways. I need to shut this thing down and try to get some sleep. Hopefully it will help kick whatever bug I've got out of my body!

God bless!