Inspiration

Well I really do love reading everyone's family blog and thought that maybe I should be creating some of these blog memories of my own. Things have been so busy lately that I have forgotten to update all of my blogs with the memories that we are sharing.

There have been a lot of things going on. Andrew started 2nd grade and loved it. Althea and Huxley are getting big and I can't believe that Huxley is almost eleven months old. It will be crazy to see how he grows up since he is such a little man.

I am preparing to go camping this weekend with the family and some good friends. It should be a good time to have other kids for my kiddos to play with while we were there. :)

Welcome to the World Huxley Tyler!!

Well I promise now to try and be better about things since my blog has take a backseat to my hectic and often crazy life. I am hoping to be able to work hard to promote things and hopefully get into a better position with my writing where I call more of the shots and have fewer problems than what has currently been happening.

I welcomed my third child just over a week ago into this world. Things were rough for him at first as Huxley Tyler was forced to undergo five spinal taps in order to get the needed spinal fluid and further there were a number of other things that were involved in his needs. He was having some difficulties in his breathing and they were unable to pinpoint things. He is doing great now but he still has some breathing difficulties at times. We just have to watch him close especially around large crowds of people and make sure that he is not passed around when we are in a group. They said that passing a baby is one of the most stressful things that you can put them through. It kind of sucks in some ways to have to tell family and friends that they can't hold your baby but in other ways it is kind of nice as I am able to hold him and when I don't want him passed around (I hate the pass the baby game!!) I have a real excuse instead of just looking like a psycho mom bitch!!

Althea is adjusting to her little brother well. She loves the baby and gives him kisses and cuddles all of the time. It is adorable to watch the two of them together. Andrew is doing well too, things have been rough after a vacation with this dad (the first time his dad ever took him anywhere) and he came home to where it was like taking a step back to a year prior. We had worked so hard to get him to start behaving and being the little boy that he used to be and then it was like a huge backtrack when he started behaving this way. He gets completely out of hand and out of control and most of the time it is just because he is having problems. However he is doing great in school and really enjoying so many other areas of life.

School is going okay. I am doing well in two of my classes which have been going great. One of my classes I had to drop as I am not good at science and math and it got to be too difficult for me. I guess I will have to find an easier lab science to take sometime down the road when I am able to do so. Things are going well in every other area of life. Writing is picking back up so I am able to at least start paying all of my bills next month and hopefully I can earn some extra income to be able to make enough money to buy some Christmas presents as well. I keep hoping to find a part time job as well. My goal is get a job at the YMCA but who knows if that will be possible. I really want to work in their child care room as I would not have to leave the kiddos and could enjoy my time with them while I was at work as well.

October 2009 Update

Wow!! It has been forever, not that I haven't wanted to update but really I just haven't found the time to do anything extra. Thanks to some much needed insomnia I am up, doing laundry and catching up on some writing. I thought that since I should be sleeping anyways that I would give myself a little bit of a treat and update my blogs. Things are finally coming together with my life. I am so happy and hoping that the baby will be born sometime in the next week...come on baby!! I am so ready to start feeling good, to be back on my medications so that I can think more clearly and to have a better time with things overall.

Let's see I'm not even sure where to begin...there is so much going on so I am just going to go through each person in my family and talk a bit about how things are going.

I guess I'll start with me. I am doing okay, lots of late term pregnancy issues so really ready to have this baby. I am now battleing the dreaded end of the pregnancy insomnia. I can't sleep at all...lol!! I am so ready to not have to sleep all of the time, to feel awake and to feel good and not be sick any longer. I am excited to meet our littlest man and to have my family complete. However there are so many projects around the house that I need to get done...plus I need to earn some big bucks somehow in order to be able to finish up buying some things that I really need. Right now there are so many things that I need to buy for the house and some things that I need to buy for the kiddos. My kiddos have never had to do without anything but now that I am staying home, writing in the freelance form and been so sick last month the money just isn't coming in like it will be after the baby is born but that still doesn't help with things as I do need to be able to earn some money and do better overall. I am also hoping that I can find a regular part time job after I have the baby. I am hoping that the YMCA here in town will hire me...this would be great as I want a Y membership but can't even think about being able to afford it right now!! Lol!!! I am committed to getting an actual work schedule together for myself as well. I need to be able to do this and to make more money especially since Andrew's dad is no longer paying child support. I don't know how he thinks that this is right and how he thinks that he can get away with this. He is able to live by himself, have vehicles, have a boat, have a Harley and still not pay for his child...it is past the point of riddiculousness and frankly I am pissed off. At $50 per week he actually is up to oweing me $1,119.80. I can't believe that he is behind this much. It has almost been 6 months since he has paid. What does he think that I am supposed to do? I need to get him new bedroom furnitture and he needs pjs right now but I am actually having to wait to buy him these things until we have a bit more extra cash. It sucks to see him actually do without things and to not be able to do anything about it but wait, never in my life have I been in this position and it makes me feel like shit. I guess I just need to get on top of my financial situation, settle how things are going and be able to work through things. I guess part of my insomnia could be excitement and the other part is probably nesting. For the past few weeks I have felt so bad that I didn't have any of the hospital bags packed (they're almost done now and will be in the car today!!) and I have a ton of laundry and other things that need to be done to make it easier on myself when I do have the baby and then after that it is just the upkeep of our home!! Plus today I get my stiches out of my cervix so baby could literally come anytime...I would be so ecstatic if he decided to make his presence tonight!!

Now to update on Shane. Some big work changes are going to make him even more busy than he has been. This means that he will have more oncall time and more time to be secondary oncall as well. Shane's been amazing with my pregnancy ending, spoiling me, cooking, cleaning and even giving me back rubs on a regular basis without him I don't know where I'd be...I'm guessing I'd be a hell of a lot more uncomfortable and grumpy than I already am.

On to Mr. Andrew. He has started 1st grade...I can't believe that he is that old and that big already!! He is in Mrs. Vogel's class and is loving it. He also has a nuumber of different things going on. There are so many things that are happening in his little life so this is really an exciting time. I am just trying to keep up, stay on top of things and be able to follow through with how things are going. He likes to read, do his homework and really had fun when he had a literacy bag (special bags that come home every few weeks for us to do activities together). He is now on swim team and that sure keeps us busy, swim team has practice Mon-Fri from 4:15/4:30-5:15/5:30, he goes Mon, Tues (when he's with his dad), Thurs and Fri. On Wed he starts going to the church program at the Methodist church. This will be good for him as he really enjoyed it a lot last year and it was something that entertained him which is always difficult. So it will probably equate to my working days being Tuesdays and Wednesdays as those will be days when it is easy for me to go to my mom's and not have to rush back to get him from school. I am going to talk to mom but back to Andrew....he also has swim lessons on Mon and Wed from 6:15-7. Then after swim team is over wrestling will start so we are looking into a busy year. Next year he wants to play soccer as well but I am not sure how that would work with swim team as I think that they are at the same time. I need to find a nice spring/summer activity that he can enjoy so that he is in one thing year round. Not sure that we will find any spring/summer stuff though to be completely honest. Today I am going to be headed to Dick's Sporting Goods after leaving my Md's office to get him a swim cap and some good goggles at least I am hoping that they will have some...I guess we will have to wait and see.

Miss Althea is doing great. Her vocabulary is expanding daily...she says so many things. I have been trying to list them all so that I don't forget her milestones here are the ones that she says or least attempts to say. Mommy, Momma, Daddy, Dada, Maw Maw (grandma), apple, cheese, yucky, hot, drink, baba, book, bite, potty, poopy, ball, baby, bubba (brother), AJ, hi, bye bye, pretty, Allie, uh-oh...I know that there are more but these are the main ones that I typically hear in a day!! She is beginging to put words together...the other day she dumped a box of cheese crackers and said uhoh cheese after she did it before giggleing. She is getting so tall and has the ongest legs ever. She has a wonderful and happy personality as well. She is constantly giggleing and laughing about everything especially when she is doing something that she knows that she is not supposed to do. It is so cute to watch her be honory and to know that her personality is developing in the process.

I guess that it looks like rain...it has just started thundering and the sound is actually quite comforting in a quiet house as I have been up for a while by myself...well duty calls my laundry just got done so I am off to go and switch loads!! Hoping that it goes quickly and that soon I will be able to update you all with news of a little one!

Oh and if you read this blog, please help me think of a 1 year daily blog that I can write about something that will get me some readers. I really want something that I can get my name out there (I am going to be working on a novel) and that way people will already know me. So right now I am looking for a one year blog that is an amazing idea and that will really get the readers going. I am thinking possibly my journey through weight loss after baby but if anyone has a suggestion then please please speak up and let me know what type of blog you would enjoy reading and what you would enjoy hearing about. Remember this next blog isn't going to be for personal satisfaction like my current blogs but rather it is going to be for readers and in hopes of one day being published.

Camping and Fun Times During Our Busy Summer!!

Things are crazy!! We are having a great time with this being the begining of the summer but there has already been a lot of busy times.

Here's what's happening in our world.

Well Memorial Day weekend we headed to Chillicothe IL and went to Summer Camp Festival. It was a good time and both of the kids enjoyed it a lot even though they both got pretty worn out.

Then the following weekend when we had Andrew (this past weekend) we ended up going to Elandorf Music Festival. We had another great weekend of fun and camping!!

There has also been a sign up at the library to get Andrew involved in the summer reading program and several trips to the pool. It has been such a good time!!

So, what do we have planned for the rest of the summer, well it's a gonna be a busy one for us!! We have some time off, then we have Phish in Apline Valley while Shane's mom stays with Althea and Andrew is at his dad's (a little alone time for the two of us)....several pool and library trips in between!!

July 9 and 10 we are going to Six Flags in St. Louis...staying overnight in the hotel and then headed to the park. July 18 is the kids birthday party for family, August 1 is Andrew's birthday party with his friends, July 15 is Althea's birthday and we are headed to the zoo and July 30 is Andrew's birthday with an evening trip to Cartsville and he also gets to go to with grandma and grandpa to a Cardinal's game that week on the 28th! Then there is his friends birthday party on August 1st (won't be too big as his friends from school never responded so there are just three little boys from his class and his one friend from Decatur if he can make it, I am emailing his momma early though so hopefully!!).

Also sometime we need to travel back to Kansas or Kansas City and that is happening either Sunday August 2-Sunday August 9 or Wednesday August 12-Wednesday August 19, with Phish in Chicago on August 11 and going to Chicago on Thursday August 20-Sunday August 23!

So we are going to have one hell of a start to August with school starting on the 24th!!

Busy busy busy months ahead!!

Wow!!

Things are going great!! Things are busy and crazy and things are going great with writing, just keeping busy working on so much! The freelancingi s really picking up and I am not even to the point of having to turn down jobs and I don't bid on anything through the two websites that I was bidding on jobs through. I have a ton of writing to do today and all in all a crazy day with the kids.

We are going this morning to deliver cookie dough to the wonderful people that I used to work with. Then we have to go and pick up Althea's pictures, next is sorting photographs and getting pictures ready for the family, then picking up Andrew for the dentist, somehow getting some writing done during all of this and then delivering the final cookie dough to the friends and family who are only home at night!! It is going to be one long and busy day and I am sure at the end of it I am going to be super tired, especially since I have articles, papers and blogs to write!! Wow!! So much going on and so little time to do it!

Baby #3 is Healthy and Cookin' In the Belly

So we got to see baby #3 on Wednesday and the little thing is cooking away in there. I was 11 weeks and 5 days which puts me just over 12 weeks now. I can't believe that with Althea only 9 months old that I am going to be doing it all over again. I feel like she deserved to get to be the baby a bit longer and I am determined to give her enough attention so that she does not feel resentment towards the new little one. I do not know what I am hoping for as for a boy or a girl there would be up sides to both but I do know that I want the baby to be healthy and smart and as beuatiful as the other two kids. I am just hoping for a bit smaller baby this time and that I don't get as huge as I did with the last two.

In preparation for this one I am working on eating healthy and getting my house in order as well as getting into a set routine for things. Things are going good overall with the pregnancy but I am sick as well, I throw up all of the time but other than that life is very good.

Well, here is an update on the family. My extended family is all well. We just had some close friends, Matt and Carmelle expereince the blessing of life with their beautiful daughter Olive. Shane is great, still lucky enough to work from home and even in the economy it seems that he has some job stability. He is great with the kids and I love him so much!! We definitly feel blessed for all that we have. Andrew is doing well. He read a book to me last night. He also has been being good for the most part, he is honory all of the time. Althea is doing well as well. She is talking quite a bit but only half of it is real words, she smiles all of the time and she climbs and stretches and is pulling herself up. Both kids are the light of my life.

Now on to me, well I am working from home as a writer now. I am doing good, making enough money and feel truly blessed to be staying home and spending all of the extra time with my beautiful family.

My Last Week is Proving to be Crazy!!

So it is my last week of work and I don't feel like I will ever have enough time to get everything finished like it needs to be done. I feel like I am simply put, going to go crazy in the process. I just have so much going on all around me and I have no idea how I am going to finish it all in time. The worst part for me is the whole documentation thing, well yep that is what I have let slide and I have like a million notes to type tomorrow as well as finish up all of the treatment plans and reviews that need to be done so I am going to spend my last week literally going crazy trying to get it all finished.

However it is my last week and my income from writing is going well. I do have three papers to complete tomorrow and 20 short articles so writing is taking off and busy busy busy but I know that I can get it all done and then that things will be going well overall. Not much else is happening, just hoping that I really do have time to get everything finished prior to my leaving.

There are some personal things that I need to get done too. Activity charts and charts for Andrew's bahavior all need to be completed as well so just more hecticness for me!! LOL! And I have to prepare and develop a chore chart. So we will see how it will all get done!!