Happy Birthday Heather!

So Sunday Feb 12 my little sister turned 30! To celebrate my older sister whom my younger sister lives with planned a big surprise party for her. I think most of the readers on this blog know our family and understand Heathers disabilities. In case your a reader that happened across this blog and don't know our family she is slightly mentally handicapped. Not real bad but enough that she can not live on her own or support herself and still has some very child like qualities about her. She's one of the sweetest people I know and she just LOVES her little nephew and niece.

So my older sister planned this party, both sisters and my dad and step mom live about 3hrs away from us and the rest of the family. So it was arranged that the whole Kansas City family would travel to Ashland MO for a big surprise party. Heather's favorite thing in the world is to bowl so the party was set to take place at a bowling ally. Then after a few hours of bowling it was back to Dad's house for the "party" part. So here's our adventure of taking the kids and partying with my family.

We set our alarm for 8:30 to get up and ready to leave, since we didn't have to be at the bowling ally to meet family till 2pm. Willa woke up at 7:30 so that gave me some extra time to feed her and get her things packed. One of the things I had to take into account was that she hadn't had a poopy diaper in over a week and I was just SURE she was going to have a massive dirty diaper on the way to or from Ashland MO and have a major blow out. So in the planning I packed several outfits and I put her in a sleeper for the travel and then packed her cute dress that I was going to have her in to change into when we got there. Around 8 Casey and Eli got up and ate breakfast while I finished packing things for the kids. Among LOTS of diapers and change of clothing for both kids I also packed sleepers for them to come home in. The plan was to go have fun and then at some point Sat night return home. So the thought was have them in their sleepers that way if they fall asleep in the car when we get home we could just lay them in bed. OR if we decided to just stay the night (was an option) we had night clothes for the kids as well.

Around 10am we hit the road, we had Casey's GPS with us so we could find the bowling ally. It was pretty uneventful, stopping to get gas along the way like we always do. Willa fell asleep pretty quick and Eli was coloring and playing with his stuffed monkey that he has gotten attached to and carries everywhere.
When we were about 20min away from our final destination I was trying to pass a 18 wheeler and sped up a little. The speed limit was 70 and I went up to 75, thats when I saw him..... A Cop! I zipped past him and then cringed as I was SURE he was going to come after me. He didn't, I breathed a sigh of relief and slowed back down. A couple miles later I spotted another cop! I was then worried that they were working together and that the first one was getting the speeds on cars and the 2nd was pulling people over. After all it would be hard to miss my car what with it being yellow and all. But thankfully that one didn't come after me either, between the 2 cars it hit me that I had let my wallet at home and I was driving without my license. OOPS! Thankfully I didn't get pulled over so no harm done and when we stopped we decided that Casey was going to do the rest of the driving.

So we make it to the bowling ally at about 1:15, the party wasn't supposed to start till 2 so no one else was there. I decided this was a good time to feed Willa in the car so she will be nice and happy for awhile. After feeding her we get the kids out of the car and head inside. Everyone else (except the birthday girl and older sister) had just gotten there. I took Eli into the bathroom to change his diaper then took Willa and changed her diaper and her dress. Still no poopy diaper so the fear of a blow out wasn't realized. I had brought this CUTE dress that was red and had little black dogs along the bottom of the skirt. Attached to the end of the skirt was this black trim with white polka dots and the shoulders had black ribbon with white polka dots. The rest of the dress was covered in black dots. Was TOOO CUTE! I topped it off with a large dark pink bow.

So I get done changing her and my Dad tells me that this bowling ally wasn't going to let us rent a couple of lanes like they had said over the phone when my sister was planning it. They had told her she could rent a few lanes and bowl for 2hrs but they wouldn't let her reserve ahead of time because they weren't going to use the "party" room. We get there and there is a tournament going on, now my sister had talked to them just 2 days before and they hadn't said anything about the tournament even though she had told them what date and time we were planning this. My dad also said they were very rude to him at the counter. So he called another bowling ally and they said to come on over and they would be happy to work with us. So we headed over to that place instead. It was in another town about 20miles away but it wasn't a big deal. When we get there the owner was really nice and told my dad we could have 3 lanes for our large group for 2 1/2hrs unlimited games in that time with shoe rental included. I think my dad said he charged $9 per person. What a deal!

During this whole time my older sister and the birthday girl were at a friends getting their hair done. The friend came with them to bowl afterwards. While waiting for them to show up my step mom handed out "Mickey Ears" headbands they had made. They were really cute, the theme of the party was Disney since in Nov both sisters had gone to Disney world and Heather had LOVED it. They decided on Mickey because she had wanted the Mickey ears hat (when told to choose whichever hat she wanted) and it was easier to plan then say a Princess party. So we all get a headband, Eli and Casey wouldn't leave theirs on but I put one on Willa and she just looked SOOOOO cute! Turns out the dress I had picked for her to wear (I didn't know about the Mickey theme) and the big hair bow made her look a little like Minnie mouse! Was so cute! Finally the birthday girl arrived and was so surprised! She had a huge grin on her face and she came rushing over and took Willa from me.

The birthday girl and her favorite niece! Willa has Micky ears too but its hard to see them.

 Finally we all go get our shoes and get the bowling going. We weren't sure how Eli would do with the bowling and such but figured since Dad had paid one big rate that he could bowl with us, I don't think they charged for Eli and Faith (4) because they didn't even have shoes that small and just told us to keep them in their shoes. They had a little ramp that you can set the ball on for them to roll down so it gets all the way down the lane without stopping (remember the good old days when they would have to walk down the lane and push a sluggish ball the rest of the way down?). Casey, Eli, Libby (10) and Justin (8) were on one lane and I was on another with my sisters and their friends. Since there were so many people there we decided to take Eli's little doggie back pack that has a leash on it so that he can walk around but not wander off on us. Worked like a charm and he didn't really notice it there except when Faith would try and "walk" him. Haha. Faith was on the lane on the other side of Casey and Eli so her and Eli spent a lot of time playing together. Eli loved bowling, he actually bowled through 2 1/2 games! He won the first game even on his lane! Casey would take him and the ramp up to the lane, Justin would bring a ball and set it at the top of the ramp then Eli would push the ball. He'd stand there and watch the ball till it got to the end and knock down some pins and then if it did knock some down he's yell "Yay!!!" and clap his hands. Was so cute!

Bowling is fun!

Attempting to pick up a spare.

Even Willa got in on the action of bowling once or twice.....

Really was more just for taking a picture!

Finally we were done and headed to my Dad's house. It was around 5pm and we were getting hungry.

At Dads house Heather opened her presents which we neglected to take any (we have stuff to give her too!) And seemed to really enjoy all her stuff. My older sister had made some cute Mickie decorations and such. After she opened her presents we all had dinner. Taco's is a good meal to fix for so many people and is a common meal at our big family gatherings. Eli and Faith played almost non stop all evening. Eli did very well of listening to Mommy about not getting into things that he shouldn't. Every now and then he'd need reminders but he did a good job for a toddler! Then it was cake time! After that everyone kinda sat around and visited for awhile. Finally around 10:30pm we decided we'd better head home, we decided it would be best to just go ahead and drive home because there were so many people staying the night at my Dad's and sisters and we didn't get the air mattress from my mother in law this time and didn't want to sleep on the floor. On the way home Willa started screaming almost right away and finally after an hour (I kept thinking she'd fall asleep) we pulled over and I nursed her for a bit. Snuggled her and then put her back in her car seat where she fell asleep. Eventually even Eli was asleep and it was a quiet ride home. Once we got home I fed Willa again, both kids were happy to see their beds and fell fast asleep. It was a good weekend, we had fun and the kids did a good job considering there was so much stimulation for them. All in all we have GREAT kids and I wouldn't change them for the world!

P.S I started typing this up last week but got busy getting ready for an upcoming bridal show that I'm going to have a booth in for my photography that I finally was able to finish it and post it.  :D

Casey's grandma

So its been a few days since I've posted, We've had the pleasure of having Casey be home all week due to no work. So we've been doing fun things all week like going to the park and stuff. But this week has also been a hard week on Casey's family.

Last Sunday, Casey's grandmother (Mimi) went into the hospital for low oxygen. She's been living for the past few months in a nursing home. When she arrived and they did the work up they began to suspect she had a hole in her heart. Now I'm going to pause here to state that what we've heard has been passed down and passed down and passed down again. SO some of the details well actually a lot of the details are very fuzzy.

At some point they did a scope by going through her thigh and up to her heart, I guess they also went in through her throat. Anyway, apparently when they did the scope through the thigh they nicked an artery and she was bleeding internally.  I think that was um Tues? I forgot the dates, anyway they were having to give her blood transfusions and she was still bleeding out faster then they could pump the blood in. At one point she coded on them, they were able to revive her. My mother in law was actually with her (her mom) at the time and said it was very scary. She started screaming for someone to help her mom and about 50 people rushed in and someone pushed her out of the room telling her she couldn't be in there. She said she thought Mimi was gone at that point. They were able to revive Mimi however at that time.

They finally went in and were able to fix the torn artery and stopped the bleeding, Mimi was in the ICU for a few days, just before she coded she had told Steph she wanted to see Willa 1 more time before she died. She had at this point only seen Willa once, but being as how she was in the ICU we couldn't take Willa to see her because they didn't want babies in the ICU. The following day my mother in law got a lawyer because of these infections Mimi has had on her legs. Apparently the nursing home had not taken care of these 2 injuries on Mimi's legs and now they were badly infected. The lawyer wanted photographs of the injuries that day to begin working on his case against the nursing home for neglect. So I took my camera equipment to the hospital and took pictures. Lets just say it wasn't very pretty looking. But those are separate from the um heart of the issue with Mimi which seems to be her heart.

When I was there Mimi looked terrible, I have never seen anyone so pale before, she looked like a talking dead person seriously. I took my toshiba thrive (tablet computer) and showed her pictures of Willa. Then took the pictures of her ankles and visited for a bit then left.

The next day she was moved out of ICU which we thought was a good sign, we took Willa and Eli to visit Mimi for a little while before going to my mother in laws for Dinner like we do every Fri. I had asked Stephie if she needed a break from Cooking and if so we could eat before coming to visit. She said no she wanted to cook dinner for us still. We visited with Stephie for a long time before coming home with 2 exhausted kiddo's.

So last night I was at the Grocery store getting things I needed for our weeks worth of dinners and had a question about one of the recipes I was using. I knew she would know so I called her to ask her, when she answered and I asked her how everything was going she told me that Mimi was being moved back to ICU and the Dr's have told everyone to gather and decide what to do for Mimi. I guess its not looking good, Mimi is in danger of coding at any time and the Dr's are recommending they NOT try to save her if she does code again. They said her quality of Life wasn't going to be good if she survived and that she is in a lot of pain and there is nothing they can do about it. They said each time she codes and they have to revive her it will just get worse and worse and harder on her body till eventually they wouldn't be able to bring her back. So it doesn't sound good at all.

Through all of this Mimi has insisted that she wants to live, she is scared to die. She wants them to do everything they can to keep her alive even if it means being on life support in a vegetative state. Which is so sad, when I was there and the subject of a Power of Attorney came up she was very insistent she did NOT want one and she wanted to LIVE... Every time the nurse came in she would insist to him that she wanted to live. We are praying for peace for her and her family as well as peace from all the pain she is in. So for now we wait and pray. If its her time we know its going to be a hard time for the family to go through.

Our week in review

Recently I started a bible study from Joyce Myer, its a year long devotional thing that I have really enjoyed reading. I read it on my toshiba thrive (have I mentioned how much I LOVE that thing?) often times early in the morning while Willa is nursing. Its our little quiet time before Eli wakes up, I have found that I have a more positive outlook on life since I've been trying to keep that as part of my routine. This week I have had kinda a rough week. Fri of last week Casey was diagnosed with Bronchitis (I suspected he had that) and he was down for the count for the whole weekend and even Mon and Tues. I've been surprised at how much he's actually laid around because he NEVER sits still.

While he's tried to help with the kids as much as he could I knew it was hard for him to. Regardless it made for a tiring week. But I was ever so thankful that while he was sick (and I have a sinus infection myself) the kids so far have not gotten sick which could have made this a very TOUGH week. God is good and sure knows our limits doesn't he? Which brings me back to my devotional time, I had read just a few days ago about complaining and I was convicted. It was timely because just as I would start to complain or even have complaining thoughts I was able to remember what I had just read in regards to that. It helped a lot and I think it kept me from getting overly stressed!

Finally as an end note to what I feel is a total random post, I am going to add a video. Sorry for the poor quality and lighting. Its just kind of a silly video. Anyway to explain, we like to recycle as much as possible. We recycle our pop cans separately because we can get money for it. Well our kitchen is full and we didn't have room for a small trashcan to put our used pop cans in so the trash can has been in the garage. We've just been tossing the cans down the few stairs into the garage from the kitchen and then when we go downstairs next time we pick them up off the floor and put them in the can. One day as I was going downstairs to do laundry and holding onto the handrail I had an idea. It seemed that the railing was just the right distance from the wall to create like a little chute for the pop cans. I made a mental note to try it next time I had to "toss" down a pop can and sure enough its perfect! So I moved the trashcan to just under the hand rail and then told Casey of my idea. Right away his face lit up and he started laughing. As he finished his can of pop he ran over to the garage door and tried it out himself. Right away I hear laughter and then "Thats cool!" Haha We're such nerds.

Every day is an adventure

This morning in my devotions (I read a series on my tablet) the author was talking about how its a sin to complain. Reading through it made me think about my life and how I need to work on not complaining. Now don't get me wrong I'm not a huge complainer. I just felt like I could do better, the author recommended at the end of the day reflecting and pondering on all your blessings as you fall asleep. Which I should try to do more of, maybe it will help me fall asleep easier?

So right away this morning I got a chance to think of the blessings I do have instead of complaining over a situation. Casey doesn't have any work today so we decided to take the chance and have him looked at by the Dr. He's been having trouble breathing when he lays down and wheezing. So its either his tonsils (which have always been HUGE) or he's sick (my thought on it) or something worse. I also have been battling what I believe to be a sinus infection. So we scheduled appointments for late this morning, we got the kids packed up and in the car and I turn the key........ Nothing, I'm like "Uh oh" as I turn the key again...... Nothing I look at Casey. He jumps from the car and tells me to pop the hood. So after looking at it and hooking it to a battery charger and getting a LITTLE juice we figure its just the battery. Which sounds about right because the last time I replaced it was in 2007 I think. So about time I guess!

So instead of complaining I right away thought how grateful I was that it happened while we were home and not out somewhere.... Especially with the kids. Or worse that just myself and the kids were out somewhere and it wouldn't start. I am thankful Casey was home and it can be addressed so quickly. Eli was sitting in the back seat of the car whining and saying "cold" LOL So we unloaded the kids and Casey is on his way to get a new battery as I type this. We were able to move the appointments to later in the afternoon so we'll still be able to be seen today still.

Now as I reflect on God's blessings I also ask that everyone be praying over Casey. If he needs to have his tonsils out its NOT a minor surgery for an adult. We have heard horror stories about adults having their tonsils out. His tonsils have always been huge... I mean like every time any Dr looks in his mouth they about fall over how big they are. They always ask if he has trouble breathing and normally he doesn't, they also always ask if he snores and the answer is YES! and actually its been getting worse at night. It used to just be when he was on his back but now its happening when he's on his side too which makes it hard for me to sleep as I can't just tell him to roll over. We have been told he will probably need at least 3wks off work for recovery from the surgery. Thankfully its a new year and he has 2wks of vacation. We're praying that if he does need to have them removed that he will recover quickly and maybe not need the 3wks off. Also pray for me and the kids, it will be hard on me to take care of the kids by myself completely for 3wks if he really can't do anything. We'll see though, I bet he won't be just laying around those 3wks.... I can almost promise you he won't be a good patient in that aspect.

My little sneak!

Lately Eli has had much fun playing hide and seek, I must say he's rather good at it too! I remember teaching younger siblings to play this game and how hard it was to teach them to stay still and be quiet. Not Eli! In fact I never even taught him to play the game he just started it on his own! In the living room his "hiding" place is behind the TV cabinet we have. If you've been to our house you know that its at an angle away from the wall near the front door. Normally we stash his play shopping cart there, but what he likes to do is move the cart out just enough for him to get in the corner and sit down. Then he pulls the cart up to himself and he's pretty much hidden. The only reason you can find him is because I happened to see him hiding there and he was not done getting into position before I found him. Which I wasn't trying to play the game I was just coming down the stairs with Willa at the time and saw him "hiding" from me.

Several times throughout the day I have "diaper changing time" where I take both kids up and change their diapers at the same time. I start with Willa, get her changed then lay her in her crib under her mobile and crank it up to keep her busy while I take Eli in his room and change his diaper before returning to Willa (just as the mobile winds down) and we all return downstairs. Eli is familiar with this routine and at the sound of me winding the mobile for Willa he sprints down the hall to his room. The other day he did this however instead of standing in the middle of the room giggling at me as I "chase" him when I get to the room he is nowhere to be found. I know he's in there "hiding" somewhere, I turn on the light and call out "Where's Eli???" Not a peep, fortunately for me I could see his little feet peeking out under the glider he was hiding behind. Again he was really still and VERY quiet... That is till I find him and pop around the chair and go "roarrr!!!" To which he squeals loudly and dashes out the other side giggling madly. Ah I love that little man!

Last week sometime I had awaken to hear him playing in his crib over the monitor. I got dressed and padded down the hallway to his room. Once I get to the door I hear everything is quiet, so weird because he was just moments before singing at the top of his lungs! I open the door and peek in, he's sound asleep again.... Or so I thought. No matter I was still going to get him up as it was time to get up anyway. First I turn on the light furthest from his crib and not as bright to "ease him into waking" if in fact he was truly asleep. Then I turn on the other light. I lean over his crib and say "Eli.... are you asleep??" Nothing, not even a tiny smile, not even faster breathing. I get a little louder and say "wake up!" Nothing, then I hear again without a smile and barely any movement his fake snoring. Just for a second then he stops and remains motionless. Wow this kid is good, so I say "Oh I guess your really still asleep... Ok then *fake yawn* I'm going back to bed.. Goodnight Eli" and I walk out of the room. I stand just outside the doorway till I hear giggling and him standing up in his bed. What a little sneak!

So today I hear him playing and singing as I'm feeding Willa. I'm almost done and then I go to get him. Now the only thing I can conclude is he hears me coming down the hall (there is a board that squeaks) and that's when he goes into his "I'm asleep" mode. Today tho it was even more elaborate. He had placed his blanket over his face, flared his arms and legs out and pretty much looked like he had just suffocated himself. I knew better as his "blanket" is a thin receiving blanket that he hugs not sleeps under. I turn on a light slowly and lean over his crib. I can barely see 1 eye peeking at me from around the edge of his blanket watching me and sparkling with mischief. I can't help myself I burst into laughter to which he giggles and rips the blanket off his face and smiles at me. Then quick as a flash rolls over on his tummy, tucks his blanket under him and fakes he is sleeping again. The little turkey! We're going to have to keep our eyes on him! I think he's going to be ornery!

New year and hopefully a new me

This time last year I had a great routine going, I was working out, eating right and dropping the weight like crazy. The massive amounts of snow we had that year helped as I was doing a lot of shoveling snow in addition to my work outs. Then I found out I was pregnant, then came the morning sickness and the fatigue.  I fell off the weight loss wagon and well now its time to get back to it!

So finally Willa is sleeping through the night, I'm not as fatigued as I was after she was born and its time to get back on that wagon. Last Mon I said the same thing too as I was excited about working out and losing weight again. Then Tues hit with no sleep and no energy. Then Weds hit with the mother in law coming over to play with the kids. Then before I know it the week is gone and I've only worked out once.  However I've started taking vitimens again and I really feel the energy creeping back up. I also have decided that as long as Willa is fed, diapered, warm, not in pain etc and she is just screaming because she has decided to stay awake all night because she slept all day its time I start wearing ear plugs to help me sleep. Eli doesn't seem to notice her crying and Casey doesn't either as long as he's already asleep when she starts in. I've also noticed that when I just plug my ears and not worry about it she stops crying in about 20-30min on her own and goes to sleep. Huh who would have thought? It was much easier with Eli because I wasn't  worried about him waking up another child in the house like I was with Willa but it seems that fear wasn't valid.

A little over a week ago Casey gave in to my pleading and allowed me to spend some of our Christmas money we got and get myself a Toshiba Thrive tablet. I've wanted something similar to the ipad but not the actual ipad because I feel they are over priced and over hyped (Sorry Jasmine, and my Dad and sister who LOVE apple products). Also Casey had a bad experiance with Apple or as we like to call it "Crapple"  years back and doesn't trust them. I researched the thrive and found it to be most like what I was looking for and we were able to catch it on sale. I have never been happier, I've had fun downloading apps to it and playing games on it. Its also allowed me to have something to do on the nights that I am stuck holding Willa for hours in that chair. Remember the comment I'd made in an earlier post about hating that carousel horse on the wall? No longer do I have to just stare at it. One of the first things I downloaded onto the thrive was an app called "Youvirsion" its a bible and daily devotional tool. There are tons (and I mean TONS) of different devotionals you can do on it ranging from a few days to a year. I picked one and have been loving the easy of being reminded daily and also the easy of reading it on the screen instead of fumbling with a book and a bible.

I've also found an app called Food Planner that I LOVE, I can plan our meals a week or more in advance for dinner. Eating out is a bad habit we have, its expensive and not good for our health. But there are days I don't know what to fix or don't "feel like it" and I hope this app will keep me on track. It allows me to know ahead of time what to plan for dinner and get rid of the "I don't feel like that, no not that, I don't know what to fix" mood. It also has a shopping list that you can customize and orginaze everything according to store and location of the store such as canned goods. Yesterday I took my Thrive with me when I went to price chopper and had I not been blind I would have done the shopping in record time. Seriously I kept missing what I was looking for. Haha Anyway, you can also import recipes from certain websites. I have started kinda using allrecipes.com anyway but this sparked me to do so even more. I was able to get idea's for dinner and recipes to help me make dinner. Then I just imported it from my recipe box on the website to the food program and add the ingredients to my shopping list and also allows me to pull up the recipe for cooking. Such a great app! I am excited to see if this really helps as much as I think it will!

So here's to a new me, and well a new family as we start trying to eat a little healthier... At least if nothing else but to cut out the eating out more.

Things I never would have though about saying...........

Just a few random things I never thought I would ever say to my children yet some how I managed to.

"Don't sit on your sisters head!"
"No, don't share that with your sister" Said while he was trying to share his poptart with her. Sweet of him yet she is to young to eat it. Although she did enjoy the tiny piece he managed to get in her mouth before I stopped him.
"Ok Mister, no more boogers on the top of your head. Ok?" Seriously, I don't know how that came about, at some point today while I was fixing lunch he managed to get a very sticky booger on top his head! Which was awful to try and get out of his hair! Ha
"Yay! Mommy went Pee pee!!!" Yes I know I'm a freak, clearly I was trying to show him how to go potty and trying to get him excited about it when he DOES go pee pee in the potty. Side note here, I could hear Casey downstairs laughing.

I know there are others, I just can't remember them all so I thought I'd put these ones down for now. All of these have been within the last week or so.