Busy Times

We have had a lot going on this month.

The thing that has kept us busiest has been soccer. David and Carissa each play on a team and Aaron is the coach of Carissa's team. We are at the field for practice three days a week and have games on Saturday, although, to this point the weather has been a little unfavorable and so each of the kids has only had one game.

We also bought our new van. Everything went through and here it is...

It is pretty much exactly what we were looking for in a van and so we're happy. We're also very thankful everything went through so that we could get it.

My sister and her family took a long road trip to Oklahoma for spring break. Since it's fairly close, they took some time and came down to visit us! Yeah! We went to the aquarium and taht night Aaron and I took their kids so they could have a little bit of the vacation to just the two of them. We had lots of fun and are very glad they could see us. Thanks, Cora and Jeff and we hope you come back!

On Monday I got a phone call that took a little guilt off of me for crashing the van. It turns out that on his way home from work Aaron had a little fender bender of his own in the truck. Not near as bad and covered by the insurance, but it still made me feel a little bit better.

Isaiah had his dentist appointment earlier this week. No cavities. Yeah! And David and Carissa seem to be racing to see who will lose the next tooth. They are both wiggling their respective loose teeth constantly.

Spring has come in Texas and we are enjoying the warm (80 +) weather as it comes and gritting our teeth for the thunderstorms and cold that come in between. I'm sure things will become more consistant in the weeks to come.

In the meantime, Aaron came up with an idea for the blog that I will go ahead and try in order to keep a little more up-to-date...A picture a day! So for the entire month of April I will have a new picture up each day. With little Joseph getting into everything it shouldn't be too hard. And who knows, maybe I will finally capture his mischievious, happy personality on film.

Handcrafted Items Anyone?

This is curtesy of my friend, Liz....And now I'm passing it on!

***Making handcrafted items is a dying art, but they are so fun to make & get! So, here's a little game to encourage the handcrafting to live & thrive!! The first 5 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a super-duper handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. So before you leave your comment here, write up (or copy & paste as I did!) a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Remember that only the first FIVE comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! But I will try my best to make sure you do.
2. It will be done this year (hopefully sooner than later).
3. You will have no clue what it is going to be. So who's in?

Dentist and Teeth

Well, we started a round of dentist visits lately. We have to spread it out because it really is hard to book everyone at once.

Anyway, Carissa went first. No cavities. Hooray! But, her teeth were being stained a little. The doctor wasn't sure if it was just poor brushing or something she was drinking. I told her to lay off the strawberry milk.

David and I went next. No cavities for David. Double hooray! They did comment on his overbite though and asked him if he sucked his thumb...He doesn't. Never has. But, he has been, shall we say, inventive lately. Anyway, he told them that yes he does suck his thumb. He even showed them which one and everything. They double checked with me because they thought it odd his palate didn't show signs of sucking and he didn't have a calous. I confirmed their suspicions and corrected his story. He just has a big overbite.

Another funny thing David said while we were there: They asked him how he got his red hair. He told them, "I was born with it."

As for me, I had one cavity. And they want me to get my wisdom teeth out. I'm putting it off as long as I can.

Isaiah and Aaron will go later on.

In the meantime, Carissa has lost another tooth. She lost it during centers and silly her, she held onto it the rest of the day and didn't even tell her teacher. She lost it sometime after lunch, so it was only a couple of hours, but I still found it funny.

Spring break is this week so we are trying to find things to do. I think we may get together with some friends tomorrow and my sister and her family are visiting for a day. They are coming down Friday morning and will leave Saturday. We're all very excited to see them. I thikn we're going to do something fun up in Dallas and so I'll take plenty of pictures.

A New Day, A New Car

Well, it seems like things fell into place on this one. We filled out the majority of the paperwork and got preliminary approval for the voucher and so we picked up our new van tonight. I'm glad I can use two doors again. I am also glad that the boys didn't break in the new car by throwing up in it.

Today was kind of crummy. I mentioned before that the boys have the flu. Well, today all four boys were pretty sick. David had a terrible cough so I kept him home. Isaiah still had a high fever and slept a lot. I had to give him a cocktail of Tylenol and Motrin. He still has a terrible cough and his throat is so red! Joseph seems mostly ok. Just a little tired at times and hyper at others. He's on antibiotics for the ear infection. Jacob had it nasty today. He started throwing up somewhere between 5 and 6 in the morning and continued off and on until 4 in the evening. He also had diarrhea pretty bad this morning. Carissa seems to be the only one unaffected of the kids, so I am figuring boys are just susceptible to it. After I picked her up from school we went to the chiropractor and all 5 of them fell asleep while I drove. I then drove tot the nearby town where David had soccer practice. They slept the whole way there. Too bad they don't take a nap every afternoon. It was nice and quiet. But, I guess it also proves how sick they are.

Back Home

Well, the D&C went just like it was supposed to. They all seemed surprised I had never had anasthesia before so didn't know if I reacted badly or not. I guess I must react pretty good.

They told me I was going to get a relaxing drug in my IV then we'd go to the operating room then they'd put a mask on my face and then they would give me the anasthesia in my IV. Well, I remember them putting the drug in my IV and being rolled out of the prep room, through the double doors, and the next thing I knew I was being woken in recovery.

Aaron said it took around 40 minutes from the time I left the room until the doctor came in to talk to him. I guess I lost more blood than normal, but no transfusion was needed. I took a little time in recovery and then the next thing we knew, we were signing discharge papers and out the door. They are very quick at this hospital. I was very pleased with that.

Now I am home and back to normal life. Other than taking many different medications for a couple of days. Yuck! About the most normal thing is I got to come home to sick kids. On the drive home our baby-sitter called and I guess Isaiah threw up all over his bed. I had taken him to the doctor first thing yesterday, before I went in, and he tested positive for the flu, so it's no surprise. I guess that's what the other boys must have as well. Just in a much more mild form. Joseph has an ear infection and a little wheezing. Jacob and David are just coughing pretty much. Only Isaiah has it the worst. He has a really high fever and when it is up, his breathing gets pretty rough and he has a bad cough. Luckily it is pretty controlled by medicine.

Well, I think that's it around here. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and hopefully we'll start having some fun and good news to post.

Life Goes On

Well, I think I have been busier in the last week than I have in a long time. I am so sick of doctors, tests, etc! I have also been on the phone a ton.

Anyway, in addition to all of that, we found the van we wanted. It really is pretty much exactly what we were looking for. Good mileage, the right year, 8 seats, and it was a really good deal. I found it online on Sunday night and went in Monday first thing to see if I could test drive it. Well, when I talked to the salesperson he found that it was under contract but had been sitting back, waiting, for about a week or two. The other party was trying to come up with a down payment. Well, I went home thinking we were out of luck, but knowing that he would try and find us another one just like it. He called later that night and told me the deal had fallen through and we could start the paperwork if we still wanted. So yesterday I filled out the financing information for the car and hopefully it will all go through ok.

After that I went to the hospital for all of the pre-op stuff. I was very impressed by the hospital. They got me in and out very quickly. I just wish I would have been there under happier circumstances.

My surgery (the D&C) is today. I'm a bit nervous, I will admit. Please keep us in your thoughts today.