Week 14 Blog 1

Why is it that most of us love our dog almost as much as we love our children? Notice I said almost. My husband thinks I am crazy for babying and loving on out Shih Tzu as much as I do but I also happen to know that when he thinks I’m not looking he does the very same thing.

My children are even worse than my husband and I when it comes to spoiling the cute little thing. Oliver, the Shih Tzu, has so much personality and it is so easy to love him. He has been a perfect dog since we got him as a puppy 5 years ago. Most puppies chew things up and reek havoc on a house but my little Oliver was an angel when he was a puppy. I can’t think of one thing that he chewed up and destroyed. It really has nothing to do with me being prejudice because he is my dog….really it doesn’t (wink, wink!!!). He is like all of my kids, the smartest most perfect creatures on earth, (again….wink, wink).

Isn’t it funny how everyone ALWAYS thinks their kids or their pets are the smartest most able beings on earth? You all know every one of us guilty. I will be the first to take the blame. I always think everything my kids do is wonderful but then when I go to tell this magnificent story, no one else seems to think it is as grand as I do. Except daddy, grandma and grandpa, of course. This is why I always seem to go over the top when one of my friends is telling me something they think is wonderful that their children have done.

People need to take into consideration the feelings of those around them a little more often. So, maybe you really don’t care about hearing about someone elses kids but don’t you want someone to share the joy when you have your story to tell??? I know I do!!!

Tis the season to share these wonderful feelings with one another and I hope everyone steps back and takes a good look at themselves and truly discovers that they are the kind of person they want to be. If not, take the steps needed to move yourself toward that person you want to see look back at you in the mirror.

Happy Holiday’s everyone!!!!!!

Week 13 Blog 2

As I lay awake all night long I tend to start thinking about school and what homework needs to done the next day. Last night I was trying to figure out what to write about and all of a sudden it hit me....insomnia!!! Why can't I ever sleep more than two or three hours a night. It is killing me. I try to stay awake in the evenings but because I didn't sleep the night before I am falling asleep by 8:30 or so. Since the time change it's more like 7:30. The whole thing is that I am wide awake by 11:30 or midnight and can't go back to sleep. I will drift off for a few minutes every now and then but nothing that can be qualified as good quality sleep.

I looked up insomnia on this website and found that is is really common in women my age. I have tried to talk to my doctor about it but he wants me to take Ambian and I have heard horror stories about that. My cousin and her husband were both taking it at one time and they both found strange things happening to them. Like waking up in the car, in a parking lot, at 3 am and not remembering waking up to drive there. One other time her husband took the dog for a walk down the highway by their house and didn't remember  it. She woke up and found the front door open, went to find him, and almost ran him over since he was walking down the dark highway. had she not been watching for him she would have literally ran him over.

I looked up Ambian side effects on this website and found some very disturbing things about the drug. These are the common side effects listed on that website:

Common Ambien Side Effects: Minor side effects that are fairly common include drowsiness on awakening, headache, a drugged feeling, lightheadedness and depression. The depression can be severe, see below under serious Ambien side effects. The rest of the Ambien side effects that are listed in the manufacturers list of common side effects are primarily those listed for nearly every medication and include sinusitis, dry mouth, dizziness, lethargy, back pain, influenza-like symptoms, diarrhea, constipation and sore throat.

These are the LIFE THREATENING side effects of Ambian according to the website:
Life Threatening Ambien Side Effects: The most common serious Ambien side effects are amnesia and hallucinations. It is very important to take the medication immediately prior to going to sleep. It is fairly common to become quite confused, to wander and behave erratically after taking Ambien, so it is very important to be in bed when the drug takes effect. Wandering to include driving a motor vehicle or doing other dangerous activities while under the influence of Ambien are reported not infrequently. These are much more likely if you don’t go to bed immediately after taking the medication and it begins to take effect before you go to bed. Other common Ambien side effects include worsening of or development of depression, allergic reactions that can occasionally be severe including anaphylaxis, and suicidal ideation or aggressive behavior.

I think the life threatening side effects are more common than the let on. What are the chances that 2 married people, both take the medication, and BOTH have the LIFE THREATENING side effects???? That tells me a whole lot. For any drug to have YouTube videos about its dangers has got to scare people. I often wonder why it is still getting prescribed and better yet....why are people getting the script filled??? I think I will just choose to not sleep.

Week 13 Blog 1

I am just about to finish the book “A Stolen Life” by Jaycee Dugard. I have been interested in this story since the day I heard about it. There were so many things that I found hard to believe. By hard to believe, I mean hard to wrap my head around, not that I thought Jaycee was not telling the truth by any means.

Of course we all heard about the breaking story when it was first released to the public but it wasn’t until I saw Jaycee on the Oprah show that I really got interested in reading her book. I couldn’t figure out why this 29 year old woman had not escaped when she had so many opportunities to do so. At least I saw them as opportunities but after reading her story I feel so bad for judging her actions.

She was taken when she was 11 years old and spent 18 years of her life in a shed in the back yard of Phillip and Nancy Garrido. This is a truly amazing story of an amazing woman that fought with every inch of her being to survive. She was forced to do unimaginable things that would scare an adult let alone an 11 year old little girl. She was raised with the idea that Phillip was the only one that could protect her and that she was helping other people because he could act out his sexual fantasies on her and not have to harm anyone else. He would go on “runs” for days at a time and force her to have sex with him for days. His “runs” consisted of snorting drugs so he could stay awake and perform these horrendous acts on this innocent child. There was one point that he forced her to try and have sex with his dog.

Jaycee became pregnant at the age of 14 and didn’t even know that she was pregnant until she was told by Nancy and Phillip. I assume they figured it out by the way her body was changing. She was never given any prenatal care and was never seen by a doctor. At 14 years old this little girl delivered a baby on the concrete floor of a shed. She became pregnant again, I believe, at the age of 17 but it might have been sooner than that.

When she was “found” she had not spoke her real name in over 18 years and she was scared of what life would be like without Phillip because he had always “protected” her fro the outside world.

Her book is every emotion rolled into one. I felt everything from happiness to sadness for Jaycee and her family. She was forced out of the arms of her mother and never had anyone physically by her side that truly loved her. I know her mother must have went crazy trying to find her and then to find out she wasn't very far away the whole time. It's a sad world we live in but I hope others can look at her story as I have and learn from it. Most of us complain about various things that go on in our lives but until you have lived through something like she has....I don't think we have room to complain at all!!!!!!

Week 12 Blog 2

Well, I officially finished Christmas shopping today. There are a couple of things that I still would like to pick up on Black Friday but if I don't make it that would be fine too.

It is simply amazing how much a person can spend over the Holidays. According to this article the average American spends $935 on Christmas each year. That sounds a lot less than I thought so I checked another artical and it basically said the same thing. The latter said $900 which is close enough to $935 for me. I guess I though a lot more people spent a lot more money than I did but I guess they don't.

I do always pay for my Christmas with cash and ONLY cash. There is no amount of credit card debt worth that of a Christmas present. If I can't pay for it then they don't get it. That probably sounds really harsh but it's true. This article says that Americans might be learning their lesson on credit card use over the Holidays. Most people are still paying off debt from last Christmas season. That would have me in a panic.

A lot of people have gotten away from what Christmas is really about. Most children these days think that Christmas is just for merely getting presents and lack the knowledge of the true meaning behind it. That is so sad and I hate to see that.

Although, I do love seeing my kids little (and not so little) faces light up when they just opened something they really wanted. That makes me happy and I wouldn't change it for the world. With that being said, the reason it makes me so happy is because I know what my children have been taught about Christmas and they know the true meaning of it and don't take their presents for granted.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season and makes lots of fabulous memories with many friends and family.

Week 12 Blog 1

Well I am making a trip to Springfield with all four of my sisters and our mother on Friday to FINISH Christmas shopping. We go every year for the big Veteran’s Day sale. We always have such a great time. We shop all morning, then usually end up eating at one of the Restaurants on the mall so we can have a margarita or two and then continue shopping the rest of the afternoon. I know people must think we are crazy because we always go to Old Navy first thing and grab one of their big shopping carts to push around the mall. Hey, there are 6 of us doing major Christmas shopping and we HAVE to have something to haul it all in right? We are always very polite and make sure the cart is returned when we are finished.

Even with the big shopping cart we still have to make a few trips back and forth to the car. I will never forget the year we literally ran out of room to put things and had to call my aunt that lives in Springfield so she could pick up some of the stuff and take it to her house for us to pick up on Thanksgiving. We now make sure we take the extended SUV so that doesn’t happen again. We have been known to have to take 2 SUV’s in order to get it all home. I know it sounds crazy but you have to think about it for a minute. Between all 5 of us girls there are 15 kids that we are buying for. That ends up being a tremendous amount of shopping bags. Not to mention shopping for our parents, in-laws, grandparents, and husbands. We also each get something for each other’s kids. We really don’t go over board…..you can’t when you are shopping for that many people. This is why I like to be done by Thanksgiving. If I am done I can take time getting everything wrapped and enjoy the Holiday season without having to stress about doing any shopping.

Enjoying the season is what it’s all about right??? Take my advise, if you can get all your shopping done before the end of November, your Holiday season will be much more enjoyable.  Even though I am done shopping I do still love a little of the Black Friday madness….and I mean JUST A LITTLE. Usually, Wal-Mart at midnight for just a bit is all I need. There is no deal out there that is worth all the headache of getting trampled to the ground trying to grab for the  newest and hottest anything!!!!!

Week 11 Blog 2

As I sit here at my computer I am racking my brain trying to figure out what to blog about. Ummmm....still nothing!

Nope nothing yet!!!!!


Well I'm 10 minutes in and still nothing.....I think I will switch out my laundry and see what I think about while folding the dry clothes and go from there.

I finally got it...I came up with this because I was folding my littlest guys jeans. So my youngest son is 8 but still wears a size 5, and we still have to adjust the waistband smaller so he can wear them without them falling down around his knees. However, I have to hang them to dry so the length will stay the way it is because if they shrink at all they will be a little short.We were so excited when we went school shopping and he could actually wear a size 5 jeans and a 5/6 shirt. He is little I know but we are very proud of his growth over the last 10 months or so. He is now a whopping 45 pounds but up until the last few months he weighed a mere 34 pounds. The poor little guy didn't even register on the growth chart at the doctor's office. Of course this started raising great concern with his Pediatrician and Pulminologist so we started making trips to Kansas City Children's Mercy yet again. I know I have blogged before about how incredibly ill he was as a baby so this trip was something we had done MANY times.

To make a very long story short he was tested for everything under the sun and everything came back normal. The only thing they could figure was the fact that he has had to have SOOOOOO much asthma medicine that his growth could have been stunted a little bit. They discussed growth hormones with my husband and I but there was NO WAY we were going to let our son get injected with these hormones until we did some research on them and they could prove to us that it was an absolute necessity for his health.

So, I first started with some research on the side effects of inhaled and oral steroids in children. Miles takes inhaled steroids every day twice a day to keep his airway as open as possible and when he gets out of control and his regular inhalers won't do the trick we have to move to oral steroids, mainly Prednisone. I found this website and it does mention that a side effects of oral steroids can be weight gain. I also found this article that basically says that the steroids can temporarily slow down growth but not stunt it all together. This would explain why, over the last 10 months, Miles has grown because we seem to have a better handle on his asthma with inhaled rather than oral steroids, at least for the last several months anyway.

I then decided to look up the pros and cons of the growth hormones. I found this article and it kind of has my wheels turning because that is one thing Miles has not been treated for. They explained him to a tea. He grew fairly regular until he was about 2 1/2 then quit. He looks so much smaller and younger than the other kids in his grade and wears shoes 3 sizes smaller than my 6 year old nephew. Although this article talks about growth hormone deficiency I could see where Miles would fit into that category. I haven't had much success in finding actual pros and cons but I have been able to find when it would be necessary and when it wouldn't.

We are so confused on what to do. Does anyone out there know a child that has had to get these growth hormone shots? If so some feedback would be great!!!!!

Week 11 Blog 1

Today is Halloween and I am sitting here anxiously awaiting the time to trick-or-treat. I have so much fun taking the kids to all the fun neighborhoods around town. I think one of my favorite places to go is to the nursing home where my granny (the kids great-granny) currently resides. Those little old people have a BLAST watching the kids come and see them. They are all gathered around the front door in their wheel chairs long before kids even start to roam the streets. It’s super to see how the men and woman react with the children and visa versa.

We do have one neighborhood that is ALWAYS extremely packed. Most of the people in that neighborhood give out full size candy bars and the people always have their garages decorated in a “haunted house”. They don’t ever really make it too scary because there are tons of little ones so they have to be sure not to scare them.

Ohhhh….be back later!!!! The kids are ready

So it’s been several hours and we have walked our legs off. Boy did they get TONS and TONS of unneeded candy but what a time we had!!! We are all ready for bed so I will have to catch you up in the morning. Good night!!

It’s November 1^st, can you believe it?? I can’t! Let me finish my Halloween story from last night. I left you with a quick good night and went to bed to watch television myself. Of course, the kids were already bathed and in bed asleep. My husband was staying up to watch some show on TV that I had absolutely no interest in, so I was in the bedroom by myself. I was laying there watching the news and I heard a knock at my bedroom window. I didn’t think anything about it because my husband and our boys are ALWAYS trying to scare me with something. So I ignored it at first. Then there was another knock, by this time I was kind of annoyed because I was all snuggled in and comfy by this point. I rolled my eyes and mumbled a few choice words to myself and went to the window to peak out so I could get this little trick done and over with. Well….I don’t think I have ever screamed so loud and literally ripped part of the blind off the window. As I pulled open the blind there was a man in a Scream mask staring in my window. I knew it wasn’t my husband because in the mean time he had walked to the bedroom. I freaked out. Literally freaked out!!!! All my husband and one of his close friends (the scream mask guy) could do was literally hit the ground because they were laughing so hard.

I don’t know about the rest of you but there is just something about the scream mask that freaks me out. I don’t like it AT ALL EVER!!!! So needless to say, even though I thought I was prepared for his trick…I wasn’t!