Thank you to all of my friends and family that made my birthday so special! I had tons of messages on facebook, myspace and e-mails wishing me a happy birthday. It made me feel good that my friends and family remembered and took the time to send a note.
I had a long weekend filled with birthday activities. Thanks again everyone for making me feel so special on my birthday!!!
About a month ago Kelly and I went with Thomas to Snell's to take a tour. Kelly really wanted him to go there because she went there almost 26 years ago. She has a lot of fond memories there and ended up going to school with many of the kids that were in her preschool class and she was able to form some great friendships with the children. So, after taking the tour and Thomas asking over and over when he was going to go to school he finally started on Tuesday! 
He was a little nervous at first but he did a great job and is excited to go back on Thursday.
It amazes me how different Thomas and Noelle are. Thomas is ALL boy. Everything from sound effects when he's playing, his "make believe" games with good guys and bad guys, his love of sports, bugs, trucks, Army men, tools, and cars. Noelle on the other hand is ALL girl. She loves her babies, cooking, books, blankets, and bears. Don't get me wrong, she can play pretty hard and often times is the one sitting on top of Thomas, pulling on his clothes, and biting BUT 95% of the time she is caring and loving.
The other day I caught her lining up her babies like an assembly line, feeding, changing and putting them all to bed. All along she is talking to them and loving them. What makes this funny to me is she and Thomas have watched the same shows, were treated the same way and have grown up together but they act so different. Nobody taught Thomas to make truck noises, or sound effects while he is playing Army men, or how to find bugs in the dirt. Nobody told him about "good guys" and "bad guys". It just came natural. Just like nobody taught Noelle to rock her babies, feed them, cook food for them and bath them. Kids are amazing! I have loved watching Thomas and Noelle develop their own unique personality's.
When I was in college I took several child development classes and in my line of work I have watched little kids develop so I have learned all of the theories but actually seeing it develop over time with Thomas and Noelle has been an eye opening experience.
So, Noelle decided that she didn't think sleeping was an activity she wanted to participate in on Friday night. As many of you know, when Noelle doesn't sleep no one in the house sleeps. She has this really "cute" behavior of screaming bloody murder at night and she can do that for hours if she wants to. Friday night she decided to. I wasn't very happy about it. It was a really good thing that I didn't have anything planned yesterday because sleeping was on her agenda. Needless to say Saturday afternoon was very quite around my house because she took a five hour nap!!! It was fabulous and yes I took a pretty long nap myself.
The sign of a wonderful nap. Crazy hair. One of Noelle's other favorite things to do is, eat! So, when she woke up all she wanted was popcorn, which also is one of Auntie's favorite things. Perfect! So Noelle and I made some popcorn.
This is what happens when Noelle doesn't get to eat when she wants to.
No, I didn't let her eat the popcorn off the floor.
This is Noelle happy with her popcorn.
Note to self... Noelle doesn't like to share her food.
Since Kelly and Dave moved back to Stockton Thomas and Noelle had to start a new daycare. They have been going to Miss Laura's (Miss Loolla to Thomas) for a little over a year and they really enjoyed her and the other kids. They had their last day there last week. Noelle started on Wednesday and Miss Tammy said she had a good day. Miss Tammy has a cat and Noelle loves animals so that was a HUGE plus. I took her to McDonald's for her favorite french fries for dinner and she was pretty excited.
Thomas started on Thursday and I didn't get a picture of him because we had to rush to get ready in the morning. He starts Pre School this coming Tuesday so we will get pictures of him then.
Noelle loves to be in the bathroom while Kelly and I get ready and watching every move we make. Once in awhile she wants us to powder her face. She also loves lip gloss. So, one evening while Kelly was getting ready for work she decided to use Kelly's mascara as lip gloss. She managed to get it on her eyes, eyebrow, lips and tongue. Pretty Noelle.
I took Indy to the Vet on Tuesday for her check up. For the most part she is doing much much better. Her pads haven't healed as quickly as he would have liked but there is no sign of infection. He wants her to stay in the house for three more weeks because she still has some open sores that he doesn't want dirt to get into. She did gain 1 1/2 pounds in the 10 days she had been home. He recommended that I cut down on the treats until she is able to go out and get some exercise. It's been pretty easy to keep her inside because we have had a lot of rain this week however on Friday we had a break in the rain and the sun came out. After she cried at the door a couple of times I gave in and let her go play for awhile. After all she has been in the house for 14 days except to go to the bathroom. But look what a good dog she is...
She took a nice nap and kept her feet out of the dirt!
After Indy's long journey she managed to make it home with only a dislocated kneecap and infected paws. The vet was able to pop her knee into place and took all of the dead skin off her paws where it was tearing. He gave her a shot for the pain and an antibiotic one so I didn't have to give her pills twice a day for 10 days. I have to put neosporin on her paws for 10 days and keep socks on them. She can't go outside and can't walk on anything but carpet. This should be a lot of fun. I don't know how I'm going to keep the socks on her and how I will keep her from walking on only carpet but maybe the doggie Vicodin he gave me will help!!!
Regardless, I am just happy to have her home resting!! She has had a nice warm bath, a good meal and way to many treats and now she is snoring on the couch. It's great to have her back!!!!
My Mom's birthday was Friday (1/30) the day everyone was sick. My Aunt Paula and Scott came to spend the weekend with her. That was great because we all went to my Mom's house and relaxed and Aunt Paula and Kelly made a fabulous dinner for everyone.
That afternoon Noelle was playing with our dog, Taffy, that is 17 years old. Taffy doesn't really like to play but Noelle loves to play with her. Well Noelle played a little to much and Taffy bit her in the face. Taffy has never done that before and has always been very patient with the kids but not this time.
To start everything off I had been home sick with bronchitis and ear infections in both ears for a week. I didn't hardly have a voice and after 5 days on antibiotics I'm wasn't feeling much better. I knew that I needed to get back to work next week because I had been off work for a week already.
Then my Mom called Thursday night and said that she hurt her back really bad and needed a ride to the chiropractor on Friday morning. I wasn't feeling all that well so I picked her up and dropped her off. Went to Longs to get her some medication and then back to the Chiropractors office. She was still in extreme pain and needed to be seen again that afternoon. I went back home and tried taking a nap until...
Kelly called me that afternoon in tears because her eye hurt. She has had pink eye on and off for three weeks. Thomas had it the first week in January. I took him to see Kelly for about 10 minutes at work so she could see it and then the rest of the week he was with his Dad. So, Kelly was only around him for 10 minutes and only gave him a kiss and a hug goodbye and ended up with it!!! So had been given two different prescriptions for it and by Friday she couldn't open her eye. So I drove to Escalon and picked her up and got her back to Stockton just in time for her to get the last appointment with the nurse practitioner on Friday afternoon. The nurse was concerned and had the doctor come and look at her eye. Once again Kelly has ulcers on her cornea. The doctor gave her a different medication and did a referral for the specialist. By Saturday morning she was in more pain than she was in on Friday and so we ended up in the Emergency Room!!! Luckily we went to the hospital she works at and got in right away. We left with two more medications and she is to see the specialist this coming Wednesday.
I was tagged by Kelly! Usually I don’t do these things but since I am home sick I don’t have anything better to do. So, here we go.
Thomas turned 4 on January 20th (inauguration day). I really can't believe that he is 4! Time has really flown by. He is such a good boy! Don't get me wrong he definitely has his moments when he is completely stubborn but 95% he is a good boy.
We had a party at my Mom's house for him the Saturday before his birthday. He told Kelly he wanted a Spiderman cake so she got on the Internet and figured out how to make one. And those of you who know Kelly that is impressive (she has turned a new leaf though. She made my Mom and really nice blanket for Christmas and now a birthday cake, she is on a roll) .
Then on his birthday we went to John's Incredible Pizza for dinner and game playing. He had a blast! After we went back to my house to open his gifts and eat more cake. We got a wonderful Spiderman cake from Safeway with fresh strawberries.
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| Make a Smilebox scrapbook |
Last year when I was terribly sick a co-worker got me turned on to the Neti Pot. It is an amazing tool. Not only did the Neti Pot work miracles for me but it gave Christina, Kelsey and I some great laughs. Christina has some great blackmail pictures of me using it. Hopefully I don't ever get her angry enough to use them.
So, Kelly was sick a week ago and she used the Neti Pot. She didn't think it worked as well as I did but we got some great laughs and even better pictures.
and Yes I did tell Kelly the pictures were going to be posted on my blog. Christina don't get any ideas...
So, it feels like I haven't written in weeks. But there really hasn't been much going on. I did set a goal this year to post at least one entry on this a week. We will see how that goes.
So, on to this weeks... Friday night Noelle and I were hanging out. I decided to give her a bath early so we could play for awhile before she went to bed. She was in a really good mood so I was able to catch this video of her doing her sign language in the bath tube.
After her bath I realized that I had made 1/2 of a cake (the other part was used as Christmas cupcakes for my after Christmas work party) and I hadn't frosted it yet. I thought that would be a great project for Noelle and I. Here are a few pictures...
After she was done with her cake, I figured out that I did things a little backwards. Should have ate cake and then bathed....
I had a great Christmas and have a lot of cherished memories. It was especially fun this year because Thomas was really excited about Santa. We did a lot of fun activities with him all month long so by the time Christmas day came he was really excited. The look on his face when he saw all of his gifts from Santa was priceless.
Troy, Julie and Tyler came Christmas morning and stayed until Friday afternoon. It was especially fun with this being Tyler's first Christmas. I don't get to see Tyler as much as I would like so any time spent with him is precious.
As I talked about earlier in my blog I was able to decorate my house for Christmas this year and also made the season especially fun. It was nice to come home after work and see the Christmas tree lit up. I also had a great time listening to Christmas music while wrapping gifts.
Here are a few pictures from our family Christmas celebrations.
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| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
Noelle and I spent Christmas Eve together. We made a cake, put presents under the tree, sang Christmas carols (well I did) and Noelle put cookies out for Santa in her own special way. Take a look....
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| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
As many of you read (if you haven't read the "December 8th" entry then you should before reading this one) I had a difficult day on Monday. Like I said in the entry I knew by Tuesday I would be fine. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling energized and ready to take on the world. The rest of the week went well. Thursday we were finished contract negotiations at my work, thanks to a federal mediator. Friday I got to work from home and I finally was able to return all those phone calls that came in over the week that I hadn't had time to do earlier in the week.
Then early Saturday morning I received a phone call from one of the administrators (Jan) from a care home that one of my clients lives at saying that Ashley's water broke during the night and she was admitted to the hospital. She wasn't due until December 31st so it was pretty surprising to get the call. I had given Jan my personal cell phone number when I was out visiting Ashley a couple of weeks ago because I was going to be on vacation on the 31st and wanted to be able to go and Ashley while she was in the hospital. I told Jan to keep me posted and once Ashley had the baby to call me and I would come by and see her. I was getting kind of nervous Saturday evening when I still hadn't heard anything from Jan. Then around 8:00pm I received a phone call from the hospital saying that Ashley was alone and they needed me to come and sit with her until she had the baby. I was surprised to get the call but I was also concerned and worried that there was no way that I could go and sit in and help her. I would be an emotional wreak. I told the nurse to call Jan at the care home and ask her to have one of the staff at the home go and sit with Ashley. She said that was fine and would call me back if they needed further assistance. About 10 minutes later I received a call from Jan saying that they didn't have any extra staff at the home so she couldn't go and sit with Ashley and wanted to know what to do. Immediately I said that was fine and I would go and do it and call her once Ashley had the baby. After I hung up I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Not only was I watching Noelle, I had just put her to sleep, but I had just gotten over my emotional roller coaster. I sat and thought for a minute and called my Mom and asked if I could drop Noelle off while I went to the hospital. Of course she said yes. I packed Noelle a bag and myself a bag and off we went. I said a long prayer on the way asking that I would have the strength to help Ashley and be able to support her in the ways that she needed me to. I got to the hospital at about 9:00pm. I was lucky that she was at the hospital that Kelly works at and was able to park in the emergency lot and she walked me up to the floor where Ashley was. When I got to her room she had just thrown up and the nurse was helping her get cleaned up and cleaning her bed. Again I started thinking about how I was going to handle this and questioning whether I would be more a nuisance than a help. I was getting really nervous and I became a little teary eyed and then decided to say another prayer. I sat back relaxed and got myself together and then I sat and talked with Ashley for awhile. While talking to Ashely I had an amazing feeling come over me that I could handle this and everything would be fine. We had a long evening!! Ashley didn't really understand that she was having the baby that night and she really didn't understand how it was going to work. I tried explaining the best that I could but she wasn't understanding. She didn't want the nurse to help her with anything so I helped get her up to the bathroom, turning her and get her to drink the water that she really didn't want. We got about 2 hours of sleep. Then at 2:15am the nurse came in to check Ashley's progress and low and behold she was very very close. She started to prepare the room and I asked if she was going to give Ashley any pain medication. The nurse said she didn't think Ashley needed anything. She had gotten a shot of Demerol at 9:45 and that was all she thought she needed. I didn't think that was cool but what do I know? So Ashley started pushing at 2:40am and at 2:50am a beautiful baby boy was born.
It was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed. Ashley asked that I hold the baby because she was scared so as soon as the cut the cord they handed him to me. I thought at that point I was going to loose it but I didn't. I was very strong and new that I needed to be strong for Ashley. While the baby was getting cleaned up, I sat and talked with Ashley and explained to her what they were doing and what would happen next. Then I got to go with the nurse to take baby Justin to the nursery to get a quick bath and all the other things that they do to the new baby's.
I am a strong believer that God never gives you anything that you can't handle and this made me more of a believer. I never would have ever thought that I would be able to witness this kind of miracle and not become an emotional mess but I did and I got to help and I was just fine!!! I am so proud of Ashley. She did an amazing job. Not once while I was there did she cry, scream, or get upset. She did what nurses and I asked her to do and she was amazing.
Once again I have been blessed. I was able to go and help someone that needed me, and I was able to witness the miracle of childbirth. WOW, this was an amazing week filled with sadness and JOY!!!
**for confidentiality reasons I changed all the names of the people involved**
