and baby makes 6!

Remember the oldest children we have? The 11, 8 and 5 year old?
They stayed behind for A WEEK….OR MORE!
Bill and I are on our own with Mia.
The silence is deafening, but much welcome. We sooooo needed some quiet time.
Now come closer and I will tell you a secret………………….that’s it……………just a bit more…………………
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I [...]

Peek

a-boo

Then she gazed off at the never ending view

This is a photo story on how we spent Memorial weekend.
This was where we enjoyed our morning coffee

This was our view

And this

And this

This is the new house on the hill that is so amazing, words can not do it justice. Ceiling beams that are 150 years old, stained cement floors, [...]

I look forward to Thursdays. My husband gets off work at 4pm.

I feel like I am in high school, waiting for the bell to ring, anticipating seeing and brushing past him in the halls between classes.
Or watching the clock, eager for him to come pick me up for our first date.
I [...]

Because I am a baby shoe whore, I ordered Mia some more Pedoodles
They shipped out and were in my mailbox in 2 days….free shipping.
I bought her Frank the Fish in First Steps, Flower Power, Pink Runners, and Ruby Janes in the Next Step Collection (The Ruby Janes are to die for. [...]

Because Oshee asked, here is my life before kids. I trained Dolphins, Sea Lions and exotic birds. Photos curtosy of my Dad and fellow trainers.
Dolphins playing basketball

Fish jump….yes, that is me with a herring in my mouth.

Swimming with Connie.

Ring toss with Sammy the sea lion

Playing detective with Sam

Waving [...]

Crack me up! I did a Google search on Sea Arama and found this web site. I am in several of the pictures. LOL!! The faces were blurred to protect the innocent????
Go to Photos, and click on “Dolphins” (page 2, Dolphin Trainers pose with Hastings-I am the first one on [...]

Okay, recipe time. In an effort to help Bill’s Crestor be all that it can be, we are all about fish, chicken and pork (the other white meat) at our house these days.
Last night I made fish tacos, and they were incredible! I substituted Mahi Mahi for the fish and [...]

This is how my boys used to sleep.

In my mind, I will always remember them little like this, all curled up together.

I am beat. Do you mind some bullet points?
Bill finally allowed me to get him to a specialist for a second opinion. He had no choice. It was either go to the doctor, or die from the brain trauma that I was inflicting on him with my constant crying and pleading. [...]

I mentioned last week that my kids have a unique doctors kit. It is a combo of Bob the Builder tools and play doctors instruments.
Being from medical parents, my kids also have actual medical instruments to enhance their play. Included in this wide array of tools is a tenaculum, real reflex [...]

Driving home in the van after picking up Quinn from school:
Quinn: “Is Daddy home?”
Me: “He will be in a few minutes.”
Quinn: “I miss him when he is at work.”
Me: “I know. You really love him, huh?”
Quinn: “Yeah, I love him the most.”
Me: “Me too, honey.”
Quinn: [...]

Gimme a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there, hair!
Shoulder length, longer (hair!)
Here baby, there mama, Everywhere daddy daddy
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaair!
Flow it,

Show it,

Looooong as God can grow it,

My Hair!

My boys had a run in with a father armed with electric clippers. They lost.

Because I am still fatigued from my illness, and just too durn lazy, I am cutting and pasting something I wrote in an e-mail to a friend. Things are good.
“Bill went to a neurologist on Tuesday, and to make a long story short, it was a waste of time. He told Bill [...]

In the last 48 hours, I have:
~my husband is averse to second opinions.
~realized that 104 degrees is not just a temperature in Texas.
~when my daughter has a fever, she has a major appetite for breast milk
~My boobs can only tolerate so much
~mastitis is debilitating
~mastitis is not for the weak
~I am the weak
~I hallucinate with a [...]

Bill had a visit to the cardiologist on Thursday. He had an echocariogram, a stress test, and this morning a doppler of his carotid arteries……all of which where normal. Officially.
At this moment, he is seeing a neurologist. I was supposed to go to this appointment….instead, here I sit, with Mia in my [...]

“Yum, can I have some more spinach? This is really good!”
“Please pass the squash.”
“Mom, will you get me some tomatoes?”
“You didn’t make enough chicken.”
“Can I put some more basalmic vinegar on my spinach?”
Then the heavens opened wide, and a chorus of angels sang a never ending hymn of gladness. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh haaaaallelujah… haaaaallelujah…hallelujah, hallelujah, hallleeeeelu-jah”
And the [...]

7:00am
Me: How do you feel honey?”
Bill: “Buwa bu, na gee ni”.
9:00am
Call to Bill at office:
Me: “You feeling okay?”
Bill: “Well, I am not dead yet.”
11:00am
Me: “How are you feeling?”
Bill: “How are you feeling?”
12:30pm
Calling from the car
after picking up his MRI films in another town.
Me: “How are you feeling? I got your MRI [...]

I think I am officially depressed.
Yesterday was franitc and crazy. Today I just feel blah.
This morning I asked Bill if he was having any other symptoms, other than the tingling, and he replied “Just a very, very slight headache above my right eye”. I look at him and see a [...]

Warning: You will not be getting funny today from me. If you want funny, you must go here. Be sure and wear a Depends.
What I know that I didn’t know last night:
-the stroke is in the white matter of his brain
-my 48yo husband has 36% chance of having a major stroke [...]

It is not MS………………my husband had a stroke.
And I quote the radiologist:
“There is a subcentimeter lacunar infarct in the lateral posterior portion of the right centrum semiovale.”
I don’t know enough to elaborate on it. I had literally 2 minutes with my husband before he had to wisk one of the boys off to Cub [...]

If you think someone could possibly have a blocked artery, a bulging aneurysm, or MS, and to see such pathology one would need to do a CONTRAST (where they inject dye into the vein) MRI, do you think that MAYBE you might want to give the FLIPPIN’ patient the MOTHER FLOCKING DYE??????????????
That is [...]

Wishfully spoken
“maybe nothing”
Wish granted
Prayer answered.
Thank God. The last 24 hours have literally killed me. As you read, Bill approached me Monday and told me his symptoms and how concerned he was about them. He got right in that morning with Dr. R, and an MRI was ordered. The problem was that [...]

Weekend away
Aging mother
Sweet
Priceless
Return home
Husband greeting
Wonderful evening
Morning comes
Cappucino steaming
Across the table
Glasses off
Bomb dropped
Eyes locked
Sinking stomach
Soft touch
Symptoms given
Tingling skin
Hemiparesthesia
Face
Arm
Torso
Leg
Doctor visit
Waiting waiting
Phone ringing
Sweet voice
in my ear
Lunch time
Curled up
Mouse-like
Strong lap
So soft
More words
Aneurysm
Tumor
TIA
Multiple Sclerosis
Wishfully spoken
“maybe nothing”
We sit,
We wait
Freaking orders
To be given
MD
Not done.
How hard?
Mutter 3 letters
GET! IT! DONE!
I’ll shout them
MRI

It appears there will not have to be a drawing in the “Digging for Dollars in Poop” contest.
Jana is the only one who guessed correctly!!!
As much as I hate to disappoint Jodi, yes, I dug the money out of the poop, cleaned it and placed it in Bill’s change tray. What [...]

I would like to ask each of you to do something for me. It is simple and only good can come from it.
Tell your husband you love him, right now.
Call him on the phone, drive up to his office and have lunch with him, seek him out and specifically tell him how much he [...]