Mia's Blood Clot

Last week on Mia's "blood day" when they were accessing her port she complained that it was still hurting after they were finished putting the needle in the port. Her port is completely under the skin and so she still has to be stuck but she doesn't normally complain too much. I'm sure it hurts like heck but she tries her best to be tough about it. It shouldn't really cause pain after it's accessed but she's also three and a tiiiiiiiny bit dramatic so it's kind of hard to judge. Soon after we were walking to the restroom and I noticed her holding her shoulder and arm funny. I could see pain in her eyes so I knew something wasn't right. We also could not get a blood pressure in that arm. I talked with her nurse and she called the doctor who ordered an ultrasound.

We went ahead and continued with the blood transfusion first and once we were done we went for the ultrasound. I wasn't particularly worried until the ultrasound person(WHAT is the correct name...my mind is blank!)asked if we were leaving or staying.....of course I asked her what she could tell me...which was of course, nothing. But she said she wanted the radiologist to look at everything before we left. And she did and then they told us we were good to go. Well, ok. I should have gone back downstairs and asked her hematologist if everything was good but y'all I was so tired I didn't even think of that. It had been a LONG day of  little someone being hard to deal with. If ya know what I mean. haha! We had been there since 7:30am and it was about 4:00pm at this point.

So, we headed home.

 The next morning I had a doctor's appointment in Birmingham. Josh and I were leaving my office heading that way when my phone rang and it was Mia's doctor from Children's. When I answered she asked if they told me anything about the ultrasound and that Mia has a blood clot in her neck near the line for the port. WHAT? And then she said, "We need you to come today and get her prescriptions and for us to show you how to give shots."

I'm sorry, WHAT. NO.

We grabbed Mia from daycare and headed to my appointment and then straight to Children's Hospital to Mia's doctor. They filled us in on all the things and taught us how to give her the shot. She has to have them twice per day. Like I said, she's REAL tough but it sucks giving those to her! We also have to take her once a week to have her levels checked to be sure she's getting the correct dose. Which we are already having to go every three weeks so not that much more.

We need you all to be praying. We need this medication to work. We need the clot GONE. If it doesn't work the port has to come out. She NEEDS the port.

Meanwhile, we're giving her all the starbursts when she gets a shot!

Rest in Peace, Miss Chippie

On March 8th I had to make one of the hardest decisions. Miss Chippie had to cross the rainbow bridge and hop back into PawPaw's lap. It was the hardest decision for me. I can't explain how hard.

Miss Chippie was originally my Paw Paw's dog. She sat in his lap for endless hours keeping him company and watching the Braves play. He named her after Chipper Jones. We snuck her into the hospital the night before his major open heart surgery that ultimately ended his life on earth. Those two LOVED each other. After Paw Paw passed Chippie and Maw Maw grew closer and kept each other company. A few years later, Maw Maw passed away and that's when Chip came to live at the crazy house known as my house! haha! She went from quiet, old people to lively, loud people! She didn't care, we were hers! We took her all over the place when we traveled(except for China!). Her favorite place was the beach!

In the last few months her health started to decline. We aren't sure exactly how old she was but she was at least 17 years old. She definitely full filled her purpose on earth. It finally got to the point where I talked my husband into taking her to the vet and talked my sister into calling and making the appointment. I couldn't do either even though I was ok with it.

Rest in Peace, Miss Chippie. You are missed.

Tonsils, Be Gone!

July was a crazy month for us! We passed around strep throat and some of us had it more than once! The last time that I got it I went to the doctor on a Monday morning, had a strep test that was positive and got a shot. Hubby had a sore throat also so he went after me. Since we all had had strep except for him at that point they didn’t do a strep test, just went ahead and treated him for it since we all assumed that’s what it was. Two days later he was still super sick, I’ve NEVER seen him so sick. His temperature was 104 and we couldn’t get it down! I took him back to the doctor, they ran more tests and gave more shots. Two days later he was feeling some better and Reece had her tonsils and adenoids removed…more on that in a minute. The next day Hubby started feeling bad AGAIN. I wanted to pull my hair out because seeing him so sick SUCKED. We went BACK to the doctor, had MORE blood work and were referred to the ENT…who just took Reece’s tonsils out 3 days earlier. He didn’t like the way things looked(inside his throat and also his lymph node was HUGE on the side of his neck) and listened very well to us about how he is never sick and sent Hubs right on over for a CAT scan. It was scary because depending on what that test said we would be headed into surgery or possibly admitted to the hospital for IV meds. HELLO! We already had one patient at home! Hubby was so sick he was ready to just be admitted to the hospital. Seriously, if you know him you KNOW how huge that is. It turned out that there was no abscess and the doctor decided to give him a few days before admitting him. THANKFULLY, after some heavy steroids and antibiotics he turned the corner! He was sick for TWO WEEKS!

So, I mentioned that while all this was going on Reece had her tonsils and adenoids removed. That was a nightmare! I knew it would be bad but really I didn’t prepare myself enough. Let’s mention how bad it was when I had my tonsils removed…I was Reece’s age and I had issues big time with mine! I had to be taken back THREE times to have my throat cauterized because of bleeding. If you have never had this happen… LUCKY YOU! I was terrified this would happen to her.

The morning of her surgery everything went well. She was the first surgery of the day so we didn’t have to wait long and she didn’t have to starve long! What was bad was that she had never had surgery before and coming out of the anesthesia was HELL. She was OUT OF CONTROL. Screaming, crying, thrashing around like a fish out of water. It was like an out of body experience. Neither Josh or I really knew what to do because she never acts like that. It was causing her to cough A LOT. To the point where the nurse was like, “If she doesn’t stop coughing, it’s back to the OR!” Great. She gave her every bit of morphine she could and home girl still wouldn’t calm down! Finally we gave her a breathing treatment and that helped. Then some liquid pain medicine knocked her on out for a few minutes! When she woke up, she was Reece again! PRAISE THE LORD! She was in a great deal of pain for a solid week and a half. It was terrible. She didn’t eat a THING for 6 whole days. She didn’t even want ice cream. And taking pain medicine took 30 minutes because it hurt SO bad…and that was with us staying on top of it! Around the day 10 mark she started eating ice cream and macaroni and cheese and started to act more like herself. She still couldn’t dive in and eat whatever she wanted until day 14 but by then she was ready!

After my two patients were finally feeling better we decided we needed to make one last beach run before school starts this Thursday!

Pre-op Appointment  Before surgery.. Starbucks will make you feel better! Baby goats are growing like weeds!!! Over the summer my big boys have hit growth spurts!!! I just can’t believe they are as big as me! Love them so! It’s day 14 post op..we’re at the beach…and we are about to EAT! Hermit crab race!   Seriously? He’s the coolest dude! WHEW I am WORN OUT! Does summer really have to be over?

Saying Goodbye

I don’t even know where to go with this so I guess I’ll just type.  We could really use your prayers right now! Josh’s grandfather(Paw Paw) passed away unexpectedly on Friday. I say unexpectedly, he was more than ready to go. And he really wanted to go before his wife, Maw Maw Betty, of 59 years. I can’t even tell you how many times he told me that. He fell out at home and she did everything she could for him until the ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital.

He was the sweetest man! He loved us all SO much. He lived a great life and unfortunately for us we are all selfish and wanted him here longer! ;) Josh telling the kids was the hardest thing. They are all old enough to know that he’s gone to Heaven. Griffin and Peyton took the news really hard. Griffin asked to go to the funeral and then asked to call Big Mama. They also wanted to go and visit Maw Maw Betty so we did that Saturday morning.

This is most of that side of the fam jam! Taken at last year’s family reunion!

On Sunday, Maw Maw Betty was taken to the hospital. She had a heart attack and has been in the hospital since. Monday night was Paw Paw’s visitation and yesterday was the funeral. She had to miss it. I can NOT imagine how she is feeling right now. The doctor’s basically told the family not to change the funeral arrangements because she would not be able to go anyway. A while back Paw Paw asked his preacher’s wife to sing Whitney Houston’s version of I Will Always Love You at his funeral to his Wife. So she did. And there wasn’t a dry eye in the church. One of Josh’s cousins works for a local TV station so they had someone there to film everything for Maw Maw. At least she’ll have that.

Paw Paw was super excited about this baby! He was even more excited about the possibility of it coming on his birthday, April 21st! My due date is the 26th. How sweet would that be? Makes me cry to even think about it.

Yesterday as I was getting ready for the funeral my mom called and said that she was headed to the hospital with my grandfather because he was having chest pains and shortness of breath. He’s still in the hospital as well.

And let me just go ahead and add that Griffin was not feeling well over the weekend and now Reece is full blown sick.

OH and I am almost 32 weeks pregnant.

Sheesh.

ADHD times two

I’ve REALLY been debating about whether or not to post anything about this. But, it’s a blog about our life so it should be here, right? So, before you even read any further, if you have negative comments keep them to yo-self! K, thanks.

Peyton was diagnosed with ADHD last week.

If you have read here for long you know that Griffin has it also. Maybe you should know that we do not have any type of carbonated or caffeinated drink or candy in our house at any time. Sure, the boys have both every now and then but it’s not often. That’s not what causes ADHD anyway, I just know that some people aren’t educated about it so that’s immediately what they think. It is hereditary and boys are more likely to have it.

While Griffin wasn’t diagnosed until the end of his Kindergarten year we’ve pretty much known since he was very small that he had ADHD. I just knew. Peyton on the other hand, no. Never crossed my mind. In fact, his kindergarten teacher suggested it and I could have strangled her. I thought she was being stupid because she knew Griffin has it so she wanted to push pills on my Peyton too. “To calm him down.” Let me tell you. Boys are BOYS, Peyton is not nearly as much of a hyper child as Griffin. We got through kindergarten and his teacher retired, I really just thought she was over teaching and didn’t want to deal or something. Peyton’s first grade year was awesome! He had the sweetest teacher and she knew exactly how to handle him. I really don’t remember him being in any trouble that year, his teacher knew how bad the year before was and made us feel much better. His second grade year was last year, new school, new teacher. Kinda. She taught my sister when she was in school! She was a pretty good teacher too, but Peyton did get in trouble in her room, not following directions, etc.

Fast forward to third grade, this year. Peyton has the same teacher Griffin had last year. We LOVE her and know she wouldn’t steer us in the wrong direction ever. At our conference last fall she suggested that maybe we should have him tested for ADHD and gave reasons why, which really made sense. At the time we were still trying to figure out those “almost passing out” episodes and I really didn’t want to put him through two things at once, hence why we just tested him last week! We started on a medication this weekend and haven’t noticed a difference yet. It may take a little while to get into his system. Luckily, he doesn’t have ADHD “as bad” as Griffin and also doesn’t have the other things Griffin has so he can just take his medication to help him focus better at school, which is really his main problem. That makes me happy because it is SO HARD to have to give your child a pill every.single.day. I just feel guilty, but they need it right now.

And, if you are family and reading this and just now finding out…I’m sorry! I honestly just haven’t felt like telling everyone yet. It makes me sad so we’re just focusing on getting ready for the little peanut! :)

20 Weeks!

I feel a hair whacking coming on! Oh,  you’re wondering why I have on SHORT SLEEVES in December? Because it has been in the 70’s here this week! 70’s!!!!

How far along: 20 weeks!!! Holy cow!!!

Size of the baby: According to Baby Center, about the size of a banana… 6 1/2 inches long from head to booty and 10 inches from head to heel, 10 1/2 ounces…but according to my ultrasound it weighs 11 ounces!

Griffin has been waiting for the baby to be the size of a banana, so he’ll be excited when I tell him! haha!

Total weight gain/loss: Up 15 pounds.

Maternity clothes: Sometimes.

Stretch marks: Old one.

Sleep: Sleep is fabulous!

Best moment this week: Seeing our sweet little baby Wednesday!

Movement: All the time. And I still about jump out of my skin if I’m driving or something when he/she kicks me! That’s Griffin and Peyton’s favorite thing to do(hide and scare me) so it just gets that honestly! :)

Food cravings/aversions: Still sweet tea with lemon and any kind of fruit I can get my hands on. I think I may can eat an egg now. Maybe. But our chickens aren’t really laying many right now so really I probably won’t even try.

Gender: Who knows! Josh now thinks girl too. So when it comes out a boy we are going to be so surprised and super excited! ;)

Labor signs: NO, thankfully.

Belly button in or out: In

What I am looking forward to: Reece’s Christmas play today!!!!!

I have a full fledged forgetful pregnant brain. Today it’s really bad. Today I forgot to wake my husband up. I was in a little trouble. But honestly it never even crossed my brain until he said, “um why didn’t you wake me up?” Crap. He didn’t have to be at work or anything he just had some errands this morning. I feel so bad.

Also, please keep Officer Hubby and his co-workers in your prayers. They lost a fellow officer last night. He had a car wreck yesterday morning and couldn’t pull through. I can’t imagine the nightmare his wife is facing right now.

Melissa Jones

For those of you that don’t live around here OR you’ve just been under a rock all week, let me fill you in a little!

Melissa Jones is a mother of six who was on her way to the birth of her first grandchild when some idiot 16 year old boys(two of them) thought it would be fun to throw a brick from an overpass on the interstate hitting Melissa’s van. The brick went through the windshield and hit her directly in the jaw and chest. One of her sons(14) was able to get their van to the side of the interstate. Thankfully, a trucker that had been hit with some debris pulled over to help. She was drowning in her own blood and if he hadn’t stopped to help, she would have died right there in front of three of her children. Her twin daughters were in a separate car and pulled up shortly after the accident.

Anyway, Melissa is self-employed and does a lot of cleaning for us. She works her butt off, let me tell you, for her children. Her youngest son has cerebral palsy and is always on his momma’s hip(not when she’s cleaning, just when she’s visiting!) and loves to flirt with us girls in the office!

Melissa has been in ICU since this happened on Sunday night. She has had several surgeries and has more to come with a very long recovery ahead of her. She has no health insurance.

I just know how this town came together after the tornado and how everyone was there for each other. Let’s keep that up and help Melissa! My step-dad has set up an account at Alabama One Credit Union. If you can donate please send checks to the credit union at 1215 Veterans Memorial Parkway, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35404, Attn: Doug Killough. Please put Melissa Jones in the memo line.

Thanks so much!

And PS-If you come by the office or gym before she’s back on her feet grab a mop, I’m sure we won’t be able to keep things as clean as she does! ;)

Fancy

When I was in high school(umpteen years ago) and still living at home we went to my grandparents’ farm and got two super sweet kitties! A girl, Fancy, and a boy, Max. Fancy is the stripped one, Max is gray. Fancy’s nicknames were Fancy Kitty, Frances, Francene, Kitty Kitty and Kitty Frances. Max’s were Maxton and Maxton Farsworth. Don’t ask. They were so lovable! And they loved each other SO much! We used to say they “made-out” all the time… 

After a year or so we found out that Max had feline leukemia. He was fine for a while and then got really sick and we had to have him put to sleep. That day was awful! The vet sent him home that night so we could say goodbye to him and then my step-dad had to take him the next morning to be put down. Ugh, so sad. That was the day of my senior prom.

After that Fancy went a little cray cray. The main thing that we couldn’t handle was that she was peeing in the house all the time. My Mom decided to take her back to my grandparents’ farm. So they did. We would periodically check on her and one day my granddad said he hadn’t seen her in a while.

Six months later she showed up back at my mom’s house. That’s like 10 miles! AND she had to cross a very busy interstate!

Suffice it to say she was back home! AND she learned her lesson because she was the perfect kitty from then on out.

A couple of months ago she came up missing for about a week. My parents decided that she probably we off and died. She was 13 so that would make sense. Then they were in the garage and heard her in the attic! She had been trapped up there for a week! No food or water. She recuperated from that.

Then a couple of weeks ago my parents were doing something in the garage and the garage door fell on her and killed her! Seriously. She survived ALL that and the dang garage door had to fall on her?

It was traumatic. She suffered because it was Sunday and the vet close to their house was closed. There wasn’t time to get her to the emergency vet before she was gone. :(

I’m not about to tell Griffin, Peyton and Reece. Griffin is still so upset about his teacher that passed away in January. I’m not adding to that. I don’t think he can handle it.

I’m just going to think about her and Max making out in kitty Heaven! :)

Go Lucy Go!

I told you about this sweet little girl about a year and a half ago. Most of you probably know about Lucy by now. She finished up her cancer treatments in like November and the cancer was gone. Which was a miracle! But, sadly, the cancer is back. And there’s nothing the doctors can do at this point. She’s a very sick little girl. Right now she has some sort of infection that is causing her to be very sick. They are just trying to get her better so that they can take her home to spend whatever time they have left with her. Please pray for Lucy, she needs a miracle!

You can click the picture to visit her blog.

Telling Griffin & Happy Birthday(s)!

Today is my sister, Kelsie’s, 21st Birthday!!!!! For real. 2-1. Game over, I’m old. Happy Birthday Kels-Kels! We LOVE you!

Today is also my sweet little nephew’s birthday!! I just love that little bug. He’s a mess! He luffs his TayTay! I can’t believe he is TWO! Allison and I took cupcakes to school for him today and he was SO excited! He kept saying, “Happy Birthday!!” like a million times! :)

A few days ago I blogged about Griffin’s teacher passing away. I really wanted to tell him this week because he is spending the night with one of his friends from his old school tomorrow night and I’m sure that little boy knows since he still goes to that school. I didn’t want him to go to his house and not know and it come up and him find out at his friends house. So I planned to tell him before Friday.

Well when I got home on Tuesday he came running up to me and said he had bad news. I thought he got in trouble at school or something. When I asked him what it was he said, “Mrs. Dover died.” And then he cried. He was upset but not near as bad as I thought he would be. I told him that Josh and I knew but just hadn’t told him yet and asked how he found out.

Are you ready for this? His substitute teacher told him.

Now. I was a little mad at first. Who does that?

The sub was also a sub at the school he used to go to and so she put two and two together and then told Griffin. I don’t know. I just don’t understand why she thought that was a good idea. If she thought we didn’t know then she should have called me??? I’m not mad because I am sure she didn’t intentionally mean to hurt him. And she obviously didn’t realize how tenderhearted he is and how much he LOVED her. And if I would have told him sooner then he wouldn’t have found out from her either. So it’s my fault too.

Nonetheless, he knows now.

The next day I sent his teacher a note because I knew he would be upset. And sure enough at 10:30 yesterday morning the counselor called me. He had been with her that morning and written a letter to Ms. Dover and put it in a balloon and let it go outside. That helped for a few minutes and then he was back to crying so hard he couldn’t do his work. So they asked that I just come get him and let him stay with me for the day. Which of course was fine with me!

When I picked him up his little eyes were SO swollen. :(

We had lunch and then we got a cupcake! Then we went to Toys r Us :) After about an hour or so he cheered up and by last night he was back to normal and fighting with his brother! :)

Mrs. Dover

We got some bad news on our way home from New Orleans. Griffin’s teacher from last year, Christie Dover passed away earlier that morning. My heart broke.

A couple of years ago she battled breast cancer for I believe the second time. The year she came back to teach was the year that Griff had her. He LOVED her. And he learned SO much from her. So did I, really. I will never forget the day that yearbooks got passed out. I was picking up the boys from school that day and when I do that I like to peek in on them and just chat with their teachers if I can. She told me that Griff had a little breakdown because he didn’t get a yearbook..with a smile on her face.(We alternate each year with G and P and only buy one yearbook per year..it was Peyton’s turn last year.) I told her that we only buy one and that I was sorry he acted that way. And she very promptly told me not to be sorry, that she had three kids and did the yearbook thing the same way. That I was doing the RIGHT thing. It felt so good to hear that from someone who had older kids than I do.

Anyway, the end of the year rolled around, it was around April. Josh called me when he picked up the boys from school one afternoon and told me that Ms. Dover told him that that day was her last day because she had Leukemia. She got the Leukemia from the breast cancer treatment. And that she started treatments like that next day. She told the kids all about it and when Griff got home we talked about it. He was sad but he was VERY confident she would “beat it”.

I was friends with her on Facebook so I kept a close watch on her :) And Griffin asks about her all the time. And sometimes he will tell me, “Tell Ms. Dover Hi on Facebook for me!!” He has the sweetest little tender heart.

She got better after all the treatments over the summer and then in November things started going downhill a little. I don’t know anymore details other than she’s gone now. :(

We still haven’t told Griffin. I can’t bring myself to just tell him. I’m going to wait until he asks me about her again and then just tell him. I just hope and pray that I have the right words. I know it’s going to be soon because he asks about her every couple of weeks and it’s been about that long :(

Go Lucy Go!

Little people really melt me! I LOVE kids. Just in case you hadn’t noticed! If Josh and I could afford 50 kids, we’d be the next Duggar family…no doubt in my mind.

I came across this blog about 3 weeks ago. Sweet Lucy has brain cancer. She stays on my mind all the time. I think of how their life was “normal” just like mine…kids running around the house, baseball practice, gymnastics…every day life until one day when all of a sudden Lucy couldn’t walk or use the bathroom. In a day their lives were turned upside down out of nowhere. As a mom I can tell you that this is EVERY parents worst nightmare. I can not imagine having a sick baby and not being able to “fix” it.

You should visit Lucy’s Mom’s blog if you haven’t already and add her to your prayer list! Read back and you will be SHOCKED at all the things this little 5 year old baby girl has gone through in just a short 20-something days. You can click on her picture above and it will take you there!

Again

I sit here once again mourning the loss of a grandparent. My MawMaw passed away yesterday. Two days before my birthday. ugh. That's two grandmothers in 5 months. Life sucks sometimes. This time it's way harder. I was much closer to this grandmother. Growing up I was either with her or Big Mama, especially during the summer. I would stay with her and PawPaw during the day while my daddy and step-mom were at work. We'd clean the church, go to quilting, go swimming at my aunt's house, grocery shop, she would fuss at PawPaw. Best memories of my life!

I'm really gonna miss her. But she really missed PawPaw and now they are together again.

I'm thankful for the time I had with her. I'm thankful that she got to love my babies, her great-grandbabies!

Griffin took the news pretty hard. This is the first time he has really had to deal with death, or the first time he has understood. I sat him down yesterday afternoon, just me and him. I told him I needed to talk to him about MawMaw that lives by Gigi and Papa. He said, "yeah, the one that loves us so much!" I about broke. I told him that she didn't feel good, she was sick and she went to be with Jesus and PawPaw in Heaven. He lost it. Big, huge crocodile tears. I told him that she missed PawPaw and now they were together. I told him that she would also take care of Mako until we got to Heaven one day. I finally had to call Josh in the room because I lost it at that point and didn't know what else to say to him. That's tough.

I'll try to post again in the next few days about what all happened to her at the hospital. For now, I'm drained.

xoxo

Stuff

I would like to take this opportunity, since this is my blog and all, to respectfully ask any of you who do not like me or things I blog about or hearing things about my PRECIOUS family to click that little red x in the top right corner of your screen and don't come back. I am at a point in my life where I don't have the time or the energy for drama, especially when it involves the ones I love the most!

I started this blog to keep my family and friends up to date about what's going on in our lives. I managed to do that, reconnect with old friends and make new ones through the blog and I am very grateful for that! :)

I also started the blog so that I would be able to look back years from now and remember things...which brings me to my next point! Cherry Berry had the fabulous idea to go back and blog about things from the past so that all the past stuff could be on the blog too! Sooooooooo, I'm gonna copy cat her(I'm sure she won't mind!) and do that too! I especially want to put the boys' birth stories on here because I do NOT want those memories to fade! And, no, I didn't leave Miss Priss out, hers is already on here! Hopefully in the next few days I'll start with Griffin!

xoxo

Sisters and Momma Claws

Most of you have probably figured out by now that Allison and I are pretty close, thick as theives! We're together almost as much as we are with our husbands! So, you mess with her, you mess with me and my momma claws will come out to play.



I got into a little tiff with someone on facebook. Someone made the comment on Al's facebook page that "Noah will be here when he's ready." or some crap like that.(It was actually Brad's aunt...that he NEVER sees or talks to and Allison met her ONCE at their wedding so that doesn't even count!) Now, if you have children of your own, you totally understand that when you get to about 36 weeks pregnant you hit an undescribable miserable stage. Everything hurts. You pee 967 times a day. You can't sleep. You can't eat. You can't walk. You are swollen. I could go on and on!(Not that it's not TOTALLY worth it! It's just difficult for a minute!)The last thing you want to hear is "he'll be here when he gets here". Hell yes, he'll be here when he gets here. DUH!



When this person put that on her page, she huffed a little like pregnant girls do. Now, normally, in her not pregnant state, the sister would take care of dumb comments on her on. But she's not normal right now and that's where me and momma claws come in! And so I commented on there, not really even to the lady but more to keep anyone else from saying the same thing! And all I said was, "Of course he will be here when he's ready. But don't you remember being 38 weeks pregnant?!?"



And then all hell broke loose!



Apparently I hit a nerve somehow and she kinda went off on me telling me that I needed to lighten up(?), that I was mean and all kinds of other crap. So I said back to her that I wasn't being mean, I was just taking up for my sister who is sick of hearing crap like that! (AND she is SO tired of it!) So she barked back all kinds of ugly things including telling me that it was none of my business! ha! What a moron! None of my business?!?! You're getting on my pregnant sister's nerves! How is it not my business? So I just politely deleted everything that I had said and didn't say anything back.

Be the bigger person. Be the bigger person. Be the bigger person.

Had to tell myself that for the rest of the day!

xoxo and is he EVER gonna get here? Oh yea, he'll be here when he's ready, I forgot!

It was a happy new year...

I promise a Christmas post soon! :) But first I wanted to share a little sad story.

First of all, after I posted that post about being sick and feeling better I got sick AGAIN! I had that mess for three entire days! I was still sick New Year's Eve day, but I wasn't about to let that spoil our date that night! I was determined that I was not going to be sick! I finally started feeling better right after we dropped the kids off at Mimi and Pop's for the night. We headed to a friend's house on the river(same place as last year) for the night. Several of our neighbors went again this year, some of them are friends from high school! I love hanging with all of them, wish we could do it more! We had a really great time and the fireworks were fantastic just like last year!

I heart date night! :)

We tried really hard to sleep in the next morning. I only made it until 8:30, Josh made it until 9:00. ha! We're old! We hung out for a while and then headed to get our babies! And then we hung with them the rest of the day....playing RockBand 2 and watching football!

Later that day, around 7:30, Josh's cell phone rang. It was one of our neighbors and I could hear him talking really load and panic in his voice. I saw my husband switch from Daddy/Hubby mode to police officer mode while still on the phone! As soon as he hung up the phone he started throwing clothes on and ran out the door. As he was doing so he managed to tell me that someone was going into shock or something around the corner from our house and he had to go! It was about 10 minutes later before I heard the ambulance. I don't know WHAT took so long! About 20 minutes or so went by and Josh got back. As soon as I saw his face I knew something was not good. He looked at me and said, "I'm pretty sure that guy just died. 26 years old."

My heart sank. I couldn't believe it! This person was standing in our driveway like three days ago and now he's dead. ugh. About 30 minutes later we got a phone call that confirmed that he had died.

All we know is that he had been out drinking the night before with his fiancée and they got home at like 4 that morning. He didn't feel well that day and had trouble breathing in the afternoon. Around 7:00 or so he started having trouble breathing again and his fiancée was going to take him to the hospital. He got in the car and started to seize or passed out or something. Their neighbors pulled him out of the car, someone called 911 and someone called Josh. By the time hubs got there they had him on the ground laying on his side. There was fluid draining out of his mouth. No one had attempted CPR so Josh got that started and did it until the ambulance arrived. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

I'm telling you what, YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN IT'S YOUR TIME! You better be living right, and you better be loving your family every. single. day.

xoxo

Big FAT pain in the tail!

Grab your popcorn.

Ugh! This morning hubs called me and as soon as I answered the phone I could tell he was in a tizzy. He told me that Visa card services had just called our house and said that there looked like there were fraudulent charges on my debit card and for me to call them. Freakin' peachy. So I called-it was an automated call- and there was a charge at Home Depot in Missouri for $400! I said that I didn't authorize it and there was a hold placed on my card and I was told to call my credit union. And that's just the beginning of my saga for the day....

Good thing I looked cute today!

Anyway. I contacted my step-dad who works for the credit union and he told me who to contact. I contacted that lady and by this time(like 10 minutes later) there were two more charges at the same Home Depot-one for $200 and one for $201. They were pending to clear my checking account! $800!! There's definitely not an extra $800 in there! Gah! I had to go to the credit union to fill out paperwork to dispute the charges. Oh, the credit union also told me that the person that stole the number made their own card!!! How the heck do you do that?!?! Have I mentioned how busy I am right now? I don't have time for this crap. While I was at the credit union they told me that I had to go to the police department and have a report made. I thought that would be easy because the PD is across the street from my office.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

I forgot that the rookies normally have to man the desk. Poor guy. He was so nervous. And once he found out hubs was a cop, he got even more nervous it seemed.

At least he was cute because I had to look at him for a long time! He couldn't figure out if he could even make a report since the fraud actually happened in another state, out of his jurisdiction. So we called hubs and between the two of them they figured that an investigator should be called and they could tell us what to do. So, Officer called an investigator and the investigator said that they could take the report and he would take it from there!

All that took like 45 minutes.

Then Officer had to write the report. That took a while too.

So, there you have it. My luck. I hope they find the creep and he rots in jail.

xoxo

Nonnie

This is my Nonnie's obituary. Some of you may not want to read but I need it to be here for history of my family blog! I hope to post more on this in the next few days with lots of pictures of her!

xoxo

Barbara Darnell Bell, age 75, left this life and entered into the presence of her Lord and Savior Oct. 2, 2009, at DCH Regional Medical Center. Services will be 4 p.m. today at Heritage Chapel Funeral Home with Robert Burns officiating and Dr. Gordon Bryars and Dr. Harvey Edwards, III offering the eulogy. Burial will follow in Tuscaloosa Memorial Park with Heritage Chapel Funeral Home, a Dignity Memorial Provider, directing. Visitation will be one hour prior to services at the funeral home.

Barbara was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on August 23, 1934. She was a graduate of Tuscaloosa County High School and the Druid City Hospital School of Surgical Technicians Class of 1967. She helped open the Women's Pavilion at Northport Medical Center, retiring after 33 years of service.

She was selected Ms. Senior Tuscaloosa in 1997 and went on to achieve the title of Ms. Senior Alabama in 1999. She was known for her love and caring ways for people and was awarded "The Most Caring Contestant Trophy" in the pageant. She was well received in the Ms. Senior America Pageant in Las Vegas and was awarded the "Best Philosophy of Life" trophy.

She was active in her church, West End United Methodist, where she served in almost every position as well as being a certified lay speaker. She loved music, playing the piano, organ, keyboard, and the omnichord for 45-plus years.

She loved to hunt with her "Honey" and travel out west. Whatever her husband was interested in, she made that her interest as well. She was a city girl who learned to drive tractors and assist in the hayfield. Together they were seen as one, never two.

As her health failed, she was given a Maltese, J.J., by her daughter, Susan. J.J. was her special love, and he took special care of her when she was in pain when others were unaware.

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents, Capt. Douglas D. Darnell and Jeanette B. Darnell, and her son, Robert Alan Bell.

Survivors include her most wonderful friend, companion, and husband of 57 years, Curtis A. Bell, Sr.; two devoted sons, Curtis, Jr. and Michael Douglas of Tuscaloosa; two adoring daughters, Tisa Brothers (Jimmy) of Decatur and Susan Killough (Doug) of Tuscaloosa; 14 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; sisters, Shelby Brown (Bob) and Peggy Ingram; brother, Jimmy Darnell (Theresa); several nieces and nephews; and a special aunt, Mary Lane Keene.

Pallbearers will be Charles David Bell, Derwood Harkey, John Ingram, Gil Brown, Danny Logan, and Jeff Swindle.

Honorary pallbearers are Dr. and Mrs. Gordon Bryars, Dr. and Mrs. Harvey Edwards, III, Dr. M.D. Reed, Dr. Richard Jones, Dr. David Hinton, Dr. David Harding, Dr. Dinesh Chandra, 1st Floor ICU DCH nurses, past and present employees of the Women's Pavilion, past and present members of West End United Methodist Church, past and present staff of the DCH OR, Red and Elaine Haywood, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Barton, and The Ms. Senior Alabama Board.

In lieu of flowers, Barbara asked that donations be made in her memory to the Lupus Foundation.

The Sweetness that is Reece!

Our sweet baby girl is growing so fast! She is getting to be like the boys, I have to catch her for pictures!

LOVE this look.....

There's NOTHING like a little girl! :) Don't take that the wrong way, I LOVE my boys to pieces. She's just so much like me! A little mommy. She cleans, takes care of the boys, etc. SO fun!

In other news, my grandmother(Mom's mom) is in critical condition in ICU. We've been told that she is not going to make it. She's been very sick for a long, long time. She's suffering and it's time. I know death is part of the circle of life, blah blah blah. But that doesn't make things any easier. There's a little peace about it in me because I KNOW she is in SO much pain but my poor granddaddy is so upset. They've been married almost 57 years! That's love! Granddaddy's 78th birthday is tomorrow. Friday he plans to tell the doctors to start taking some things off of her and to make her real comfortable. She could live minutes or she could live a day or so. Please pray for my family as we go through this tough time.

xoxo

It's Monday.

I really dislike Monday. I rush around like it's nobody's business...rush to get dressed, rush to get the kids dressed and fed, rush them to school, rush to work, rush around all day at work, rush to pick the kids up from school, rush home to get them fed and bathed, rush them to bed...gah, rush rush rush!

That's what I was thinking when I got to work. And then I checked on Stellan and had a reality check. I need to stop rushing and be happy to just have three happy, healthy children and a wonderful husband that I adore! So what if I have to rush around a little, that comes with the territory!

MckMama tweeted about an hour ago and said that her family was on the way to the hospital and that she didn't know what was happening. It really is not looking good for baby Stellan. And that really makes me sad. How can I feel so sad for someone I don't really "know", you ask? It all goes back to the blog family that I have talked about before!

So, my friends, today when I leave work I will rush to pick my babies up and I will give them plenty of extra love tonight!

xoxo