Surprisingly 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! :)

Silly Ole Me!

Hey All!
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!!! :)

A 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!

Cobwebs and Dustbunnies

Now 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?

Time 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! :)

Yes, I'm Still Alive...but Barely

Hi All!
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.

Happy 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 ;)

• Roasted Turkey w/ Gravy
• Slow-Cooker Stuffing
• Jellied Cranberry Sauce
• Green Bean & Corn Casserole
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Veg-all Casserole
• Asparagus Casserole
• Mashed Potatos
• Orange Jello Salad
• Devilled Eggs
• Dinner Rolls
• Blueberry Cobbler

YUMMY! YUMMY! YUMMY!

SO...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!

Dance and Cheer the Sniffles Away!

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 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.

Another Year Older....and Hopefully Wiser

Yep! Today is my birthday. I am officially 26. Guess I can admit to that. At least until I hit 30, then I'm tempted to start counting backwards. Here are a few other "famous" people who share my birthday:

• Fydor Dostoevsky - Oct. 30, 1821
• Ezra Pound - Oct. 30, 1885
• Ted Williams - Oct. 30, 1918
• Henry Winkler - Oct. 30, 1945
• Harry Hamlin - Oct. 30, 1951
• Gavin Rossdale - Oct. 30, 1967
• Layne Nix - Oct. 30, 1980
• Ivanka Trump - Oct. 30, 1981

And here are some newsworthy events that took place on my birthday:

• NASA launches space vehicle S-203 - 1979
• Richard Arrington elected mayor of Birmingham, AL - 1979
• Calif Angel Nolan Ryan throws fastest recorded pitch (100.9 MPH) - 1974
• Jaqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis on the island of Scorpios - 1968
• Branch Rickey signs Jackie Robinson to Montreal Royals - 1945
• Clarence Birdseye sells 1st frozen peas - 1952
• Anne Frank (of Diary fame) is deported from Auschwitz to Belsen - 1944
• 1st Methodist church in U.S. initiated (Wesley Chapel, New York City) - 1768

No Balloon Animals Today, Dear...I Have a Headache

My kids have been feeling a bit under the weather the last several days, and as they are typical of most kids their age, the quickly tired of lying around watching cartoons all day. So...being the crafty mom that I pride myself on being, I scrounged through my closet and boxes full of craft goodies in seach of some inspiration. A light bulb went off in my mind as I came to a bag of mixed sized balloons. Ya know..the ones that you buy and then are annoyed to find tons of those long skinny balloons that are REALLY hard to blow up. I grabbed a couple of those and told myself that today is the day that I would learn how to make balloon animals. So, after several attempts and a few softly muttered creative oaths, I managed to product two really cute looking balloon weenie dogs! I was so proud! My 4 year old was impressed and my 2 year old was in love with hers. She carried it around on her shoulder all day saying "cute puppy!" Well, the next morning they were feeling a bit better. This is when a certain incident occurred that reminded me of a lesson I have learned since the birth of my daughter 4 weeks ago. Lesson being: It is physically impossible for ONE mommy to watch THREE kids simulataneously at all times. Alan and I attempt to keep the door to our bedroom closed 24/7 simply because there are things in there that the kids don't need to get into. And when I say kids: mostly I mean the 2 yr. old. She is notorious for playing in my makeup drawer (several months ago she decorated my room and herself with black mascara -- Thank God I don't use the waterproof kind!!!), getting into her Daddy's work stuff (ie. running the battery down on his maglight and police radio), and getting into any bottles of lotion or shampoo that should be lying around our master bathroom. Well, that particular morning I was trying to get Princess ready for her Kindergarten, get Baby Bug fed and changed, and get myself dressed when I lost track of Bugga-Bugga. (I swear they should come with tracking devices). Anyway...I knew I was in trouble when I didn't hear her. I quickly buckled the baby into her swing and ran down the hall towards my bedroom. Oh crap! Alan had left the door open when he stopped in to get some equipment he had left. Great! Not knowing what mess I would find when I turned the corner...I took a deep breathe and told myself to remain calm. I walked in the door...and didn't see anything. Didn't smell any strong lotion/shampoo scents...didn't see any mystery stains around the room....the makeup drawer was closed...but I also didn't see any 2 yr. old....until I walked around to Alan's side of our bed. She was sitting in the floor playing with...with...OMG! She was playing with a box of condoms that she had found in the headboard...and had ripped one open. I called her name and she jumped a little guiltily before turning to face me. Then, with a grin...she held up her prize. "Look Mommy!!!" she cried... "BALLOON!!! Make Puppy???"

Got an Octopus for Sale?

Know of anyone who has an octopus for sale? Cause I could really use the extra arms today! Two out of three of my kids are sick. Not BAD sick, but enough that they demand constant attention. Princess hasn't been to kindergarten since last Friday. She seems to have bronchitis on top of a low-grade fever that is a result of the flu shot she had last week. So she was up all night coughing. Bugga-Bugga (the 2 yr. old) had a fever of 101.9 this morning and is ill and cranky because she is cutting all 4 of her 2-yr molars at once. Thank goodness Baby Bug isn't sick. She just demands to be fed or changed constantly. It just always works out to where they all need me at the same time, and of course Alan is at work. Even worse, he got supeonaed to Grand Jury today so he is out of town and unable to drop in and lend a hand like he can sometimes do. PLUS, he has municipal court tonight, which means he won't get home until around 9 or 10 tonight. Ugh!

On a brighter note, thank you all for your prayers and kind comments. We are scheduled to have our car fixed on November 15th. (Yes, that's the earliest date our repair guy had an opening.) A very dear (and sexy...oops...didn't mean to let that slip...but he would So be on my list....ladies, you know what list I'm referring to...everyone has one!) friend of ours found out about our problems and gave Alan a check for $500.00 to cover getting our car fixed! I think I'm still in shock, but it's certainly a huge weight off our shoulders.

I am Tired of Being Pooped On!!!

*Sigh* Yes, you read that right. I am tired of being pooped on..in oh so many ways....by the baby, by my two-year old, by life in general. It has been one doosy of a week! I haven't blogged in forever because I'm doing good to be up and dressed...sometimes that last part is not even accomplished. A combination of sheer mental and physical exhaustion, getting up every 3 hours at night to feed the baby, a little depression, a lot of frustration, and the fact that I just plain like to stay in bed when it's cool outdoors (which it has been lately) have all contributed to the fact that I dragged myself out of the bed around 1:00 this afternoon and even that took a considerable amount of willpower. I can't even begin to describe what the last few weeks have been like. There are so many cliche phrases I could use but none could quite encompass the true nature of what I am feeling. One prime example of said phrase...."when it rains..it pours." Amen. Here goes. I had the baby three weeks ago...she's doing fine now that we changed her formula twice and FINALLY managed to clear up the worst case of diaper rash I've ever seen...poor thing. Just when she started being more content throughout the night (not having gas pains, or spitting up, or having bad diapers) and I thought I might actually get a little sleep, Alan had his wisdom teeth cut out on Monday. So after dragging his heavily drugged semi-unconcious butt home from the dentists office, I had 4 babies to take care of instead of three. He wasn't in much pain, but the medicine they used to knock him out while they did the oral surgery made him loopy and very nauseaous. Great! After sleeping for about 14 hours he finally came out of it and was able to help a little again. I still didn't want him walking around with the baby because I was afraid he'd get dizzy or sick and fall with her or drop her. But at least he was able to sit up and give her a bottle while I tended to everyone and everything else. One of which was changing a very stinky two-year old's diaper. OMG! I can't wait until she is potty trained! She stunk up the entire house!!! Then I gave the baby a bath and after I had JUST finished cleaning and drying her...was getting read to put on fresh clean clothes...she decides to poop. ALL OVER ME!!! In my hand (that was supporting her rear) and all over my leg. It was more than I could handle. I was yelling at Alan to come get her and gagging at the same time. Normally a dirty kid doesn't bother me. Gee...must make a difference when it's all warm and gooey and running down your thigh. Okay..that about sums up the literal pooping. Now for the figurative. We discovered this week that somehow while we were in the hospital having the baby, that some banking errors were made on our checking account that caused us to bounce not one...but FIVE checks. Now at a fee rate of $30 each...that's a hefty little sum. I never never never..bounce checks. I've had my checking account with the same bank branch for 10 years now and have maybe only bounced two in the entire time. So needless to say, I was in shock when I pulled up my account balance and it read -$360.00!!!! Alan called the bank and explained the situation and they graciously refunded $60.00 of the bounced check fees but we are still majorly in the hole. AND we have yet to pay our house payment or Cat's kindergarten tuition for this month and now cannot afford to do so. I don't know what we are going to do. I can't even buy groceries right now and we have nothing NOTHING in the house. No milk, bread, canned goods, cereal...no nothing. I can't even make a sandwhich. Fortunatly I had just bought diapers and formula before we bounced checks so the baby is taken care of ...but the rest of us are in trouble. On TOP of all that...our car broke down. Yes, the ONE car that Alan and I already struggle to share which gets him (or at least it did) back and forth to work and Cat to Kindergarten Monday through Friday. I am not a mechanical whiz when it comes to cars so I don't understand the entire concept...but basically something with the air conditioning system died, made a horrible clanking noise, and is killing off all it's friends by attacking them with metal shavings. So now we have to have a new AC compressor, condensor, belt, orafice tubes, etc. which will cost us around $300.00 in parts not counting the labor of whoever we can find that we can trust to put in in and not rip us off. And ontop of THAT...the right rear brake calliper is going bad and leaking brake fluid. AAARGGH!!! What a wonderful birthday present. Did I mention that next Sunday is my birthday? Ah well. Thanks for letting me vent!

Already Daddy's little girl at 4 days old!!! 

An Early Arrival!

Yes, there is a very good reason why I have not posted in SO long. I have been feeling rather yucky in these last few weeks of my pregnancy, and my visits to the doctor have been much more frequent. That however, has now come to an end as our third daughter (who will for now be referred to as "BabyBug") made her grand entrance into the world two weeks early. After having been to the doctor three times in one week, my labor was induced at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning due to my blood pressure which had been high for several days and was continuing to rise. Baby Bug was born at 11:20 am on Tuesday, September 27th weighing 6lbs 13ozs. and measuring 19 1/2 inches long. She is a perfectly healthy, happy, beautiful baby girl! Alan and I are amazed at what a great demeanor she has. She eats well and sleeps well. She is always happy, never cries, and only makes the slightest fuss to let us know that she is hungry or in need of a change. Otherwise she is content to sit or lie wherever we put her, looking around curiously and happily at the world around her. God has truly blessed our family!



Happy Birthday!

A First-Hand Report from New Orleans

I wanted to share this email I received from a friend who received it from another friend who is a Dr. stranded in a hotel in New Orleans. I believe this email to be a true personal account of this man's experiences, and I am posting it exactly as I received it with no edits or grammatical corrections. You will note that some of his sentences or thoughts seem to be incomplete as he was in a hurry to get everything out during his limited access to the internet. I sincerely hope that he will not mind me posting his experience, as he did give permission to pass it on to those who may be interested in hearing a "dispatch" from the front line, so to speak.


From: Gregory S. Henderson MD, PhD <GSHend@mac.com>

"Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers. I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2PM . I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today. Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, MS, and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here. Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today. Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water. Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast. The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications. Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that are admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting. These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently. The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. There are ID physicians in at this hotel attending an HiV confection. We have commandered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about 7 doctors and PA and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and fulll of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into gargace bags and removed them. All under police excort. The looters had to be held back at gun point. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine. In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the the French Qarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients today. Many with be from the hotel, but many with not. We are anticipating to dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipated major problems. Food and water shortages are iminent.The biggest question to all of us is where is the national guard. We hear jet fighters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no Salvation Army.In a sort of cliché way, this is an edifying experience. Once is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care phyisican. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible. I don't know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul edify experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuild will. And the horror of so many dead people .PLEASE SEND THIS DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THING MAY BE INTERSTED IN A DISPATCH From the front. I will send more according to your interest. Hopefully their collective prayers will be answered. By the way suture packs, sterile gloves and stethoscopes will be needed as the Ritz turns into a MASH."

Greg Henderson

Long Time, No Blog

Hi Everyone,
Once again I find myself apologizing for the lack of posts on this blog. However, with only 6 weeks to go in this pregnancy, I have had neither the energy or the inclination to post lately. I'm just trying to survive the next month and a half. The baby has "assumed the position" ie. dropped very low, head-down and the resulting pressure is very painful. It's all I can do to walk, it hurts to drive or ride in the car, and sleeping comfortably is next to impossible. Plus, my hands and feet have begun to swell more than they have in my previous pregnancies, and I tend to keep a headache that Tylenol just doesn't faze. All in all, I'm sure I'm not the most pleasant person to live with these days, though I DO try not to take my pain and irribility out on the other members of my family. I wish I could morph into a bear and just hibernate the last six weeks away! LOL I could use some good sleep about now. I guess part of what bugs me too is the feeling that I may go into labor early, and I don't have everything together for myself or the baby. I still have no newborn clothes for her. My other two daughters were born in the middle of the summer and spent their newborn days in onesie's, t-shirts and diapers. This one being born a fall baby will need a few onesie's, and mostly the soft thin cotton, and the soft terrycloth footied sleepers which I don't have since my other girls' didn't need them until they were 6-9 months old. Then there is the fact that I wanted to be completely unpacked and settled and have my new house all clean before the baby makes her appearance. Unfortunatly though, although it's not bad...there are still unpacked boxes sitting in various corners that I just don't have the energy (or range of motion) right now to deal with. Just the little things like that are driving me crazy. On the flip side (in other words..enough of my whining...LOL) we are finally getting adjusted to our new household schedule that ensued with our oldest daughter's starting of kindergarten two weeks ago. She is still loving it despite how much she grouches about it when we are trying to get her out of the bed in the mornings. LOL She (like her daddy) is NOT a morning person.! And that would SO be an understatement. Anyway, we are all up earlier in the morning, taking turns dropping her off at school, dealing with new meal and nap times, going to bed earlier at night, and dreaming of the two weekends a month when Alan is off work and we can ALL sleep in.

Kindergarten Queen

Well, it seems that our little "Princess" has turned into the Kindergarten Queen. LOL I was worried about her having mixed feelings on her first day. I knew that she had been talking about going to school ever since she turned three. Knowing that she could start school at the age of 4, she would always tell people that she was already 4 when asked. Monday was her first actual day of kindergarten. It was also the first time her daddy and I had ever left her anywhere other than a friend or family member's home. Even though she appeared to be excited...I had my reservations. I tried as best as possible to explain that yes, we would be leaving her...but that we would come back to get her at lunch time. I explained her schedule...how she would get there and have free play, then Bible study, reading and writing, get to color, then have a snack and a potty break, go to music or art, and get to play on the playground, and then we would be there to pick her up. I also told her how her class would get to go the the big library down town (which she loves) and the roller skating rink once a month. The will also take field trips to the Pumpkin Patch in the fall, the zoo, and a couple of other places yet to be determined. Most importantly, I made sure she knew where the bathroom was and to tell her teacher if she needed to go other than at the "alotted time." When we entered the building on Orientation Day, her only fear seemed to be the stairs. Her Kindergarten is part of a large local church and it has steep staircases with echoing stairwells. She's fine going up, but is scared to come down. Fortunatly, we found out that her classroom is on the first (ground level) floor, so that isn't an issue. Anyway, we got up (her Daddy, and sister and I) and piled into the car so that we could all walk her in on her first day of school. She was dressed all cute in a little denim skort with a baby blue shirt, white lacy socks and her tennis shoes with laser lights that light up with each step. Her hair was pulled back in a neat little ponytail and she had a brand new lacy navy hairbow at the top. Armed with her "special" PINK Disney Princess backpack, she was ready to go. We were the first ones in her class to arrive after Mrs. S had unlocked the door. (The kids that got there early had to wait in another room). Princess walked right in...said "Hi" to her teacher, took off her backpack...got her daily folder out and put it in the designated basket, and I helped her find her cubby hole to hang her backpack in. Mrs. S asked Princess if she wanted to go with her to get the other boys and girls and obviously she did, because she quickly turned to Alan and me, gave us a quick hug, grabbed Mrs. S's hand and off they went down the hall. "Bye Mommy!" she called. "I'll have fun. Oh, and I'll color you a pretty picture!" and that was it. Alan and I looked at each other in amazement. While we were extremely grateful that she was adjusting so well, we kinda felt forgotten already! LOL It was "Mommy and Daddy who?" Nonetheless, we were very pround. Princess told us the next day that her cousin (who is 7 months older and in the same class) had cried and clung to his mother the first day. Actually what she said...and I quote is: "Andy cried and hugged onto his mommy. But I didn't cry. I'm a big girl...only babies cry!" I laughed until I nearly cried myself!

First Steps Down a LONG Road

My first child will be entering school on Monday. I still can't believe that the time has come already. Seems like just yesterday I was bringing her home all bundled up from the hospital. Now she is 4 years old and starting Kindergarten. Man, time sure does fly! We have enrolled "Princess" (she loves Disney Princesses and the color pink...and I got tired of referring to her as "4".) in a private Kindergarten rather than public school, and today we got to go for Orientation to see her classroom and meet her teacher. "Mrs. S" as she will be called for the purposes of this blog...was very nice. She is actually the daughter of a wonderful lady who taught the 3- year old group at the same Kindergarten when I attended the 4-year old class there 21 years ago. Princess was a little nervous upon entering the building. The school is part of a large church in town and I think she was intimidated by all the doors, stairs, etc. However, that soon changed when we got to her classroom and she spotted the bright red apple on the door with her name on it. We went in and she found "her" chair with her own namecard, tray of crayons, pencil, glue, and scissors...and her daily folder. Mrs. S told her how she would get to take the folder home to Mommy and Daddy each afternoon and bring it back to her each morning. She found her assigned "cubby hole" where she is to keep her new Disney Princess backpack and other belongings during classroom hours, and even more quickly she discovered the toys. There is a large bookcase full of her favourite storytime characters, and a little wooden kitchenette with sink, stove, and cupboards that quickly drew her full attention. There are only 12 other kids in her class, one of whom is one of her first cousins who she is pretty close to. That will help them both adjust more quickly I hope. (Though I think I am probably more nervous about her starting school than she is.) I just keep thinking to myself...this is her first step down a very long road. Thanks to "year 'round" schooling, Monday she starts down a path that will last for the next 14 years, and that's just until high school graduation! My baby will be just fine, but I don't think I'm ready for this!

Dr's Appointments Suck!

Hi All. Sorry it's been a while again. It has become increasingly difficult to remember to post my thoughts as they are scattered in all directions these days. "Princess" survived her check-up and routine vaccinations. No, it wasn't pretty. While she reacted rather well to the actual shot, the preparation for them left much to be desired. First of all they made her lie down and stretch out on this table. No 4 year-old I know likes to be confined. Especially not on a strange table in a strange place with a strange woman holding her legs down. Just not a happy situation. She was scared to death and screaming "no, I don't want a shot" at the top of her lungs. When they were actually given though, she relaxed a little and watched and handled it quite well. My only consulation was the chuckle I got out of thinking of all the other poor kids waiting in line behind us, hearing her scream bloody murder!!!

Yesterday, I went for my Dr's appointment. I had to have the stupide glucose screening done that tests for gestational diabetes. Yes, considering that I'm going on 31 weeks with this pregnancy, they waited a little late to do it, but I guess since I didn't have any problems with my other pregnancies, they weren't very worried about the chances of my not passing it. I'm assuming that I DID pass, since I haven't heard anything. It was still a yucky experience though. I don't mind the drinking the crap that tastes like carbonated snow-cone syrup, or even the drawing of blood an hour later. What I DID mind very much was the not being able to eat anything after midnight the night before. You just don't deprive a pregnant woman of food. We ate dinner about 7:30 the night before then I got the kids ready for bed, tucked them in, got a shower myself, changed the sheets on our bed, and went to sleep. So it was actually nearly 14 hours that I went without food. By the time I finally got to grab a bite to eat, I normally would have eaten twice in that time. SOOoooo...I passed out. Not once...but twice during my doctor's appointment. Fortunatly I felt it coming both times and was able to get to a place where I could lie down, and my nurses (also friends and sometimes Avon customers) brought me a cold wash-cloth and fanned me until I felt better. The first time I didn't go all the way out and was able to complete the first part of my exam and return to my husband in the waiting room while I waited on the required hour to go by before my blood could be drawn. About 20 minutes until that time though, I felt faint again and once again sought out my nurse for a place to lie down. That time I went all the way out and must have been out for quite sometime because when I came to, all my blood-work had been done and I was free to go in search of food! Thank God!