On the mend???

We've had some strange virus running through our house this week. Sariah was hit sunday through Tuesday, Amanda was tuesday through thursday, I was hit wed, thurs, last night Liam seemed to be comming down with it, and Bill this morning felt it coming on...

For some of my family it started with a slight headache, for me it started with a slight cough, followed by fever and chills, and body aches, including joint pain, followed up by coughing...

I'm not real big into thermometers, so I never took Sariah's temp to see exactly what was going on with her, but Amanda wanted confirmation that she was sick... so we took hers, and it ran 102. the day she had the highest fever. She insisted on taking my temp as well, but I just felt like crap and didn't have a fever yet... (if anything I was low... 97. degrees) the following day I ran a fever soaking my clothes with sweat, and chills, I just couldn't get warm enough. Liam had a fever last night, and this morning and I got him to take some tylenol. he isn't warm now, but his eyes do not look good (like he's drugged - but not from the tylenol dose hours ago...), he is be bopping around however, whereas, Sariah, Amanda, and I all spent a day or more in a half coma, sleeping (fitfully) for the majority of the time. perhaps Liam did some of that last night when he came and snuggled in bed with me for several hours (late in the afternoon/eve). I was honestly too out of it, to have noticed much more than that he was snuggled up to me. Today I just have a bad cough, and total body aches... some from laying in bed/or on the couch for the past couple of days, and I feel like my ribs are bruised from the coughing... definitely NO fun!!! (I wonder how much weight I've lost - and if I could keep it off - since I've eaten next to NOTHING for the past three days).

Bill asked me this morning how long he had till he was bad enough he'd be in the half coma since he had the head ache... he had a job interview this morning, and didn't want to put it off. Now I guess he'll be out of it for the next couple of days, and then we just have three more kids to get through it... so much for fun weekend plans. at least we didn't already pay for tickets to the circus we might not be able to use.

I want one of those...

I was going to write this post 'one day' and it was going to have a completely different slant on it... But as 'fate' would have it, Liam has prompted this one, so here goes.

Liam was watching Clifford the Big Red Dog show... I wasn't really paying much attention to it at all, but apparently, at the end of the program, they showed...

Several different children and with them? Their dog(s).

When Liam started saying, "I want one of those..." I wasn't really sure what he was talking about, and I asked him what he'd said. He said again, "I want one of those" and pointed toward the t.v. I looked up and was slightly afraid of what he was indicating. I asked him what it was that he wanted. He said, "one of those dogs..."

Good Grief! Does he even know what he's saying? (Rebekah heard him from the other room she'd just walked into, and said, "Did I just hear him ask for what I think he asked for?")

O.K. to begin with, I am not a dog person (or a cat person, or an animal person in general). I have never wanted a dog or cat at my house. When Bill and I first got engaged, that was a source of teasing from his parents, that I would not let their son have a dog!!! He's always had a dog! and a cat or several of each, and a Pony! yes he had a pony as a child. It was an Ornery pony, and hard to do much with it, as when Bill would ride it the pony would run him into the trees to swipe him off it's back and onto the ground!

Secondly, I am not a fastidious housekeeper, I'm sure you've all noticed! (I have a lot of clutter, or as I once heard it put... 'I'm Horizontally Surface Challenged' I also have a problem with out of site out of mind... If I have something I need to get to, or a project I have to get done, and I put it away somewhere??? It's gone for months/years!) but that being the case, I have six kids and a crazy house and I do not need an animal in the mix! Besides, if I had an animal, it would have to be an out door animal, since that is how I was raised, and I just don't do indoor pets.

Thirdly, (do I really need to go on???)

Liam is afraid of animals - mostly! He will cringe - more of a whole body shudder - cower, and often completely freak out when a person's pet, usually a dog, (but he has been known to come unglued at the sight of a cat crossing a room as well), comes anywhere near him! (within his sight or hearing) For a little while when he first started talking, he would ask if anyone had a dog as we pulled up to someones house to play or visit, etc. He would be cowering behind me, and asking, do they have a dog? I would have to pick him up even as I reassured him there were no dogs at 'this' house... or that they would put the dog in a room or something. Some friends have witnessed this freaking out, whole body shaking, crawling/clawing his way into my arms as high and fast as he could possibly get... on more than one occasion!

Now in the past we had a couple of gold fish (Simba and Nala is what Rebekah and Amanda named them). We took a long vacation home to visit Bill's parents one summer while Bill was at a military school for 3 months, and so I sent them to my friend's house to live in her nice large 100 gallon aquarium for the summer. When we returned, she indicated on several occasions that we could have them back... I was fine with their continued absence, so they never did return to us.

Sariah attended a nature camp at Camp McDowell last year when she was in 6th grade. Bill went with, as a chaperon. I remember him coming home and telling me how she had held a snake and how her eyes 'just lit up'!!! I thought, that's nice, but, so what!

As Christmas approached that year, she had asked for and Bill was pushing for her to get a snake. I was definitely NOT convinced! By Christmas they had worn me down, and so Santa got her the whole set up and she got to go pick out the snake she wanted (a small baby corn snake) the next day. It has been interesting over the past year + to watch as it has changed and shed and grown. I believe I've actually held it once.

The same year, Rebekah had a class with a teacher at the High School who had several snakes in the classroom. Many of the kids became very accustomed to the snakes, and we'd hear about how she'd go to class, pick up one of her favorites (Checkers - a corn snake, thus named because of the checkered pattern on the underside of the corn snake) and drape him around the back of her neck and have him crawl about her and crawl into her front pocket of her hoodie, or what not, all throughout class. For Rebekah's 17th birthday, that year, she too got a snake - another baby corn snake...

It has been interesting to see the two of them, as they have grown at different rates, and they have slightly different personalities as well. Sariah's is very calm and mellow, and Rebekah's is a bit more tense... doesn't like to be messed with all that much, which is good as she knows a bit more how to handle them, and Sariah can totally hold and pass her snake around to all the eagerly waiting children that want to hold it.

Liam has been from day one, FASCINATED!!!!! He loves to touch/pet the snakes, and visit, look at the snakes. He loves for it to crawl on his arm and wrap itself around his little hand and arm. I bought some small little toy snakes for a rain forest diarama Sariah had to do for school once, (Liam added Woody) and the extra snakes have become Liam's to play with. He will occasionally ask for me to wrap them around his little arm... they are his "nake's". He also found a little plastic Lizard that he plays with as well. We worry a little bit about him 'finding' a snake in the wild... and havig NO FEAR!!!!!

The snakes over all have been quite painless as far as upkeep go. You buy food and feed them once a week and that's about it! (O.K. so I don't buy the food, Bill or Rebekah does that part. I don't watch as they are fed! I don't want any part of that, but the fact that it only has to be done once a week or so, is a nice thing.).

I was going to do a whole blogpost titled:

SNAKES on a TRAIN!!!!!

Notice the checkered pattern on the underside of the snake that is curled around the bridge (if you click it it will be larger and easier to see)

Notice the one snake inside the 'barn', and the other one going along outside it.

Over the past year when Bill has gone to the local little pet/creature store, for food, frequently, one or more of the younger siblings has gone with him. Hannah started checking out this Bearded Dragon Lizard that they have there. She wanted a lizard, and started saying that was all she wanted for Christmas. Again I fought it... and again, I 'lost'.

So, this past Christmas, Hannah got a small little Bearded Dragon. I have to say it is kind of cute (in a weird sort of way). The lizard, takes more time and attention than the snakes... you have to feed it greens, like kale - daily, in the morning. Then in the afternoon you have to give it some crickets as well. So, now we have to keep crickets as well! They die like crazy! You have to feed them these little cubes of food and water so they are well hydrated, as that is part of the Lizards, fluid intake daily as well. Good grief! What have I gotten myself into!?!?!

Shortly after getting Hannah's lizard, I said something about, "How did I ever end up with REPTILES!!!!!?????? at my house?????" The very quick response from one of my lovely children was, "Well, you wouldn't let us have a dog!"

THANKS.....

Happy Heart Day!!!

I had a very nice day. Bill got up and ran me a nice bath to start the day. He would have washed my hair for me too (I love that), but I just got it colored yesterday (and the gal at the hair place did do a nice job of massaging my head yesterday...). Then we went to lunch at P.F. Changs. He also had tickets for us to sit in the V.I.P area at a movie, so we walked around Bridge Street after lunch and had a good time mostly window shopping until the movie. I did get some nice bubble bath and lotion at Bath and Body works (I was out of bubbles this morning, so I just had to use a fizzy ball thing).


It was a very nice day.


On a different note:
I get family fun magazine... Hannah looked through it and found some fun valentines she wanted to make. So... We spent several days this week finding all of this stuff and then putting together little Ipod type things. Iluv - with the message You Rock! and a list of lovey type songs... They had a box of conversation hearts wrapped with the cute iluv label. then they had strings with candy kisses for the ear pieces. They turned out really cute, but were kind of a pain to put together 40 of them for all of both little girls classmates.
Sariah made candy kiss roses for her friends. (I thought I took pic's of them and the finished Iluv's, but i can't find them.)

Happy Valentines Day to everyone.

Rebekah - her life in Pictures

Rebekah's first picture... with Dr. Oilburg, just seconds/minutes old. February 12, 1991

Rebekah 2 weeks old, dressed up and ready for Church. The first time Daddy got to meet his baby girl! He just got off the bus that brought him home from his deployment to Saudi Arabia. Rebekah was 3 months old. Once Bill picked her up, he didn't put her down at all. He took her all over with him, while he turned in his weapon at the Arms room and everything. He was so proud!!!


Rebekah's 1st birthday. She got a little Minnie Mouse big wheel, your first Cabbage Patch baby named Luciana, and you called her Luci, I believe Rebekah still has her, put away somewhere, and a stroller/push along walker. 1992 Germany

This picture isn't on her birthday, but it is near enough. She had just turned 2 yrs old, and had a new baby sister. 1993 Alabama

Rebekah at 3 yrs old. 1994 California

Rebekah with her Grandparents - 1995 - 4 yrs old. Virginia

Rebekah's 5th birthday - it was a total princess party, with our one Prince Charming. 1996 California

For Rebekah's 6th birthday I took her out of school for the day... we went to lunch and then I took her to get her hair cut. 12 Feb 1997 California

*****1998***** 7 yrs old. Anastasia Birthday party. White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

February 1999 8 years old in her baptism dress... each of her sisters has worn that same dress to be baptised in as well. New Mexico

February 2000 - Japan - 9 years old.

*****2001***** 10 yrs old Sagamihara Japan


12 February 2007 ************* Sweet 16 ************** She got her drivers license that day

Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese for a fun birthday party! It was great to see all these teenagers having so much fun being silly!!! ;-)

This year I wanted it to be fun and special for her. I stayed up making yard signs, and with Liam needing me to rub his foot, and wanting me to rub it with "Wotion"... it took me till the wee hours of the morning. I put the signs in the yard just before 3 a.m. She seemed to be pretty excited when she went out to start her car in the morning.

These light pink Balloons were her birth announcements... 18 years ago! Every couple of years I pull a couple out and blow them up. She was so excited when she came home from school and I had the balloon bouquet with her birth balloons!

Rebekah Birth Story

Rebekah Loraine was born at ...
10:30 p.m. on February 12th 1991.
She was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 1/2 in. long.

We were living in Germany, with the Army... I was at least. Bill had been deployed to the gulf war and was in Saudi Arabia. He left in early December (I believe it was Dec. 5th, and as I write this, I realize that Hannah was born on the anniversary of that day, 8 years later). I was due 5 February. My parents were already gone, so having my mom come over and stay with me wasn't an option. Bill's mom hates to fly, and they had said they wouldn't be over to visit us while we were there, so I knew I wouldn't have their help either. While I was still engaged our very good friend Jess and I had made plans for her to come to Germany to see us and to help, when I had a baby. When we 'planned' this, we had NO idea how important her visit would be to me, and that Bill would be gone. Jess arrived 2 days after Christmas.

She helped me keep track of my life, and was my 'social' secretary, while I was the only Officer's Wife in the unit (that stayed in Germany to help - our Company commander's wife went home just after Christmas. (They had orders and pack out dates to leave Germany, and her husband had to stay/go with his troops, and she really didn't want to stay so she had the stuff packed up and she moved 'home')).

I remember the day quite vividly. I was having a 'woe is me' kind of a day. I hadn't really showered and gotten myself ready for the day... It was exactly one week after her estimated Due Date. I thought I would be pregnant forever! That very day I had decided that the baby was never coming! I hadn't really gotten myself ready for the day... my hair was driving me crazy and I was about to start chopping at it myself! Around 5 pm I called a friend and asked if she would be willing to cut my hair. I arrived as they were finishing up dinner. She cut my hair and that alone made me feel so much better!

We sat around talking and laughing for a while. As we were getting ready to leave, I remember we were all standing in the hallway, the friend was standing in front of me, in front of the bathroom door... I felt something and my eyes got wide and I looked at her, and said, I needed to go to the bathroom!!! She quickly moved out of the way and I went in. I could hear everyone joking around outside the bathroom door, speculating on what might be happening... perhaps my water had just broken? I remember my dear friend Jess commenting that no! I was probably just, finally able to pee! (how sweet of her! :-) She herself an unmarried gal, had made fun of me and my irritability at the frequent NEED to run the the bathroom and then drip two or three drops all day and night!

I realized that yes, in fact my water had broken. It was 8 p.m. We got a plastic garbage bag to cover the seat of the car I was driving (I was taking care of and driving one of Bill's soldiers car a cute little Honda CRX while they were in Saudi). I didn't' want to mess up the seats! and a bunch of paper towels, then we drove the few minutes home to begin labor I hoped, and get my bag, etc...

I hadn't had 1 single contraction yet, and I was mad! I had done some reading. (I had read every single book in the post library on pregnancy and childbirth - all 7 of them! as well as a couple of books that an old friend had recommended and I had my mother in law go out and buy them and send them to me). I had planned to labor at home as long as possible. I knew that with my water breaking they would probably want me to come in right away, and yet I wasn't contracting yet! What a disappointment! I called the Dr and yes they did want me to come right in. Jess ate something for dinner and packed herself a bag of snacks for the long haul ahead of us that night. I repacked my bag, I had used it a couple of weeks before when I had come down with the stomach flu and the Dr. put me in the hospital on I.V.'s for two days... While I was packing I had my first contraction at 8:30 p.m. This made me a little bit happier, as I at least knew something was getting started! I had another contraction while getting stuff together. I hadn't timed anything, but it sure seemed kind of close together. I told Jess to look at the clock, and we hurried about our business while we waited for the next contraction. It came and we realized they were 3 minutes apart! Goodness, I guess we'd better get going!

We headed downstairs to the car (I lived on the third floor of stairwell apartments). Jess was SOOOOO excited! She kicked our friend who lived downstairs door as we passed by and yelled, we're having a baby! They came running out to see what all the commotion was, and to see if the way Jess had yelled, if I was having the baby RIGHT then and there! No, but contractions were coming pretty fast and furious... I remember getting out to the car and having to hold onto the edge of the car and sort of squat with the contraction!

We got in the car and started our drive - a 20 minute drive to another small city. We lived in Nuremburg, Bill's office was in Erlangen. The Military hospital in the Nuremburg area had closed for normal patients, when I was 37 weeks, and I had gotten a phone call to say, "Come and get your records, and find some place to have your baby." The hospital was on stand by as the Limb injury hospital in Europe for casualties of war. (the most injuries that they received were people that blew their knees out from playing volleyball in the sand! but they were ready in case it was needed!). Anyway, when I had chosen the Dr's and the place I was going to give birth, out in Erlangen, everyone was so shocked an surprised! Why would I want to travel 20 minutes away in labor, when the LARGE German Hospital (Maternity hospital - Kranken-haus) was very near by?!? I figured that first time labors were an average of 12-18 hours, and I would have plenty of time to get 20 minutes away!

While driving I was very uncomfortable in that cute little sports car! I had no idea at the time but I was going through transition on the drive. We got to the hosp. (A very small private hospital that had only 5 rooms and 10 beds. There wasn't a nursery as such, certainly not one to leave your baby in - the baby stayed with the mom in her room. yay! sounded good to me. It was actually in like, this little strip mall looking place. There was a large pharmacy, the maternity hospital, a small pediatric hosp/clinic, and a grocery store, and some Dr's offices, and who knows what else.) We arrived and I remember having to stop and squat again as I got out of the car, and then again when we got up to the door.

The only nurse on at the time was Hans. He spoke very little English (maybe 5 words???), and I spoke almost NO German! He was rushing around trying to get me ready and things pulled together for a labor and birth. I would have loved to speak/understand German, (to be a fly on the wall) just so that I could have known what all he was saying and how many frantic phone calls he had made that night! He actually went and got another mom from her postpartum room. She was a German wife of an American Soldier, who had recently delivered her own baby, to come translate for us. So she comes down the hall, she is holding her baby, and she stays to help me. Jess is trying to get things together for me... she is setting up the video camera that we borrowed from my downstairs neighbors (at that time in my life, I had thought that people who took pictures and video of births were sicko's!, but when it occurred to me that Bill was going to have NO idea what we had gone through... I thought perhaps it would be a way I could share that part of his child's life with him, when he came home, whenever that would be).

I some ways I look back on it, in my fuzzy memory and I see it a little bit at a sort of three ring circus. Hans, could not communicate with me (to even tell me to get undressed and get up on the delivery bed/table... or anything). Barbara, the German mommy - was standing there next to me, holding her baby in her arms, trying to help me to breathe. She would say you have to breathe for your baby! Look, in just a little while you will have your own baby, just like this... Jess is running around hyper and trying to get my bags taken care of dealing the the video camera, and with never a child birth class or any preparation, trying to help me in whatever was she could.

Usually the Midwife would come and labor with you and check on you, and she'd call the Dr. when things got close. I had never met the midwife that worked with them. At some point the Dr. showed up, not Dr. Hammad, the one I had seen for most of the visits I had, had since switching to their practice - I think I'd met Dr. Oilburg once. He shows up and is very efficient and gets things ready... He checks me and basically says nothing, Jess who is just all excited about the whole process, asks, Well, "what is she?" The Dr. says, "oh, I can see the hairs on the baby's head, she can push whenever she wants to..." WOW!!! That is certainly NOT what I expected to hear! I had figured that like the average first time mom, I would be in labor for at least 12 hours. I had begun to think, even though I had wanted a natural birth, I might not be able to handle it, if I had to go through this for another 12 - 18 hours!!! Things were just so intense!

Barbara, at some point went and put her baby back in it's little bed in her room and then she came back to help me - it was clear she was needed. I remember my mouth getting so dry! I asked for something to wet my mouth... she eventually was able to get some gauze squares from the Dr and got it wet and let me suck the thing dry! She then would wipe my brow, with it. Wow! did that feel fantastic! My birth was going along so crazy, but she who had never even had a vaginal birth (she labored with her first, then had a c-section, and then had, had a repeat section for her new baby), but she knew what I needed, and did what she could to help!

I began 'pushing' while they continued getting everything set up and ready. I didn't' realize at the time I wasn't actively pushing hard... but I at least was no longer fighting the urge to push that I had been having, making everything harder and more intense for me! It was nice to be able to just let my body do it's thing. Before to long, Dr. Hammad showed up. He said he had been just down the street visiting friend at the university... and got the call, and so he showed up. Since the Midwife wasn't even there yet (we found out later that with the recent snow and ice she'd had a little car accident (a fender bender) on her way to the hospital), Dr. Hammad put his hands on his hips and said, "so, I will stay and be your midwife!"

I pushed a little bit, like I said, not really pushing hard, just getting out of the way of my body, and I stopped fighting and it was going better in that respect. They started doing the whole coached pushing thing, and before too long I realized they were about to cut an episiotomy... I remember sort of 'screaming' out in my head... NOOOO!!!!!!! and thinking, "can't you just wait a minute?!?!?!" I'm in the middle of a contraction here! "I was just getting into pushing, and what was the hurry?!?!?!" So what if my labor took 30 minutes longer!?!?!? I think it was just standard for first time mom's (perhaps, for all mom's?) to cut an episiotomy.

Rebekah made her appearance at 10:30 p.m. It was hard to believe that I was a mom!

The midwife arrived just as they were putting Rebekah on my belly. She bathed the baby, and dressed her in these cute little clothes. The midwife came in each day we were there and bathed Rebekah and dressed her in another cute little outfit. She had a full tub bath every day of her life (pretty much) until she was two years old. (Her umbilical cord came off days sooner than Amanda's where we put Alcohol on it like at the American hospital). They of course told me the weight and length in Centimeters and grams. I had to wait until I was able to talk to someone a day or two later to get her weight in lbs.

I was surprised and shocked that I had a girl, and I wanted to share our happy news with Bill!
I sent out the message through the Red Cross. Luckily while they were in the desert, AT&T set up phone banks for the soldiers to make phone calls. Bill knew i was due and had been calling fairly often for updates. As it turned out there were two ladies in our unit who's husbands had not called them ONCE at all! They were a little bit older and perhaps didn't feel like they needed to waste the money calling long distance, and collect, and that their wives didn't need to hear from them? I don't know, but several of us had been telling our husbands to tell their husbands to CALL HOME!!!!! (the one guys kids were so sick over Christmas that they didn't even care that Santa came and didn't open presents until around 6 pm on Christmas day... he still hadn't called his wife and family!) As luck would have it, they both called home on Feb 13th to talk to their wives, who were some of my best support group ladies, who passed on the news, and so Bill was able to call our home, he got Jess and got the phone number for the hospital where I was at and he got to call me and hear all the happy news! I feel very lucky that was possible, since he didn't receive the Red Cross message for about 2 weeks or more!

I know we have had our rough times over the years, but I am so grateful to have Rebekah as my daughter. She has been the Guinea pig and I've had to learn to be a mom and I've made plenty of mistakes. I really do look forward to watching as she grows and becomes a woman, and though the prospect of her getting married any time son is really frightening to me... It will be fun to watch that new chapter of her life unfold as well. I hope that I have done an o.k. job of parenting her, and that she will have a good life.

I love you Rebekah! My first baby! The person who made me what I am today... A Mother!

The Years Have Flown by soooo Fast!!!!!

18 years ago... I had given up! I was a week overdue, and I was thinking I was going to be pregnant forever, the first woman in History!

Little did I know that in a mere matter of a few hours I would be a mother! 9 Months of Pregnancy, did not prepare me to ‘be’ a mother! It was all such a shock and a surprise! I couldn’t believe it!

The other part was that at an ultrasound a few weeks earlier, my Dr. had said, “Don’t go out and buy clothes, – which I did... but, I think it’s a boy.” Well, not that I was disappointed in any way, I have LOVED having my girls, but for a few days I was still just in shock and awe!!! I was a Mother! I had a baby... and it was a GIRL!!!

Long many years ago, I had started a little book of names that I liked. I decided I wanted to name my first daughter after my mother. My mother’s name was Loraine Faith Sherwood Wright. I was not into Faith, Hope, and Charity as names at that time of my life. I decided I wanted to use Loraine, however I thought it was kind of a BIG name (Old Fashioned) for a little baby girl, so I decided I would use it as a middle name. I then set about trying it with different names and figured out I really liked how Rebekah Loraine flowed together. And because I had always felt like I had a boring name, I wanted a little different spelling, so I went with the one in the bible, with the ‘kah’ at the end instead of the ‘cca’ spelling.

When Bill and I were engaged, we talked about names. He wanted to name a boy William Joseph after his grandfather, and that was fine with me, and I told him I wanted to name a girl Rebekah Loraine. By this time I had already lost her a little bit over two years before, and so it was now even more important for me to honor her by naming my first daughter after her. I was however an only girl, with 3 older and 1 younger brother, so I didn’t know if that would ever come to be.

When I had my sweet baby girl, I just felt a real closeness to my mother and I truly felt that my mother had sent her to me... I could just imagine my mother standing there holding Rebekah’s hand and leading her along and sending her specifically to ME!

I missed my mom and have wished so many times that she could have been there with me as I grew into a woman, and got married in the Temple, and then when I had the blessing to become a mother! I have worried and wondered over the years, as we have not always had the best relationships, if I would be close to my children, to my daughters when they are grown and have families of their own.

I have enjoyed watching Rebekah grow and mature into a wonderful young woman, and now here she is turning 18, and she is about to go out on her own, and I so hope that she has some fond memories of home when she leaves us. I hope and pray that she will make good choices and grow even stronger in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that she will enjoy her life, and learn and grow, and have fun at college, and that she will be able to stand strong, and let her light shine, and be a beacon for others who are searching to see and to follow.

I have so appreciated all the help that she has been to me and at home and with the family, over the past few months in particular.

Not having had an Adult Relationship with my own mother, I wonder what it will be like to have adult children. Part of me is having a difficult time accepting that I will have a child who is 18 years old now! That means I’m really old... ;-) On the other hand I really do hope to have many fun years ahead of us. I love the idea of taking ‘girls’ trips every so often. Not that I want to leave Liam out at all, I just want to be able to enjoy my daughters, and to have fun watching them all grow over the coming years.

Back to Rebekah...

She was born in Germany, while her daddy was off to ‘war’ in Kuwait back in 1991. She was not an easy baby, and there were many times I felt very alone! There were times that the phone would ring, and I could hardly speak when I answered and I would realize I hadn’t spoken a word in days. I feel horrible that I could go for several days at a time and not talk to anyone, including and especially my sweet little baby! They say that children learn their language and verbal skills early on, by people talking, singing, and reading to them as baby's. Luckily I don’t have to feel too terrible, as it is pretty obvious, I certainly did not stifle Rebekah’s verbal skills!!!

She has always LOVED her daddy! When he first met her she was already 3 months old! Perhaps that worked out nicely as she could smile and coo at him by then, and she was I’m certain, thrilled that there was someone else who would spend lots of time and effort devoted to her and to meeting her needs. Of course the needs he’d respond to were different a lot of times than what she needed from me. (We read an article once many years ago, about how dad’s teach their children to look outside themselves and their immediate circle for things. Mom’s teach them closeness, with all the loving and cuddling we do, etc, but dad’s teach them to be strong and independent, with all the rough housing and the throwing them up in the air, etc...)

When we were living in Germany we only got ONE (1) channel of AFN (Armed Forces Network)t.v. I remember you could turn on the tv on a Saturday, and watch World Wrestling Federation Competitions. Now I would try to just avoid them, but when there was only one channel to choose from... Bill would then commence playing WWF with our daughter! He’d hold her under her armpits, and hold her standing up on the couch, with the narration (dad) of the wrestling match... “And Rebekah climbs up the ropes and Jumps!!!” Onto what ever weird name dad picked... Another fun game he would play with the children would make me think... I’ve often wondered how Circus acts get started. Then I got married and had kids??? Now I know. He would lay on his back on the floor, and hold Rebekah up and out and have her ‘wrestle” him to the ground! And heaven forbid he even sat on the floor in those days... the child would come up and push him down and say pick me up daddy. They would then sit on his feet and he’d lift them up high into the air, then he would take their feet into his hands and hold them tight and then have them stand up while he would straighten his arms out as well as his legs, to get them really high in the air! He has gone on to include tossing them (Liam, I don’t know if he did this part with the other kids or not. I’m old and so are they and I don’t remember!) into the air and then catching them on their way back down! Yes, welcome to my circus! Way back all those years ago, I used to be worried about the baby, and would he catch the baby? Etc, etc... but he always did, and now... I don’t usually think about it, unless I can see a piece of furniture too close by, in case of a fall (which none of them have ever done in all the years!), but otherwise I don’t hardly notice and I certainly don’t freak out over it! We laugh, we take pic’s and the child giggling in delight, says, “again, again!”

I will post more, but for now...

**************HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*********************

It kinda makes your heart skip a beat...

I was trying to prepare a yummy birthday 'cake' for My lovely daughter for tomorrow, and while I was taking it out to put in the fridge in the garage... My little guy, who had said he wanted to go see Hannah, and I told him she was at school!, got the desk chair from the computer desk, unlocked the chain lock on the front door and went to find/get Hannah! YIKES!!!!!! I came back in the house from the garage, and realized my front door was open and Liam wasn't in the house!
I went outside looking for him and yelling, and I see him running back home on the sidewalk, with my across the street neighbor chasing along behind him!
She said she saw him from her window in her house, and came out to see what was going on with him. As he was walking down the street, she said she didn't' know whether to come get me or go after him first! I'm glad she went after him, because as it was, he made it out of my cul-de-sac, and around the corner, before she was able to catch up to him!!!
He said he wanted to get his sisters! We frequently go to the corner to meet them at the bus stop, but, oh my goodness gracious! Now I'm afraid to go to the bathroom! We may be getting another kind of lock!

LDS & Mormon Videos - Youtube: Glenn Beck and the LDS (Mormon) Church Video

LDS & Mormon Videos - Youtube: Glenn Beck and the LDS (Mormon) Church Video

Below is the link to the You Tube video of this talk.

What a Testimony!

LDS & Mormon Videos - Youtube: Glenn Beck and the LDS (Mormon) Church Video

A friend posted this on her blog and if you've got time (it is a long talk, and I got very involved watching/listening to this, this morning and didnt' get to some of the other things I should have been doing, but now I want to pass it along to you.

This is really worth listening to.

Pay it forward...

Pay it forward...
O.K. I probably do way too much of these type of things... I got this on a freind's blog and thought this sounded fun.This is how it works.....

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. BUT, in order for you to leave a comment on my blog, you have to post this on your blog first. (That means that sometime during this year you will send a gift to 3 people as well.) Get it? So, the first 3 people to comment on this post will be the lucky ones!

I have an awesome family!!! and Fabulous kids!!!!!

I've been busy the past little while.
Last week I began teaching a Naturally prepared Childbirth Class... it was sort of dropped (thrust) into my lap, if you will. The gal who was going to teach the class for my friend at her store, backed out sort of at the last moment. So, when my friend/store owner found out (realized) I was actually a certified Child Birth Educator, I was asked to teach. So, this is new and hard for me. I do alright one on one, with couples talking over their pregnancy and their birthing options, but I don't particularly like to stand in front of a group (for any reason), and teach them, and be 'the Authority' on things.
So last week I taught Childbirth classes, had Hannah's Surgery, and attended a birth. By the end of the week, I was readying myself for Bill to go on another trip TDY, to Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX, the onto Washington D.C. where he will be speaking to Congressmen. On Friday night the other mom I had due this month, contacted me to say they were planning to induce her on Monday morning (after she was there for cervical ripening over night).

Saturday, we had a very busy day... Sariah was doing a service fundraiser for the Beta Club at school. You bought tickets and then went to a pancake breakfast at Guthrie's. So off we went to that first thing. Then we attended New Beginnings for the Young Women at Church. After that we rushed the kids home so that we cod go back and take the kids to the primary activity day! On top of that we had some errands to run, and go on post, and then hit the commissary. We were able to make a deal with S. (Thanks S!) we dropped our kids and a few of hers at the church for the activity. Then she picked up the kids and brought them all back home.

Monday morning I dropped the little girls off to school on my way to the Hosp. for the birth, Bill got Liam up and ready and dropped him off at H's (thank you H for helping me out!), and then he was off on his trip.

The mom I was helping didn't deliver her baby till midnight, and I didn't arrive back home until 4:30 a.m. after waiting on mom to get out of recovery and helping her get BF'ing started, once she finally got to hold her baby...

The main reason for my post title today is that during all that time away from my family, and KNOWING dad wasn't even here, I knew that I was able to go about what I was doing with very little worry about my family at home. The kids all worked together and helped each other out and took care of what needed to be done. When I arrived home exhausted, I knew that someone had Liam and was helping with him - and didn't find out till later, that it had been a bad Liam night!

Liam occasionally has bad nights with his foot/feet/legs... He will wake up and cry out that his feet/foot hurts, and he needs some one to 'Rub' it, for him! So I do some foot massage. Or he wants you to rub it with, 'queem!' (cream), "I, need queem!" or, "I need some wotion!" or then sometimes he will get to the point with me that he will just need/want you to, "Hold it!" and he will reach out and find your hand and put his foot into your hand!

I can sometimes pinpoint that he had too much activity that day without wearing his 'hotdog' (orthotic) shoes... and so his feet are aching. Sometimes if I KNOW he's not had his shoes on his feet enough in a day, I will even dose him up with Tylenol before he gos to bed, and he will sleep much better. (sometimes he will complain of foot pain, in the evening before bedtime, that is a BIG clue). He however doesn't like the medicine most of the time. He doesn't care for the chewable tylenol usually (although occasionally we can convince him it is 'bubblegum' when it has that flavor...). Or we tell him the grape flavor liquid is 'grape juice'... bad I know in the big picture, but it works for us in the moment - sometimes. It is usually more successful when he is fully awake, than in the middle of the night when he is actually crying out in pain! The trick is knowing when he is going to be in pain and need something.

This can be a one time occurrence in a night, OR it can be the better part of the night. The girls said he woke up almost every hour on the hour, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, (at least those are the particular times I heard about) needing his foot rubbed or needing, "Queam!". They had to find the 'blue emu' muscle ache cream we use on his foot/feet, they had to run around and find the tylenol, and try to convince him to take it. They had a LONG night with him, and yet they were up and taking care of things, breakfast, and each other. When they went to bed, they didn't actually know if I would even be home or not... I did send them a message at midnight after the baby arrived to let them know I'd be home, so they would see it in the morning, when they got up.

In the morning when the alarm went off (after I'd had barely an hour of sleep) I woke up the little girls, then I laid back down on my bed, and Rebekah actually made pancakes for breakfast and they made sure everyone got out the door to school on time.

I ended last night and the end of two LONG days, with a trip to the store to buy supplies to make valentines (why do I continue to get magazines with cute idea's in them!?!?), and then Amanda and I took a trip out to Harvest/Toney to a friend (former doula client) who sews, (I just didn't have the wherewithal to manage this one this week), because Amanda brought home her new band uniform - dress- and needed it hemmed. it has a lot of fabric and it is a nice dress (considering), and I just didn't want to screw it up! I knew my friend sews, but didn't actually realize she sort of has a little tailoring business - in the middle of her 4 kids, and homeschooling, etc. She has made custom bridesmaid dresses (from scratch, no pattern).She is asking her husband a gorgeous tailored long dress coat - it is on the mannequin dress form thing. Wow It looks great! Anyway, so aside from making time to hem this dress that Amanda NEEDS, for a band competition thing on Thursday!!! My friend can certainly do the job, almost a no brainer! it is obnoxious fabric to me, and I just didn't want to screw with it.


Thank you, thank you, thank you, to my family for being AWESOME!!!!!!!

Hannah's 'Special' Bump!

When Hannah was born, the Midwife found a little bump on her right clavicle/collar bone during the newborn exam. We took her to see the pediatrician at the Army hosp. They took x-rays, all the pediatric staff came to 'see' and it, and yet no-one knew what it was. They sent us to a pediatric orthopedic Dr. he couldn't' figure anything out, so we have just 'watched' it over the years.

We had x-rays again a little bit before she turned two, and they thought it showed that there had been a 'break' in her clavicle, and they asked me all kinds of questions... "had it been a difficult delivery?" "was she a large baby?", etc. My response was no it was a very gentle nice home birth delivery. She was only 6 lbs 12 oz. at birth. The bump had ALREADY been present at birth, how could there have been a break - that had already caused calcification to be formed/grow on the bone AT birth.

We had hoped that it would stay the same, and as she grew it would become less and less noticeable. (you had to really look for it to 'see' it as a baby). As Hannah grew, so did her bump...

We had x-rays taken every couple of years to check it see if it looked like a problem. If we wanted to have it removed it would have been purely cosmetic surgery, and as such, not covered.

In the past year or so, it had become a problem for Hannah. It was now protruding enough that it was causing her difficulty. It would get bumped and it was tender. She couldn't carry her backpack on that shoulder as it would rub and put pressure on it. So, we got another referral to see the orthopedic Dr. here. He agreed that with it causing Hannah discomfort, we could remove it.

So, Yesterday, Hannah had her little surgical procedure to remove her bump. I will admit I was a bit nervous as she had to go under general anesthesia. Dad gave her a fathers blessing that all would go well. We dropped Liam off at K's and he even got to go on a field trip with the K sisters. He said he had lots of fun! (earlier in the week Liam had said the K was his Best Friend!). He cries whenever we drop him off anywhere, but he calms down pretty quickly, or so I'm told, and has a good time.

We spent more time sitting around 'waiting' for the surgery to get started than it took to do the actual procedure. That part went really quickly. While we waited dad read a book to Hannah . The Tales of Beadle the Bard. They took us back to her in recovery, and she was still 'out'. Then all of the sudden she came around. looked at us, but was most definitely unamused! Dad was trying to crack jokes and she did not find them funny. ;-) OR was just too out of it to bother to respond still.

When we finally left, it was abt. 1:00 pm. She was starving, as she had not been allowed to eat anything since the night before... I asked if they had anything that she could eat, like crackers or anything, they'd already given her apple juice. She was still hungry after that and she wanted waffles from IHOP. She was released around 1 pm, and off we went to IHOP after stopping off to get her prescription for pain reliever filled. Rebekah got out of class early, so we had her go pick up Liam, and be home for Marissa when she got off the bus, in case we weren't home yet.

We had also promised her she could get a stuffed animal/web-kins, so after eating we stopped at Hallmark. She picked a cute little Ground Hog. I thought that was good so that she would remember him from her surgery day and that it was near (2 days after) Ground Hogs Day. I thought she should call it Sergio, and call it Surg(e), for Surgery... No one liked my idea. ;-) After they took her I.V. out of her arm they wrapped it with this sticky wrap thing. They let her pick her color. Liam thought it was really cool, because it was Green (his favorite color), and it had a long neck (he's into his dinosaurs lately). The nurse told her that after she got home if she wanted to keep the wrap part for a while she could put it on a special doll or stuffed animal or something. So today Groundy the groundhog has a belt. ;-)

We stopped at target to buy some chocolate pudding to try to disguise the taste of the medicine, which she had already taken her first dose of at IHOP, after getting something in her stomach, and she had gagged and thought was horrible. Of course while we were at target, and while she was 'hurting' having just undergone surgery... we were suckered into buying all sorts of things. She got some new sweat pants for while she is laying around trying to be comfortable, and several snacks that were not-needed. Bill noticed that the swimsuits just came out and so instead of waiting till they had all been picked over and the season was upon us... (like we usually do), we went ahead and let her pick out a bathing suit for summer as well.

The Dr. didn't think that she would WANT a sling, as he said, most kids don't, but she felt like it gave her more stability to not move her arm around and cause herself pain, so we asked for a sling. The Surgery Center didn't know if they even had a small/child sized sling, but the nurse finally came up with one. She is under orders to do no throwing, pushing, pulling, running, jumping, for the next three weeks.

As for other events of the day, a mom that I'm working with had called to say she was at 6 cm when she went to her Dr's apt. earlier in the day. her dr. offered to induce her, for excessive dilation. She declined as she went through an induction with her first baby and it was a horrible experience for her. She wanted to go into labor on her own.

I was expecting to get a call soon (over the weekend at the latest), and so when I got home from picking up Marissa from Activity days, I was told she had called. I called her back and this was it. I got to her house just after 8 pm. we went to the hosp. shortly afterward, and she had a beautiful little baby girl at 10:30 p.m. I didn't get home till 2 am, though so I am kind of wiped out today...

I GUESS I can just plan that if we ever have a surgical procedure planned, someone is going to go into labor... it was a big day to be sure.