tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79740162024-03-07T07:55:14.864-06:00Craz4acop and Many Other ThingsOther things....hobbies...yes, I have tons of them. Reading, sewing, playing league tennis, and as for all things crafty - you name it, I've probably tried it. I am a 29 year-old what? Christian? Yes - far from perfect but graciously forgiven. Wife? Mmmhmm - blessed to be married to my soul-mate for almost 9 years now. Mother? Yep - expecting our FOURTH daughter soon!Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-49572245027145380652009-06-04T22:55:00.003-05:002009-06-04T22:58:42.256-05:0035 Weeks and Counting...Not much to report. Still feeling yucky so I'm not getting much accomplished...at ALL. My blood pressure is SLOWLY creeping up. It was 120/82 at my last appointment. (Normal for me is 100/60.) Anyway I go back to the Dr. on the 10th so I guess we'll see if anything has changed then. <br /><br />The girls all started swimming lessons this week and are having a blast! I'm just glad their Daddy has been off most of the days they go to help shuffle them back and forth as their lessons are at two different times. The two little ones go at 9:30 in the morning and the oldest goes at noon. My mom has actually taken them the past two days as I'm afraid to drive by myself (still having bad headaches and occasionally attempts at fainting.) Anyway, the girls are really enjoying swimming. I'll have to try to post some pictures soon!Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-90459314951684324212009-05-15T15:38:00.002-05:002009-05-15T15:51:56.246-05:00Vertically Challenged...Well, I went last Wed. for my routine 32-week Dr.'s appointment. I felt ..eh..okay..that morning when I got up. Not great, but not horrible. Anyway, Alan took the girls to school while I showered and got ready to go. When he got back, I drove myself to the doctor. I parked the car, got out and walked in, sat down in one of the chairs in the waiting room after signing in... and promptly felt like I was going to pass out. I felt myself growing hot from my feet to the top of my head and breaking out in a clammy sweat. The room started to go black with lovely purple and neon yellow splashes of color. I managed to get the attention of one of the other ladies in the waiting room who asked if I was okay. I said.."um no" and then was out like a light. She got the nurses and they bathed my face and neck w/ a cool cloth and broke some kind of ammonia capsule under my nose which popped me out of it quickly! Anyway, long story short...they ended up calling Alan to come get me and sending us to the hospital for monitoring. NOT great timing considering we were supposed to have met with the lawyers at 3 p.m. for the closing on our refinancing of the house. Alan ran around town collecting our various children from schools, picked up my mom who went back to get my car which had been left at the clinic, and dumped Mom and the girls off at home before heading to the hospital. We were there for about 5 hours during which time I was hooked up to fetal monitors and blood pressure monitors. They drew blood and did oxygen saturation tests. Then they shot me full of dye and ran a CT scan to look for possible blood clots. It was NOT a fun "Mommy day." After all of that, all of the tests came back normal with the exception of my sodium and iron levels being slightly low. Basically I had every symptom of high blood pressure (dizziness, shortness of breathe, headaches, nausea, swelling) w/o actually having high blood pressure. (Mine was 114/70 compared to my norm of about 100/60.) So...we were sent home and I was essentially told to sit on my rear and do as little as possible for the next seven weeks and not to drive unless I absolutely have to. Well...with two kids at two different schools and a hubby who works 12-hour shifts, that's not exactly feasible. *sighs*Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-18834135010007591892009-05-04T15:41:00.002-05:002009-05-04T15:50:34.999-05:00Nasty WeatherWell, we're still in one piece. Several strong walls of storms moved through our area yesterday and last night. One front just a few miles to our north, and there was another just a few miles to the South of us. We had no major damage on our end of town, but pretty much all of the Southern end lost power. There were several downed trees and shingles torn off roofs. One of the gas stations lost it's big bubble-globe signs, and the awning was ripped off the front of the Subway sandwich shop. We got some heavy rain, wind, and hail here but nothing near what others are reporting. Alan was stuck at work during the storm -- in the sally-port actually. He said it was like being caught in a carwash when the front moved through, with the wind whipping around in all directions. All in all, our town came through with very minor damage. I just saw on the news where a small town in Kansas was completely wiped out with the exception of twelve homes. Our prayers are with all those people left homeless!Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-61943176650263523792009-05-04T00:14:00.003-05:002009-05-04T00:38:08.717-05:00I Almost Deleted This Blog Today...And then I started to read from the archives. So many things I had already forgotten. So many bittersweet memories saved in digital cyberspace. It's been well over two years since I have posted to this blog. A lot has changed, yet a lot remains the same. I clicked a few links, visited some old friends. Some were still where I left them and some have obviously moved on. Was happy to see that "Ben" from "Married in Minnesota" is still busily blogging away. Thanks for inspiring me NOT to hit that delete button. Instead, I think I will try to commit to blogging again when I can. Surely I can do better than once every two years! LOL My only question is..where do I start? Suggestions? Ben? Anyone?Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1163175486674431492006-11-10T10:11:00.000-06:002006-12-22T12:56:44.356-06:00My Little Trick-or-Treaters<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/1600/DSCN2399.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/200/DSCN2399.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>Bekah -Bug's 1st Halloween (we didn't take her out last year as she was only 4 weeks old!)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/1600/DSCN2398.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/200/DSCN2398.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>Caitie the bride!<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/1600/DSCN2396.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/200/DSCN2396.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>And last but not least...Ashy the Ballerina Princess!<br /></div>Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1162265157375233682006-10-30T21:20:00.000-06:002006-11-10T09:34:51.083-06:0027 and Counting....Backwards from Now On!Well, today I turned 27. I decided that I am now qualified to start counting birthdays backwards from now on. So next year..I get to be 26 again! What? What do you mean it doesn't work that way!?!? It HAS to!!! LOL<br /><br />Went out to lunch w/ my Mom and Sister. They bought me some nice tennis clothes for my b'day present. YEA!!! I don't have to freeze my rear off when I play my last Fall League match next Wed. night!<br /><br />Going to call it a night early tonight though, I think. Hubby and I have to go to kindergarten with our oldest daughter tomorrow to watch the Costume Parade and help out with the Fall Festival/Halloween Party games. We'll get home just in time to eat lunch, let the girls take a nap, and get ready to take a bride, a ballerina, and a ladybug trick-or-treating! I'll try to post some pics as soon as the replacement USB cable for my camera comes in!!!Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1159570716285258092006-09-29T17:56:00.000-05:002006-11-10T10:33:21.810-06:00Baby Bug Turns ONE!Well, Wednesday my youngest daughter turned one! It was both a happy and sad time. I can't believe my baby is a year old already! So sad to think that she might be the last baby and she's already growing up too fast. She had a great time though, opening her presents (with her big sisters' help of course) and eating her first birthday cake! (I'm hoping she will save THAT diaper for her Daddy! LOL).<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/1600/DSCN2275.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/200/DSCN2275.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Playing with her new doll!<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/1600/DSCN2261.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/200/DSCN2261.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Bekah's 1st B'day Cake...made by yours truly!<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/1600/DSCN2296.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/200/DSCN2296.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Yummy!<br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f163/englishrose7/DSCN2289.jpg"><br /></a>Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1157657538502528742006-09-07T14:31:00.000-05:002006-09-29T15:07:26.613-05:00School PicThought I would drop in for a moment and share my oldest baby's school picture. We just got these back today and I am so happy! I love them!<br /><br /><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f163/englishrose7/Family%20Pics/caitieschoolpic20062.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting" /></a><br /></a>Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1155665383911967932006-08-15T13:05:00.000-05:002006-09-07T09:01:26.953-05:00I'm Still AliveOMG, I cannot believe that I have not made a blog entry here since May. Especially since I am frequently online...off and on. I can usually be found hanging out over at www.paperbackswap.com though. Even when I'm not hunting for books, I'm there playing the games, participating in swaps, and chatting in the chat rooms. So much has happenend in the last few months that it will take me several entries to get caught up. My summer babies had their birthdays, we went to the beach, my oldest started 5-yearl-old Kindergarten, and there was a goat...yes you read that right.... a GOAT in my kitchen. LOL Give me a chance to get things organized in my head, and I will start trying to update. Hope all my blogger buddies are doing well. I know I have a lot to catch up on in your lives too! :)Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1149131956609307712006-05-31T22:12:00.000-05:002006-06-04T00:40:39.716-05:00Coming Out of the Closet... LOLYep, it's that time again. YARD SALE time. So for the past week I have been methodically moving from room to room in my house going through dresser drawers, digging under beds, and bulldozing through closets removed the old, unwanted, and outgrown items that seem to multiply when no one is looking. We have only been in this house a year (next month to be precise) and I cannot believe how much junk we have managed to accumulate! Where did it all come from? I have finished my oldest daughter's room and have battled about 95% of the way through the middle daughters room. Already I have removed 5 large black trash bags full of outgrown clothes, and three garbage bags full of toys! My kids are growing faster than I can keep up with them! The baby is 8 months old now and really starting to get into her baby food and toys! In fact, she has outgrown her infant car seat. So I'm hoping that I will make enough money from the yard sale to buy her a new carseat and a high chair. I'm getting tired off feeding her on my lap. Strawberries and bananas is suprisingly difficult to remove from MY hair! I just hope it has some kind of conditioning benefits! LOLRosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1146668342663669132006-05-03T09:58:00.000-05:002006-05-07T07:48:02.610-05:00Family Funnies - part 1(Caitlyn – age 4 & Ashlyn – age 2)<br /><br />“The Imaginary Bicycle”<br />One morning I was sitting at my computer desk in the den when I heard an awful commotion in the hallway. “Girls!” I yelled. “What in the world is going on?” “Mommmmeeee” Caitlyn yelled. “Ashy stoled my imaginary bicycle and she won’t give it back!!!” I got up and looked, and sure enough, Ashlyn was riding an imaginary bicycle down the hall! “Well Caitie,” I said. “If it’s an imaginary bicycle, just imagine yourself another one!” “But Mommmeee…” came the reply. “I don’t want another bike..I want THAT one!”<br /><br />“The Treadmill”<br />The girls and I had stopped at Nana and Papa’s house to visit on a Thursday that Chris was working security for the Nascar race in Talladega. Mom and Dad have several pieces of exercise equipment out in their sun room, and the girls like to play on it – especially the big workout ball and the mini trampoline. It was getting close to time for lunch, and Ashlyn was complaining about being hungry. I had already told the girls that we would stop at McDonald’s on the way home to get a Happy Meal. So when Caitie asked Nana what one of the pieces of exercise equipment was called, Nana said, “that’s a treadmill.” Ashlyn…who was sitting in Nana’s lap at the time, piped up and said “I don’t want a treadmill… I want a CHICKEN meal!”<br /><br />“It’s Potty Time”<br />We were so excited when Ashlyn (soon to be 3 yrs old) finally decided that she was ready to use the “big girl potty.” She had made up her mind that she was done with diapers. One day while she was playing she jumped quickly to her feet and ran down the hall towards the kids’ bathroom, yelling “Move, I need to make a dirty!” Needless to say, we all quickly got out of her way. I headed towards the bathroom to provide assistance… when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, and headed back to her room. “Oh…wait a minute.” She said. She quickly returned to the bathroom with something in her hands. It was her Baby Animals board book, which she promptly laid on the back of the toilet before taking her seat. <br /><br /><br />“Where’s the Dog?”It was a quiet afternoon and the girls were lying on the floor in the den, coloring and drawing while I worked at my desk. Every once in a while, I glanced down to see the progress they had made on their pictures. Our oldest daughter (who is 4) had done a commendable job drawing a sun, clouds, some birds, a tree, a doghouse, grass, and what I thought to be a hole in the ground (maybe for a chipmunk or some such creature). When she finished her drawing, she came to show it to me. “Look at what I drew Mommy!” she said. I once again took note of her picture before replying “that’s great baby… but what happened to the dog?” “Oh!” she says. “He ran off…” Then, pointing to what I thought was a hole in the ground she continued… “but he left his poop behind!”Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1146420259264465902006-04-30T12:57:00.000-05:002006-04-30T13:48:02.516-05:00Busy, Busy BusyHey Guys and Gals,<br />No, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth, but face it folks... with three kids under 4 years old...I'm a busy little bee. (As blogging buddies Sydney and Ben certainly know.) My youngest is now 7 months old and well...she's not quite sleeping as much as she used to. She spends a good portion of her day awake now, and seems to be under the impression that Mommy's sole purpose in life is to provide her with entertainment. LOL She is at that difficult age where she needs to be stimulated, yet is not quite completely able to do it on her own. I hope that soon she will be able to sit up completely by herself. Right now, we can prop her up with pillows, etc. but's she's still a little too wobbly to maintain the position on her own, and she gets frustrated with lying around all the time. As a result of her demand on my time, other things have fallen by the wayside...housecleaning....laundry...blogging... Oh well. Maybe one day! :)Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1145332430509343282006-04-17T22:51:00.000-05:002006-04-19T21:53:54.696-05:00HAPPY EASTER!Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Easter! Here's a pic of my little bunnies! :)<br /><br /><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/320/Happy%20Easter.jpg" border="0" />Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1143765730599657842006-03-30T18:35:00.000-06:002006-04-11T14:58:54.806-05:00Cheap EntertainmentLike most parents, I'm sure...I sure do get a kick out of my kids sometimes. I was trying to fix breakfast this morning, get my four year old dressed, and get things ready to take her to kindergarten when "Baby Bug" started crying. "Bugga bugga!" I shouted. "Go in there and talk to your sister until I can come get her!" So my two year old takes off down the hall to "rescue" her baby sister. Within a couple of minutes the crying stops. Within a few more...I hear gurgles and giggles. The baby is laughing her little butt off. I stop what I am doing and head down the hall to investigate this miraculous change in her temperment. Bugga Bugga is standing beside the baby bed tickling Baby Bug's feet and mumbling something. I listen closer and her my two -year old's modern rendition of "This Little Piggy":<br /><br />This little piggy went to Walmart<br />This little piggy stayed home.<br />This little piggy ate peanut butter and jelly<br />This little piggy had none.<br />And this little piggy went wee-wee in his britches...<br />All the way home. <br /><br />No wonder Baby Bug was laughing so hard!!!Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1143592049192516272006-03-28T18:01:00.000-06:002006-03-29T10:05:42.020-06:00Home Again, Home Again...We just returned home late Saturday night (around 10:30) from our trip to Texas this past week. We were gone for 8 days. It took us an excruciating 14 hours to reach our destination. Imagine a 14 hour trip with a 4-year old, a 2-year old, and a 6-month old. Sounds fun huh? Now imagine that the 4 year old was HORRIBLY carsick and threw up about ever 10-15 minutes for the last 8 hours of the trip. Exactly! It was miserable. We had to stop several times, to clean her up, to bum plastic sacks from a convenience store, to stip her naked along the side of the road and change her clothes. I can't even begin to describe how frustrated we were. We did have a quite enjoyable time once we got to Houston though. We visited several different places, looked up an old friend of my husbands and saw his new home, drove down to Galveston for an afternoon - visited Moody Gardens and then walked along the beach for a few minutes. We stayed with Alan's parents in their new home. (They moved about the same time we did this summer.) Their new house is lovely with lots of room. They even have a small coy pond in the backyard which my 4-year old got a kick out of "fishing" in. I took the opportunity to visit several stores out there that are not available to us at home. We took another day and turned it into an all out excursion of the Katy Mall. That thing is so big that it actually has about 15 different "neighborhoods" and you could spend an entire afternoon in each one. The day before we returned home, we took the girls to visit the local area's park. It too was huge. (I guess everything really IS bigger in Texas). I'm used to our little rinky-dink parks around here where you are lucky if there is a slide and more than 2 swings. This park that we visited actually had paved roads with names within its boundaries. It had a HUGE playground with all sorts of equipment that made me wish I was a little kid again. It also had a small zoo that included: emu, a donkey, some sheep, some Texas longhorns, two buffalo, several varieties of parrots, some peafowl, two owls, a few goats, and a BIG pig. I couldn't belive that it was just open to the public for free. It had almost as many animals as our local zoo that costs us 25 bucks a piece to get into. Oh, and there was also a large pond with a little wooden bridge in the center where the girls got to feed bread to the ducks and geese. My two-year old (Bugga Bugga) was feeding one duck when another sneaked up on her and snatched the bread out of her other hand, nipping a few fingers in the process. "HEY! That duck duck BIT me..." she cried... "Stupid duck!" LOL<br /><br /><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/320/ourfam1.jpg" border="0" />Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1141953622684094902006-03-09T19:08:00.000-06:002006-03-10T12:40:47.813-06:00*** Late Breaking News ***OH MY GOSH! I'm so excited! My two year old all of a sudden decided that she wanted to use the big potty today. When she woke up from her nap this afternoon she said that she wanted to use the potty, so I put her little padded seat with handles ontop of the regular potty, helped her "wiggle wiggle wiggle" her pull-up panties down, and plopped her little naked bottom on the throne. Then I just left her alone. Walked out of the room to attend to the baby and in a few minutes I heard "MOMMY! I made tee tee come out of my bottom!" LOL Sure enough..she had done her business and was waiting on me to assist with the final paperwork. We had a miniature celebration in the bathroom after watching the potty flush and waving "bye bye" to tee-tee. Then she got to pick a treat out of the goody basket. Well, after that she went twice more in the big potty. Then tonight while we were getting ready for bed, she asked to go again. Her big sister assisted her in mounting the porcelain pony, and she sat and sat and sat. We yelled at her asking if she was okay and did she need help getting down. "Nope" came the reply. So we let her sit there. To be honest...I almost forgot about her. Then suddenly "Princess" starting yelling "Bugga Bugga" made a dirty in the potty! Sure enough..she had!!! All by herself with no coaching or encouragement! We made a big deal over her and told her that if she continues to go in the big potty all the time, that we will take her to Walmart and let her pick out her very own "big girl panties" with whatever cartoon character she wanted. That made her really excited. We tucked her into bed tonight with visions of "fruit of the looms" dancing in her head.Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1141952919318076552006-03-09T18:42:00.000-06:002006-03-10T12:37:40.433-06:00Surprisingly Painless...That's how I would describe my first (and hopefully only) experience having a root canal performed on my tooth today. I knew before I went to the dentist on Tuesday that I had a cavity in need of filling. It was one of those things that just kept getting put off. I'm sure you other Mommies out there know what I mean. First I was pregnant and didn't feel like dealing with any additional poking or prodding - no matter that only my mouth was involved. Then of course, the baby was born and I was pretty much quarenteened to the house with her until she was 8 weeks old. Then there were programs to attend at my daughter's kindergarten... and things just kept popping up that were more important that making that dentist's appointment. We are planning to go to Texas for Spring Break though, and so I decided that I wanted to have that tooth fixed before we left to go on our trip. Alan called and made the appointment for me since I had never been to that particular dentist before. We had recently decided to change dentists and Alan had been to him several times but Tuesday was my first visit. I absolutely loved my new dentist and his staff (at least as much as anyone can love a dentist! LOL ) However, I was shocked to discover that what I perceived to be a small cavity was actually a tooth in need of a root canal. I dreaded it for the 48 some odd hours between appointments, and then was tremendously relieved today when the procedure turned out to be totally painless. I turned down all medication other than the local anesthesia and opted out of a prescription for pain meds following the procedure, choosing instead to use Advil when necessary. It's been 11 hours since my appointment and I have yet to feel any pain. I even ate pizza for dinner! :)Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1141705471066903722006-03-06T22:20:00.000-06:002006-03-09T15:30:21.480-06:00Silly Ole Me!Hey All!<br />Thanks to a dear blogger buddy, I realized that when I changed my email address I failed to update it with my comment notification even though I changed it on my main blogger account. As a result, no one has been able to post comments to my blog lately. I was wondering what happened...if everyone just forgot me! LOL Thanks for the heads-up -A- and if anyone has tried to leave comments, please try again. They should be working now!!! :)Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1141614086966450032006-03-05T21:00:00.000-06:002006-05-07T07:38:45.173-05:00A Blinkie a Day?Well, a friend of mine suggested that I add some blinkies to liven up my blog a bit, so I am going to try to add at least one new blinkie per day to my sidebar. Er...that is as soon as I figure out how! LOL Feel free to email me any cute blinkies you find!Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1139514098205408362006-02-09T13:38:00.000-06:002006-04-07T23:03:01.890-05:00Cobwebs and DustbunniesNow that I have finally RE-discovered my own blog, I am trying to do a bit of housecleaning. I have added the new mood indicators in my sidebar to the right, and have done some cleaning in my blog roll and have even added a few new (to me at least) and noteworthy blogs. Plus some that I have been meaning to add forever and have just not gotten around to. (Sorry Sydney!) I'm not very good with HTML and too broke to hire anyone to design me something cool, but I'd like a couple of jazzy or fun little additions. Does anyone have any ideas?Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1139456491670597072006-02-08T21:31:00.000-06:002006-02-10T10:38:53.043-06:00Time for a Nap!We got off to a rough start this morning and I think that it affected us all more than I previously thought. I could not wake "Big Sister" (the oldest one...my 4 year old) up for Kindergarten this morning. She always goes to bed by 8:00 pm, but she is still impossible to drag out of bed in the mornings. I literally pulled her limp little body out from under the covers and dressed her like she was a big ragdoll. Pushed her little zombie-booty down the hall to the kitchen where she proceeded to stare listlessly at her muffin and milk. After urging her to hurry up and eat, I abandoned her to go dress the other two and point them towards their breakfast, and then finally to dress myself. I don't mind driving her to school with the hair in a ponytail and no makeup, but I do prefer to at least have all the essentials covered. Not to mention the fact that it was 23 degrees outside when we got up this morning. Anyway, we finally made it to the Kindergarten (more than 15 minutes late). Good thing I got dressed because I had to take "Big Sister" in the front door, down the stairs where I shoved her towards her teacher and ran back to where I had temporarily abandoned the other two rugrats. Then I went to my Mom's where "Little Sister" and "Baby Sister" played until time to go back and pick "Big Sister" up. By the time we got home, everyone was tired and hungry. The girls ate their lunch (thank God for Wendy's 99 cent chicken nuggets) and played while I finished up my own. Suddenly I heard Big Sister crying in the hallway. "What is it this time?" I called. "Little Sister has my imaginary bicycle and she won't give it back!" came the reply. I got up and looked, and sure enough, Little Sister was riding an imaginary bicycle down the hallway, waving proudly. "*big sigh* If it's an imaginary bicycle, just imagine yourself another one..." I said. "But MOMMMMY, I want THAT one!!!!" I had to laugh. I mean really...when they start argueing over imaginary toys...it's time for ALL of us to take a nap! :)Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1139455781733196272006-02-08T21:20:00.000-06:002006-02-10T10:36:32.960-06:00Yes, I'm Still Alive...but BarelyHi All!<br />Yes, I'm still alive and bloggin'! I can't believe it's been this long since I logged in last, but then a lot has happened since Thanksgiving and I've been REALLY busy! Right after Thanksgiving, all the girls got sick, including the baby who at the time was only about 5 weeks old and WAY too young for over the counter meds. Actually, she developed an ear infection as a secondary to the cold she had the previous week. Fortunatly for us, it was one of the RARE ear infections that is NOT accompanied by a high fever. In fact, she never ran a fever at all. Praise God! For those of you with small kiddies, you are probably aware that for some reason it appears to be mandatory to run spinal taps on all babies who present with a fever under 8 weeks old to rule out spinal meninjitis and other nasties such as blood poisoning. We went through that with "Little Sister" - the two year old - when she was a baby and it was heartwrenching. Anyway, after they all recovered from their colds, of course it was Christmas. Alan had to work the entire time which means that I had to play the "elf" and do most of "Santa's" work for him. PLUS my entire family get-together was at MY HOME, so I was up for two days cooking and literally ended up going 36 hours with no sleep. After that I slept for about 20 hours straight. Then, a couple of weeks after that, my computer died. SOooo I'm just now up and running again. New computer....new wireless keyboard and mouse...new DSL service. NO MORE DIALUP!!!! HURRAY!!! I will close by stating that I missed you all and have been trying to catch up a bit on your blogs as well.Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1132708112348001382005-11-22T19:00:00.000-06:002005-11-25T21:30:12.236-06:00Happy Turkey Day Everyone!Hi all! I just wanted to take a few moments to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone! While I am listing the things that I am thankful for over the holidays, be sure that I will be listing my online "blogging buddies" as well. May God bless you and your families! (And may you quickly lose those extra pounds that you KNOW you're going to gain!) LOL Sad but probably true. Especially in my case. Alan is off for Thanksgiving this year, so I will be cooking the noon meal and entertaining family at our house. While my mind reels with the amount of work to be done and food to prepare...my mouth is already watering at the thought of making all our favourite holiday dishes! Here's the starting lineup! *recipes available upon request!* LOL ;)<br /><br /><ul><li>Roasted Turkey w/ Gravy</li><li>Slow-Cooker Stuffing</li><li>Jellied Cranberry Sauce</li><li>Green Bean & Corn Casserole</li><li>Sweet Potato Casserole</li><li>Veg-all Casserole</li><li>Asparagus Casserole</li><li>Mashed Potatos</li><li>Orange Jello Salad</li><li>Devilled Eggs</li><li>Dinner Rolls</li><li>Blueberry Cobbler</li></ul><p><strong><span style="color:#cc0000;">YUMMY!</span></strong> <strong><span style="color:#ff6600;">YUMMY!</span></strong> <strong><span style="color:#006600;">YUMMY!</span></strong><span style="color:#006600;"> </span></p>Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1131749409626964202005-11-11T16:24:00.000-06:002005-11-21T17:32:04.330-06:00SO...So....*sigh*...TIRED!Okay guys, I am EXHAUSTED. I will admit that I actually slept in until 10:00 am this morning and it was devine! It's been a crazy month...well actually it started at the end of September when my third child was born. By the time we got home and I recovered from that experience, my oldest daughter came down with some kind of virus. She ran a low-grade fever and had a nasty cough. So we just administered over-the-counter cold and flu meds with Tylenol and she gradually got better. BUT...by the time she was recovering, the two-year old had come down with it and unfortunatly it seemed to hit her much harder. She ran a high fever. I'm talking 103.4. Had it gone up just 6 more tenths of a degree we would have had to take her to the hospital. It was really scary because she became somewhat lethargic and would barely respond to my talking to her. I scooped her out of her bed and tucked her in with me. Then I set the alarm clock to wake myself up in two-hour intervals at which times I alternately administerd Tylenol and Motrin around the clock until her fever finally broke at 5:30 in the morning. Now, during this time I was also giving the 4 yr old cough medicine every 4 hours and feeding the baby every 3 hours ....so I ended up staying awake all night long. Before I knew it 30 plus hours had passed before I got a chance to shut my eyes for a while. Then, as I'm sure you can guess...when the two year old got over the crud, the baby got sick. Now THAT was really scary. For those of you who may not know...if an infant under 8 weeks of age gets a high fever, they are automatically admitted to the hospital where they draw blood and run blood cultures to see if the fever has spread to their blood. They are also required to perform a spinal tap and draw spinal fluid from the spinal cord to check for meninjitis. If you have never experienced it with your kids..it's a TERRIBLE...HORRIBLE...SCARY...and PAINFUL process to be avoided at all costs! I went through it when Bugga-Bugga was seven weeks old and it was the worst thing I've ever experienced to this date. It's just so scary when a newborn gets sick because they are unable to take any kind of over-the-counter meds until they are at least 3 months old...and they can't blow their own nose..or tell you what hurts. She started with a cough and nasal congestion. I was really afraid it would settle in her lungs and cause pneumonia (which babies her size/age typically don't recover from). She was also having trouble eating. Partially because her nose was stopped up making it difficult to take a bottle, and sometimes if she did manage to get it down...she would throw it up 5-10 minutes later. Thank GOD, she never ran any fever. We ran a cool mist humidifier in our room where Baby Bug sleeps, and she slept upright in her swing at night rather than in her bassinet. We sprayed saline drops in her nose and used that horrible bulb syringe to suction out the congestion as best as we could. Because she is only 5 weeks old, there wasn't a whole lot we could do for her. I sat up around the clock by myself for three nights and days watching her just to make sure that she was breathing. Alan and I debated on whether or not to take her to the doctor for several days. (I wanted to ...he didn't). Finally I won (after breaking down, crying, and pitching a fit!) We took her to her pediatrician (whom I adore) about an hour's drive away. He was reallys surprised to discover that she had developed an ear infection. Usually with those, kids run high fevers. We were really blessed that so far she hadn't presented with one. He prescribed a shot of relatively strong antibiotics to hopefully knock out the infection before the fever came. And she is taking oral antibiotics twice a day in her bottle now. She seems to be feeling some better. At least she is eating and breathing better now. The doctor told us that she was throwing up as a result of the pain in her ear. It has been difficult to tell if she was hurting or not because she is such a good baby that she almost never cries. She has 7 days worth of antibiotics left to take, and then hopefully everyone will be bake to normal. I'm looking forward to getting some much needed/deserved rest. I haven't truly slept in three weeks!Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974016.post-1130966298923728782005-11-02T14:52:00.000-06:002005-11-02T15:46:01.343-06:00Dance and Cheer the Sniffles Away!<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/1600/Dscn0828.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/320/Dscn0828.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Well, despite the fact that my kids still had the sniffles, against my better judgement I allowed them to go trick-or-treating anyway. (Honestly, I just didn't want to hear them whine for days about how I didn't let them go when they've been looking forward to it all month! LOL) It turned out fine though. Princess dressed up as a ballerina, and she got to wear her costume to Kindergarten. I went to school with her to help out with her class's party. All the kids had a blast. I got some great pictures! I was one tired Mommy after helping all the 3 and 4 year olds at her school play the "Buried Treasure" game. There was a sandbox filled with sand and hidden prizes. Each child got a turn with a plastic shovel to dig for one buried treasure each. My job was to try and keep everything IN the sandbox, ensure that the kids didn't get greedy and get more than their share, or throw sand on the other kids, etc. Afterwards, we came home, ate lunch, and took a nap! Then it was time to get Princess (the ballerina) and Bugga-Bugga (who was a cheerleader) back into their costumes. (Baby Bug declined to dress-up this year...mainly because she was <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/1600/Dscn0916.0.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6458/518/320/Dscn0916.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>too little for the newborn costumes!) Alan and I took the girls to my grandmother's house and parked in her driveway so that we could go trick-or-treating around her neighborhood. I know just about everyone in her neighborhood and that is the most popular area for trick-or-treating in our town. We went about 5:00...as soon as it started to get dark because I didn't want the girls to be out long or to get cold. There is a big circle and a smaller circle in that area, and we just went around the smaller one. Probably visited about 10 houses or so, and then went back to my grandmother's where she was waiting on the girls with a bag of pumpkin shaped sugar cookies for each of them. They had a good time, and so far no one is any worse for the exposure to the weather.Rosa*http://www.blogger.com/profile/10067391189388985017noreply@blogger.com1