Mission Impossible

Last Sunday, the weather finally warmed up, so we took the kids to the Cincinnati Zoo.

Whenever we do things like this, I feel the need to try and get a great picture of all the kids together.

My mother-in-law and my brother-in-law's wife (I had to say it that way so you can understand the two are only related through marriage, so this is nothing genetic!) are amazing photographers.  They just have this eye for good pictures.  They also have this ability to pose everyone just so.

I want to be able to do that.

Except I wasn't blessed with that eye.

I also don't possess the patience that it takes.

This doesn't stop me from trying.

I would try to say that my issue is the sheer numbers I'm working with, but I'm sure they'll get amazing pictures of my kids the next time we see them.

Here's an example of my lack of skill.  I didn't actually take these photos, Matt did, but I was the one who threw them all up there together and should have gotten them arranged in a good manner.

At first glance, you may think this is a picture of the boys.  And I must admit, it's a decent pic of the boys, but look down low.  Miss Emily is there, barely!  What happened???

Everyone look here!  Decent smiles.  Except those pesky bugs must have been getting Dillon!  Oh and who is Emily looking at?

I then decided that since everyone was acting semi human, I would add Natalie.  I had been wearing her, so she wasn't happy about leaving me and going to Dillon.  Zachy, however, finds this amusing. Emily almost looks like a floating head.

She was trying so hard to get out of Dillon's arms.  At least Emily has a body here.

After lots of me jumping up and down and making faces and crazy noises, we got a halfway decent shot.  Too bad Nan isn't looking forward. 
That's it, that's a s good as it gets!  How sad is that??
Dillon seems to have a pretty good eye though!  He caught this fish.

Perhaps it will be our Christmas card photo this year!

Just a little posty post

Just to say that all is well here.
We are finishing week three without Matt. Four more to go.
We had major van issues on Tuesday, that I'm proud to say we came through with flying colors. But it would have been MUCH easier with Matt around.
The kids started school this last week and my oh my are we busy.
They also started gymnastics last week. They all love it.
In general, we've just been really busy with life.
I, for the life of me, cannot figure out how mom's with loads of kids are able to update their blogs often. I'm struggling to find a minute or two to myself. And to put pictures up? Oh my.
Emmie is 6 months old tomorrow. How in the world did that happen? When my mom left she said, "see you when you're walking" and I laughed and said, "don't say that, that can't be true" But alas, it's already been 6 months since they were here. And 2 months since my inlaws were here. Time's a flyin! So, unless my mom gets her tookus out here soon, Emmie may well be walking when she sees here next.
We have a birthday party to go to this afternoon, so I'm off!

Changes

Oh my. I stink at updating lately. I just don't have the gumption to sit and write.
Life is feeling pretty monotonous lately, so I don't write.
But alas!! CHANGES!!
First change, if you recall, we should be in Colorado right now. Well, as luck would have it, our plans had to change, and now Matt is in Colorado, and the kids and I are here. For seven long weeks. Although, we already have almost one under our belts.
I'm not complaining. I am so thankful that he is only in Colorado, and only for seven weeks. It's much better than Iraq!
Other changes include Emily. She is now on Singulair, in an effort to stop this coughing. The constant coughing. I'm thinking the pulmonologist thinks I'm just batty at this point. Because, of course, she doesn't cough around him. However, when the pastor's wife holds her, she manages to cough up phlegm on her. Lovely, indeed. It is all so very frustrating. If the Singulair doesn't help in about three weeks, then he wants to scope her and make sure she is anatomically correct. Ha, that sounds funny. But you get my point.
Em is now 5 months and 2 weeks, she started sitting up yesterday. All by her self. Such a big girl! And a big event like that, calls for a big celebration. So we celebrated today by giving her her first food! MMMMMM, she loved her bananas!
Normally, I'm a strict nothing-but-breatmilk-for-the-first-six-months type of mama, but she was so ready. She wanted to gobble everything up that went in my mouth!
And onto a totally different topic..my dad is coming to visit this weekend. We are all so excited. We really enjoy having visitors in these parts. Probably because we are so all alone here. But it's really ok. We have each other, and that's all that matters.
The school books have started to roll in. And the kids are getting pretty excited about school starting. As usual, I'm hoping to do a better job this year than last! I say that every year, and I think I do better every year!
I started this post talking about changes, but got sidetracked. Sorry. I have to go get to cleaning.

Yep, we sure were messy!

Matthew was taking pictures today.

Some pics from the birthday party

I'm not dead!

I've been asked if I'm still alive, and the answer is YES! Aren't you so glad?
So much has happened since my last update, I don't know where to start.
Maybe I'll do the short version! Wait, there's no such thing!
Ok, so Matt's parents came to visit the third week of June. We had such a great time! It was sad to see them go. We did all kinds of fun things like the Alamo, and Sea World, and even a mission or two. Unfortunately, the day we did the Alamo and Riverwalk it was sooo hot. It was pretty miserable. But we made the best of it anyway. Then a couple days it poured! Phooey! We never did make it down to the coast. This was a huge bummer. When we lived in Ohio, Matt's parents came to visit and we were going to go to Niagara Falls, but we had a blizzard! This time the rain ruined things. Oh yes, and a baby who HATES the carseat! Maybe next time they come we'll make it down there!
As for said baby...she is doing great! The night Matt's parents got in we got a new to us couch and love seat. Suddenly, Em's breathing got better! Then there was a definite pattern to her crying. She cried when her meds for the reflux wore off. But we quit the breathing treatments and she has done great. We know we are dealing with an allergy for sure now. She has started to roll over now, but I don't put her down too much because when she is down on the ground (even on a blanket) her face is breaking out.
Stupid dog, I seriously cannot get rid of her. No one will take her. The humane societies are all full. I have no idea how to get rid of her, short of taking her to the country and dumping her...which I wouldn't do! She has to go though. We are on the waiting list at a couple humane societies, so pray for an opening for us!
Emily sees the pulmonologist on Monday, and we are going to keep that appointment. We just finished up VBS, it was a wild west theme and we had hay and all sorts of horse stuff in the chapel. Em's breathing was bad then. So, we need to see how to control all of this.
She saw the gastro who said it sounded like we were doing a good job controlling the reflux, which I agree about.
We also saw a new ped for her four month check. I really liked her, even if she wasn't that pro breastfeeding! Oh well. Can't win them all.
Matthew finished up pathfinders and was awarded pathfinder of the year. YAY MATTHEW!! So Matthew was pathfinder of the year, Dill was adventurer of the year, and Collin was Eager Beaver of the year. All their hard work paid off for them, and we're so proud!
In August we are headed to Colorado Springs for 6 weeks. It will be so nice to have a break from Texas for awhile. They needed a temporary audiologist, so Matt volunteered to go. Fun times!
Let's see..what else? I don't know. How abot some cute poop stories??
Zachy insists on getting naked to poop, and we still have to wipe his bottom. So he called for us to come wipe him. When Matt walked in, Zachy was sitting on the pot, in the classic meditation stance...heels together, elbows resting on his knees, middle finger and thumb together..chanting "ummmm..yucka yucka yucka..ummmm..yucka yucka yucka yucka" So funny!
The week of VBS, Collin was having some intestinal issues. He was in the bathroom when I heard, "oh no..I pooped a little in my pants" Then a horrified, "OH DEAR" I asked what was wrong, "it's melted" he replied!! It was just a tad in his pants, by the way.
The melted poop carried on for several days. I had to stop by Family Christian Book store on my way to church one night. And Collin said, "I have to poop, and I know it will be melted" So we hurry to the bathroom. It was one with just one toilet and sink. It took awhile so I was standing there nursing Emily. He is pooping, while someone is rattling on the door. I hollar out that someone is in the bathroom. It was Zachy. He had to go. He had to go now or else he was going to poop his pants! His had melted by this time as well. So, I'm standing there, nursing Em, telling Collin to take a break and let Zachy sit down so Zachy doesn't poop his pants. Collin freaked out that he would then poop his pants. I'm trying to plead with him to get up so Zach won't poop his pants. It was mighty comical I'm sure. But no one pooped their pants. When I opened the door, there was a line of people waiting to use the bathroom! HOW EMBARASSING!
Anyway, that's it..my poop stories, and my update. Have a great week!

I feel like I'm running on one brain cell

OK, so a few people have emailed me and asked me to update.
I realize it's been a long time, I just have a lot happening right now.
First and foremost is Emily.
What is wrong with my precious baby?
As you all know, she has been very congested, for...oh..ever.
The last time I posted, I said that she had her upper GI and did not have reflux. Well, the dr called me to tell me these results. I was so upset. I said, "then tell my why she is so congested and wheezing so badly!" He said he didn't know, but he could tell I wanted her to be seen again, and since it was going to be memorial day weekend, I could bring her in on Friday.
I was all prepared for this meeting. I took video of her breathing so he could see that she was really retracting and trying hard to breathe. It wasn't needed. When the nurse called us back, she freaked. She pulled the dr out of the room he was in and said he had to look at her NOW. They immediately started a breathing treatment. After two treatments, she was still wheezing, but not so bad that she needed to stay there. He told me at that point that the upper GI had said she didn't have reflux, but based on what I had said and her symptoms, he was going to treat her anyway. So we left with meds and a new nebulizer to treat her every 4 hours.
Over the weekend her cying escalated. There was no consoling her. It was awful.
On Tuesday when we went back in, the dr hung his face in his hands and said, "something is wrong with your baby, and I don't know what" He then told me she would be sent to a pulmunologist and gastroenterologist. Finally, we'd be getting somewhere.
That Saturday, we got a letter in the mail announcing the drs retirement, stating he'd be seeing no more patients.
Now, I had been fed up with him because this has been going on so long and he really hasn't helped much. In fact, I was ready to find a new dr after this ordeal was over. This put us in a pinch.
I decided to make the specialist appointments and work on switching her provider. Little did I know that that would be impossible. The gastro dr is booking in March! March folks. She'll be a year old. The pulmunologist can't see her till the end of July.
Thankfully, I was able to call Tricare and tell them what is going on. They got her a PCM immediately, and she has an appointment on Monday. I didn't like our former military dr experiences, so I'm praying it goes better this time.
She is still on breathing treatments daily, and still wheezes and is horribly congested.
Through all of this, she tries very hard to be a happy baby. She smiles and I just know a laugh is in there somewhere.
Dillon and Collin had their ending program for adventurers last Saturday. Dillon got Adventurer of the year. We were pretty proud of him!!
Last Sunday, we took Dillon to camp. He was there for the week. I missed him terribly. He had a great time.
We picked him up today and dropped Matthew off for his week. He is totally excited because he gets to do waterskiing this year. Fun times.
Last week I spent dejunking the kid rooms. Everything is nice and in place now. We'll see how long that lasts.
Also, on Thursday, Collin lost his first tooth!
This week my in laws are coming to visit. We are very excited about it, and plan to do lots of fun stuff with them.
In our free time, we are busy working on VBS. It is going to be a huge success this year. We are holding it the last week in June.
I'll be so glad when July hits. No plans, so far. It will be nice to stop being so hectic!
So there you have it, a big long entry from me...you asked for it!!

General update

Emily is looking MUCH better. She is still really dry, but not red and inflamed. The other day, Chester came in to eat, I picked him up to put him out afterwards. The next time I held Em, she got really red. So for now, keeping Chester outside seems to really help. I'm afraid to add anything back to my diet though!! I don't know why, it's not like it kills her.
In fabulous news, Em saw the cardiologist yesterday and her heart is PERFECT! What a huge relief that was. I sat there fighting back tears as he did the echo.
I talked to him about some stuff that is going on with Zachy and he wants to see him and do a halter monitor on him ASAP. The problem is, he isn't Zachy's original dr. And that dr blew me off when I mentioned the issue. So I have to get a referral from the pediatrician and get Zachy in.
This morning, Bugaboo gave her first smile. And it wasn't even saved for me! Nope, it was given to Dillon. Oh Dill was THRILLED. It was so cute. She just stared at him forever smiling at him.
Last weekend was pathfinder camporee, and they got rained out. What a bummer. Matthew was having a blast. They came home a day early. They had a day and a half there though, so that was good. Matt said the speaker was really good, and unfortunately, he was probably someone that the kids needed to hear.
Everything else just goes on normally. Nothing major to report.
Matt leaves for Denver on Sunday for a week. I will miss him. We all will. It's rough to go from having him home all the time to being gone all the time! We will survive though!
Off to figure out dinner while bug sleeps.

Beach days

When my mom was still here, we all went down to S. Padre Island to play at the beach.
It was a little tough because Emily was only a little over a week old, and at one point Zachy got sand in his eyes and just couldn't get over it, but we survived.
There were great big sand dunes that the boys jumped down. The water was chilly, but the boys didn't seem to mind! They all had a blast.

Really enjoying this time

This pregnancy is in the home stretch.
Somehow, I managed to lose a couple months. I'm quite sure it was the holidays, but it was dragging, and now I can't believe how near the end is!
Being pregnant with a girl is definitely different than with a boy. I feel like she is really out there. Bending down is much more difficult than it was with the boys. I feel like they really nestled down inside me more.
Her movements are also totally different. I have always heard people talk about being able to feel a knee, or an arm, or any other body part. With the boys, I never felt that. I just felt general whollops. Little miss though, she's a different story. I can feel specific legs and arms and her little bottom. And it is so great! I love to watch my belly because she is always moving, and poking out in different areas.
Compared to when I was pg with Collin and Zachy, I am feeling great. I have some general aches and pains, but nothing nearly as terrible as what I went through with them.
My biggest complaint is complete and utter exhaustion. I have zero energy. I can't seem to get enough sleep, and I can't seem to get anything productive done. My house is falling apart, and it is killing me. And yet, I start to clean up, and I just can't. I am so tired. I don't remember feeling this exhausted with the others. Maybe I'm just old! I told Matt today, that at this rate, I just might opt for that epidural because I can't imagine having the energy to get through labor! I'm sure that adrenaline will kick in, but right now it just seems impossible to get through labor.
All in all though, this is a really enjoyable time for me. If only I could get some energy! Maybe I just need to eat a liver.

In other news, Matthew is doing much better. He had a follow up appt today with the pediatrician who said he was on the mend. Hooray!
All of the kids seem to be sick though. I can't tell if it is sick, or allergies. I am also totally stuffy. Matt was having major sinus pressure a few days ago, so who really knows what is going on.

On Sunday, my wonderful friends at church are throwing me a shower. I feel so loved. I have better friends here than I have had in a long time (and you know that doesn't include you Michelle!!). They have become my family here, and I am so grateful to them. Yeah, Theresa..I'm talkin about you!! I love ya!
OK, I'm off to bed, I'm so tired.

Huge accomplishment

Woohoo!! The boys all saw the dentist today. It took forever, but it is good to have it done now for 6 more months. They were all free of cavities! Zachy thought it was so cool to look at himself in the mirror with a big smile after they cleaned his teeth..he kept walking up to it with the biggest smile on his face. They all did so good. Dillon goes back next week for sealants on his molars, but that's it till July!
It feels good to have that big ole appointment done. Now I have to manage to get the cat and dog to the vet for their shots before March. I'm trying to get all these big appointments done before baby comes.
I'm waiting on appointments for Collin and Matthew to see the ophthalmologist, and Matthew has his MRI on the 17th. After that, we should be good for a whole year. YAY!!
Ok, off to watch Barnyard with my kiddies!

Sea World fun

We went to Sea World when my mom was here. The boys wanted to get a little wet during the beluga whale preshow. By the way, Collin wasn't into getting wet, the kid in the yellow was just a little girl who also wanted to get wet!

Pumpkin pics

Collin's pumpkin is on the left and Zachy's on the right.



Dillon's pumpkin. It is so funny with a tiny face. He did it himself.



Matthew's pumpkin that he carved himself.

This, that, and the other thing

I feel I need to write something, since it's been awhile, but I don't really have a well thought out post. So, how about some random thoughts??

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Zachy is so cute. I know I have talked about his enthusiasm here before. The other day, I put a hand me down shirt on him. It was from the neighbor, so he hadn't seen it before. He put it on and said, "a new shirt?? for ME??" And I said, "yeah, a new shirt just for YOU" His eyes got huge and he said, "OH MY GOSH MOMMY, THANK YOU" You would have thought I just bought him a new car or something, he was so thrilled.

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We think Zachy may have split personalities. The boy can go from being sooo sweet to being so wild and rowdy. He doesn't listen at that time. It is crazy because it is the exact opposite of his sweet loving self. I've taken to calling him SPB...split personality boy.

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The great he/she debate is still going on in our house. Matt insists that this baby is a boy. I insist it is a girl. He says given our track record it has to be a boy. I told him that he is the optimist of the family, and this is something to be sooo optimistic about, and he is being a pessimist! HARUMPH!! He will be proven wrong on November 6!!

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Matthew got his military ID today. He is so tickled with himself. He keeps showing it off to everyone who will look. He said to me, "what are you on yours?" I said, "ummm spouse, and see, you're child" he said, "no, mine says Lieutenant, what are you?" I had to laugh. I said, "no that means DADDY is a lieutenant, not you" He was bummed, he thought he was an LT!!!

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Matthew has a nuerosurgeon appointment this week. Nothing exciting. He has a fatty tumor in his brain that causes no problems, but that should be watched. So the pediatrician set us up with a nuerosurgeon here. It should be fun taking all four boys to a serious appointment. And I know they will want to order a new MRI. What a pain that will be.

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Dillon got a hamster for his birthday, and today he was holding it and it got away. It was in the couch and I thought for sure we wouldn't get him. But we did. He just hung out there all day. Silly hamster!

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Collin is working so hard on his "S" words. It is really cute to listen to him, but I am so glad he is finally getting that he talks wrong.

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He has also gotten into the lying stage. Today, he pulled the cushions off the couch, while Zachy and Dillon were with me. When I went in the living room he said, "I didn't do it...it was Zachy" I said, "um, except Zachy was with me!" If there is no one else to blame, he'll blame the dog. It's silly.

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I made a creme pie for dessert tonight. The kids just came in and said,(at the top of their lungs) "we're ready for pie!!" So I must go and get pie.

Look at my handsome boy!!

I have been trying to get these pictures up for a week now. FINALLY, it works.
Matthew got his braces off last week.

Here he is before he got them on.




The morning he got them off



The result!




And while I was taking his picture, Dillon and Collin wanted me to take their pics. So here they are.

Things I haven't been prepared for

Time is flying and the boys are growing oh so fast. But certain things happen that just throw me for a loop and make me realize just how fast they are growing.

Number one, Dillon is wearing deoderant. We were thinking the time would be coming for Matthew, because there is a girl at church his age who has gotten pretty stinky. Matthew isn't stinky, but much to our surprise..Dillon IS! I suppose it is entirely possible that Dillon could hit puberty before Matthew does. Wouldn't that be interesting?

Number two, Collin has a wart. Don't you have to be older to get warts? Ok, I know you don't, but Dillon was older, so I wasn't expecting to see one on my sweet Cameedle! But there it is. I just hope we can nip it in the bud before it gets as bad as Dill's were.

Number three, Zachy is now in a booster seat. How is my baby old enough to outgrow his car seat? But it's true, he was too big for his car seat and now sits in a big boy booster seat! Matt told me he's all grown up, he's potty trained and in a booster. And those two things happened right together!

I guess it's a good thing I have a new little one to look forward to! This time thing just always seems to sneak up on me!