Zachism

So the new year of pathfinders has started and this weekend is the first camporee.
Matt has Matthew and Dillon and the other four kiddies are here with me.
Zachy says, "can we please have a sleepover?"
Me, "ummm, no, we don't do sleepovers"
Zachy, "But Mommy, there are only four of us, and we will be soooo lonely"

Only in a large family will you hear that!! :D

I'm still alive

*sigh* I have no idea why I don't have it in me to post lately.
Well, I do, but I choose to ignore it.
I've just felt down lately, and really not like talking. Honestly, I don't feel like doing anything. If I could be a recluse, I would.
All is well though, in this household.
Except for the fact that I can't seem to keep the housework under control. A friend cleaned my house so well while we were at OshKosh and I look at it today, and it's a wreck. Matthew says we need to hire her, but alas, she has 4 kids of her own to take care of. Plus, I couldn't pay someone enough to take care of this house. I just really don't know how to get a handle on it. Why does it never seem to stay clean???
Anyway, OshKosh was great. The kids all had fun, and so did we. I have pics to share, but you see how well I updated about Disney..OshKosh could be the same.
This is a big week. Matthew's birthday is Monday. I'm having a had time accepting that my first baby is 13. How did that happen? How am I old enough to have a teenager??
On Wednesday, Matt is having surgery on his eyes. It isn't Lasik, and I'm not sure what it is. It will have the same result though..no more glasses. Hooray for Matt! Also on Wednesday, I have an appointment with the peri. Maybe this time the baby will decide to show us the goods. For some reason, I'm not too hopeful. Could be the pessimism I seem to be experiencing right now. I keep telling myself it would be ok to not know, but I sure do want to buy something, and I just can't bring myself to buy a gender neutral onesie. I need to go through baby clothes, but honestly, I have no idea where they are. And all I have is girl clothes, so if this babe is a boy, it would be a waste of time searching for it all. Maybe I need to buy a tiny pack of diapers. I just feel the need to buy something. We've bought nothing this go around. I just have a few big ticket items I need. However, like I said, I have no boy stuff left so if this baby is Tarzan, I have to buy a bunch.
OK, now I'm rambling. I can't stop yawning and I just slept for a couple hours.
Maybe I'm just totally exhausted and if I got more sleep I wouldn't be nearly as down. Who knows.

Bullet post

I don't know where to go with this post, so maybe I'll do a bullet post. Cause those are always such good reading. Ha!

~ We have been busy. We are having a benefit concert next Sunday at our church. We are raising money for the Pathfinders. They are going to an international camporee this summer in Wisconsin. It's been a lot of work and I'm hoping we earn enough to go.

~ I can't tell you how excited I am for the kids to be going to Osh Kosh (the above mentioned camporee). As a Seventh Day Adventist, sometimes you feel like you are the only SDA out there. I imagine as a kid especially. They are counting on 35,000 Pathfinders being there, and I just think it will be such a great experience for the kids.

~ If you want to donate any money to help the kids get there, you can email me at luckiestmomeveratgmaildotcom.

~ Tomorrow Emily has an upper GI. I'm not looking forward to it. I don't know what I'm hoping for. I'm hoping for nothing to be wrong. If they find nothing, then she will go on to be scoped at a later date. I don't want that. I guess what I'm hoping is that if there is something to be found, it will be found tomorrow.

~ Tomorrow, I'm also getting a crown. I know it sounds lame, but I'm terrified. I hate the dentist and put it off at all costs. I know I'm a chicken, but that's ok.

~ Thursday, Emily has a VCUG. This is a test where they catherterize her and shoot dye into her bladder to see if she has kidney reflux. There are five grades, with five being the worst. Last year she had grade three on both sides. I'm not really hopeful that this will have resolved in a year. It would be nice, but I just think she needs to grow more. This test is awful. I am really really not looking forward to this one. I'm thankful that the upper GI is before the VCUG because after the VCUG it is going to be pure hell to get her to cooperate with any doctors. She is just getting over it from a year ago, now we'll restart the cycle.

~ Friday is the science fair. Dillon has grown his bacteria and discovered that our tv power button has the most bacteria on it. Matthew was growing plants in the garage, but something came and ate them! One by one. Now, what is in our garage?!?! He is now testing to see what environment crickets prefer to live in. Matt has the day off tomorrow so will be helping get their boards together.

~ We are busy. It seems there is barely time to breathe. I keep thinking of what Jim Bob Duggar says, "these are the best days of our lives, and we don't even realize it". It's so true. My kids are growing up way too fast. I tell Matt that after this concert, we have to step back from our commitments. We have to be a family and have time to just hang out as a family.

~ FIFTY-FOUR DAYS TILL DISNEY. Enough said!

~ Oh yeah, I almost forgot this one. We got a letter saying that Zachy qualifies for a wish from Make a Wish. So now we need to figure out what once in a lifetime experience he wants to have. This is much harder than you might think! I don't expect anything to happen quickly, but it's great to know things are indeed moving forward.

Crazy Busy

It's been hard to sit down long enough to write an entry. I'm not sure I'll get through this one either, but I'll try.
School has us very, very busy. We are starting some new things. Matthew and Dillon are participating in the Science Fair this year, so we've been brainstorming. My sister recommended growing bacteria, of course Dillon jumped on that idea. So he will be doing a bacterial experiment of some sort. And Matthew will be growing plants using different types of lights. I'm excited that they are getting this opportunity. I never participated in a science fair, and honestly don't ever remember our school holding one.
We are also taking a stab at lapbooking.

Lapbooking can be done by any learner-- from preschoolers to adults. With this educational method, you make mini-books covering details that you've studied. After making a variety of mini-books about a larger topic, all the books are put together in a large folder. The finished product is called a lapbook because it's large and covers your lap.

The completed lapbook will serve as a review tool as your children refer to it over and over again. And if you have to keep a homeschool portfolio to document learning each year, lapbooks can be a very impressive addition- from http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking

I've been wanting to try this for years, but it always seemed like so much work. It is not at all. It's fun! I decided that we would learn about Disney World before our trip. So in addition to our regular schooling, we are doing a study of Disneyland (since it was the original). The kids are having a blast with it, and when we are done, I'll post pictures.

The Pathfinders hosted a valentine's banquet at church to help them raise money for Osh Kosh. They raised about $500, but it was an awful lot of work. Matthew told us that night that he was never going to be a pathfinder director because it was too much work. Poor kid!

Emily is doing better after her last med raise. I think, though, that it won't be too awful long before we have to go up again. I cannot believe that her birthday is right around the corner. March 3 will be here soon, and she'll be 2 years old. How did that happen? She has renewed our love for Sandra Boynton books, especially 'Blue Hat, Green Hat'. They have to be the best books ever written. We've also discovered that she is awfully cute in orange! Who wouldda thunk??

Our healthy living group at church is trucking along, and I'm down 9 pounds. It seems to be going soooo slow. It's frustrating. But with the support of the ladies at church, I'm not giving up!

And finally, please keep Zachy in your prayers. He is back to tiring out easily. I hate that. I assume it will be another adjustment to his pacemaker. I just wonder if it will be a life long thing, this tiredness. He is supposed to see his doctor in May, but I'm going to try to get the appointment in April instead since we will be gone most of May.

Phew! That was long, and it took me a very long time to write it. I had to read books and play a game of Candyland during the writing of this post. Thanks for hanging out with me for this long!

I have no idea what to title this post!

Zachary had an appointment with his electrophysiologist this past Wednesday. I meant to get on and post about it, but I woke up with mastitis Wednesday morning. By the time we got home my fever was climbing higher and higher. My whole body ached, even the joints in my toes ached. I was pretty miserable.
And trying to get into a doctor around here is really difficult. So, I started on some old antibiotics and hoped it wouldn't get worse.
By Thursday night my temp had climbed to 103 and I couldn't get it down. I also couldn't unplug the duct that was giving me all the problems. Matt said I needed to go to the ER, but there was no way I could drive there. I was so weak.
I tossed and turned all night and was just sweating through my jammies.
When I awoke, my temp was finally down. But I still hurt horribly. So I tried calling again for an appointment. I got the run around. Finally, I was given the number to OB triage, which is where the lactation consultant is. They told me to get to the ER.
I was able to leave all the kids with Matt in the afternoon, and finally get to the ER. They did an ultra sound and said the duct was NOT abcsessed, which is what I was afraid of because it wouldn't drain. That was great news. She started me on a stronger antibiotic with instructions to come back in 24 hours if I wasn't better.
After just one dose I was feeling so much better. I'm still sore, and my temp still goes to about 100 throughout the day, but there is improvement. YAY!
It was horrible and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
So all of that to say that I didn't update about Zachy.
He's looking good. The pacemaker is working 95% of the time. Holy smokes that's alot. The doctor says he will lower the threshold at about 6 months in order to get the battery to last longer. How that will work is really too complicated to try to explain here, but it will actually be allowing one of his natural pacemakers to pick up some of the slack.
In a few weeks we get to use a machine that will send all the pacing info to the doctor over the phone. Zachy is super excited about this, and carried the machine around for days when it came in the mail.
Yesterday, was pathfinder and adventurer sabbath. Our kids all worked really hard and did such a great job. We were so proud of all of them. And when I say that, I'm not talkig about our 5 kids, but all the kids. We direct the club, so they're our kids!
Soon we will be moving onto planning VBS. Oh the fun never ends here!!