Wrapping up week 3

T is wrapping up week 3, only 49 more to go. (I will write a separate blog about that though.) So while T has been off working 16+ hr days including weekends, what have the kids and I been up to?
We have been attempting to finish things around the house. Moving in takes far more time than one can imagine especially when you have kids. We finally got all the boxes unpacked and now we are working on the final details of organization around here.
I went on my first venture up to A (about 80 miles one way) for J's Ped Rhum appt by myself. It was a success if I do say so myself. I was there on time and everyone behaved themselves, for the most part. J is doing awesome btw.
I tried to go the art museum with the kids but that did not turn out as successful. I thought it was an event catered to kids but turns out I was wrong and we ended up leaving. It could have been better but could have been a whole lot worse too. I do think a lesson was learned by all which is an important thing too. The whole way home (20+ mins) the kids didn't say ONE word. When we came in our development I drove right by our house. The kids then asked where we were going. I told them I would take them to the park because that fits our family better, then we discussed the appropriate behavior that is expected of them. Life goes on, live and learn.
Since the art museum didn't quite pan out we set up a park play time with some other military families that the moms are home with the kids while the dads are off being doctors. It was nice to meet and visit with some new women that are in my similar position and the kids got to play with some other kids on a new fun playground. E was super excited because he did the monkey bars all by himself for the first time and N was tickled pink since she mastered the fire pole on her own! Win, win, win.
Other than that we have been staying busy with our day to day routines; nothing too eventful.

a little different down here

We moved to TX the end of May so we have been here about 6 weeks or so. There have been a few things that are a little different that I have noticed verses the upper Midwest.

>The grocery store closest to us is an H.E.B. Plus. This may mean nothing unless you are a true Texan. This place has a huge variety of everything including but not limited to… electronics, toys, housewares, grilling and outdoor, party supplies, clothing, fresh sushi, butcher, organic/natural items, jewelry, floral shop, bakery, and much more. The first time we went in here we just walked around and looked at everything in the grocery store for well over an hour! And to keep our kids entertained long enough to be able to do that says something. = )

>I know that coming from ER, GF, and B doesn’t count as coming from a ‘city’ so moving to SA was truly a wake-up call in regards to traffic and city life. There are so many interstates, highways, and access roads it is enough to drive you mad (no pun intended, hahaha). I have truly become dependent upon my google map app on my phone to get me from point A to point B. The city is essentially set up like a wheel with a loop running around the central area of the city then another around the outer city. Then there are several that run right through the city. So traffic is alright if you know how to navigate 1604, 410, 35, 37, 10, 90, 87, & 281 just to name a few.  In addition to the roads there are also 3 military branches that have recently merged to add to the confusion.

>I had the privilege of experiencing a few substantial rainstorms but a few days ago we had a thunderstorm. And HOLY SMOKES. I heard the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my LIFE. The kids were running around the yard with their swimsuits on enjoying the rain while H and I were on the porch. The thunder was so loud and so long poor little H probably should have had ear protection on.  I can’t even describe how loud it was. It was unreal.

>The customer service down here is also unreal. When we go shopping (anywhere… Target, WalMart, H.E.B., CVS, Walgreens, etc, etc) associates are always asking if they can help or how our day is going or they stop and chat with the kids. In ND or MN I never had such amazing customer service. The people working down here actually like their jobs! Weird right?! 

>Last but certainly not least, people seem to enjoy seeing our family out and about. Now I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion but our family is what it is and we would not have it any other way. But let’s be honest. We have a big family and it is not very often that a couple in their early 30s have six kids. It is almost unheard of. Naturally there are always the nay-sayers and debbie-downers but we have not come across any down here (yet). Up north I would frequently get rude comments from complete strangers about my family size but down here we have got nothing but compliments.

Relandscaping

We had a new backyard put in with fresh sod. It looks beautiful. Someone (no kid will admit to who it was) decided they wanted to modify the landscaping. Rest assured we did correct their modification but I had to snap a quick pic first. = )

The Move

We moved from B to SA, only about 1500 miles away! We are now a military family. Our first military move was a mess, to say the least. First it was a mess just getting the paper work set up for movers to come and pack our things. We (and by that I mean T) had to call several different offices (in multiple states) to get put on a list serve for a company to 'pick-up' our move. Then when we finally did get 'picked-up' we were told they would pack our stuff in one day, load the next, and our things would be on their way to SA. Well after SIX days of them packing half of our things, it was on its way. We filled the portion of the semi reserved for us with our household items so all our garage items and some overflow from the house had to go into storage in B for an undetermined amount of time. Then our stuff that was on its way had one of the axels on the truck catch fire. Luckily there were not too many of our items damaged but this caused a time delay of 10-12 days! As a mommy I can assure you it is not easy to take care of your family of 8 without most of your 'gadgets' including pots and pans. We were without most things for over 3 weeks total! Anyways, we finally got our house things on a Sunday, part of our garage things Tuesday, and the last of our garage things on Friday. I don't want to sound materialistic but boy was I happy to have my things back. It is so much easier to feed the kids with a dining table and chairs. And bedtime is so much easier when the kids have their beds. = ) I would love to say that we are fully organized down here but we are not. When we lived in B we had a nice apartment that was close to 1500 sq ft. and now we are in a house that is close to 2700 sq ft. It is so nice to be able to spread out but this makes unpacking slow and difficult as toys and furniture are redistributed to different rooms in our house. I will have to write a separate post about our new home.

We are Back!!!

Well... it has been 3 years!!! I can hardly believe it has been so long since my last post. I guess life just got a hold of me and took me away. We have had so many life changes in the last 3 years. I will try to highlight the big ones...
*We moved from GF to B so T could complete his last 2 years of Medical school in May of '12.
*We were blessed with K in June of  '12.
*J was diagnosed with Systemic JIA in Aug of '13.
*We got to add H to our family in Feb of '14.
*T graduated Medical School in May of "14.
*We moved to Texas the end of May too!

My goal is to try and write one post a week. It may not be the most eventful but since we are so far removed from family and friends this will help us feel closer. I must warn you there will be lots of kid stories and events as my life revolves around them and everything I do my kids do too. (And I won't have it any other way!!)

school wrap-up

Tomorrow is J's last day of prekindergarten at her school. She has been going the last four weeks M-F, 8-12. She absolutely LOVES school. We are so happy that she enjoys it.
They have been doing all sorts of Kindergarten activities and learning new things:
writing all the letters of the alphabet (upper and lower case), numbers, names, & short sentences,
working in small groups,
Math games and puzzles,
art work, cutting, gluing (she enjoys gluing a lot),
playing on the playground, running around in the gym,
calendar time with weather, days of the week, & months of the year,
She has even met some new friends: her boyfriend B and her girlfriend Z! It is super cute to listen to her talk about her boyfriend B. Although I get that inner giggle inside I do realize it is a friend who happens to be a boy. And last but not least the icing on the cake... The kids are walking to the U.P. water park on Friday. They even get to wear their swimsuits to school! J thinks that is the coolest thing ever.

Where did May GO?

Phew! I don't know where the month of May went?! We were waiting and waiting for it to come and now it is almost over. Lots of things have happened in the B house in May. Here is a little recap (not in any particular order):

*Little O was baptized! We had a few family members come to town and celebrate with us. It was PERFECT. We enjoy having them visit and the kids LOVE having extra people to play with, esp. their Auntie A who is only a couple years older than J.
*J and E are riding bikes (with training wheels) like pros! J was doing a great job but E was ever so frustrating. Now he is getting it and can almost keep up with J.
*J started her physical therapy once a week and is working on getting her muscles stronger! She loves going to see her 'teacher' as she calls her. I think she really enjoys the extended one-on-one attention which is hard to come by in our home sometimes.
*N is getting more and more hair! She doesn't have quite enough to put in a full ponytail but my hope is that someday she will! Our kids tended not to have a whole lot of hair until they were 2 1/2 or 3. YIKES!
*O is rollin' all over the place. It started a month or so ago. He was rolling back to tummy and now he can go about 6 feet from his original place. It is crucial now that we watch where we are walking since you never know where he could be even though he is not crawling, yet.
*T passed his first year of medical school! We were super excited and nervous at the same time. I know that he is very intelligent and there is not a doubt in my mind that he will pass, but he seems to doubt himself. This block in particular was neuro-based (which apparently is difficult) and he took a night class that used a lot of his time that could have been spent studying. But long story short... HE PASSED and is a second year student now.
*E continues to try our patience every. single. day. We just don't get it. He simply fights and argues about everything. Even something fun like going outside to play. It is so frustrating sometimes.
*J is even more of a rock star at her letters. We are focusing now on upper- and lower-case letters, she still gets a little confused with when to use each appropriately.
*N is talking more and more everyday. She still does not speak in full sentences yet but she is able to communicate to us what she wants/ thinks. She is going to be one of the firecrackers in the family. She appears to be very expressive and opinionated even at her young age.
*O is a happy little guy who loves just watching what is going on. He can be on the floor or in his saucer for quite a while as long as he is able to see his big sisters and brother. Every now and then they will pop over to shake his hand, give him a toy, sing to him, or just talk to him and he gets so excited. He just screams and laughs. It is so nice (as a parent) to see the kids getting along and having so much fun together.
*Doctor time. I took a home-video of this since it is played so often I thought the kids may like to see it when they are older. J, E, & N all play that they are the doctors and O is the patient. He is a perfect little patient. He just lays their in all his glory while the three big kids ohhh and ahhh over him. He just eats it up. They check his ears, listen to his heart, give him shots, check his mouth (esp. since he has TWO new teeth!), and check his blood pressure. He is in good health just in case you were wondering.

Well I am sure you are slightly bored by now but that is about 1/3 of our month. Hopefully next month I will be better at updating. = )

LONG day

Today was a trying day. We did not really have anything too important going on but the kids seemed to have a different idea of how things were going to be done, well E anyway. We went to Target this morning to get a couple odds and ends which ended by having to physically hold E in the cart and pay with one hand. Then we made it home and things were alright.

This afternoon J had an appointment and I took the boys with so T could study. (N stayed home and napped.) About 3 minutes into J’s appointment E started to misbehave. He did not want to be quiet, was grabbing toys, and playing with everything he could. He ended up getting away from me and jumped into a pit of balls. I was unable to get him out because he kept being just out of my reach. I finally grabbed his arm and picked him up. Thank goodness I brought the double stroller with me! I was able to buckle him in there and leave with him; after a battle and him head-butting me of course. J did amazing working with the specialist and enjoyed having an adult all to herself. = )

I took the boys for a 20-30 minute walk and then went back to check on J. She was done with her PT evaluation and ready to start her OT evaluation. E once again wanted to play with all the fun exciting things so we had to leave. This time we went out to the van and I fed O while E played with some of the toys. I was just about ready to go back inside when E informed me that he needed to poop. Oh great! I got everything set so we could go back inside: stroller out, O in his carseat, E’s sweatshirt back on, E in stroller, van locked, and we were off. Unfortunately, I was not fast enough and he had a minor accident. Of course I did not have the communal diaper bag with me I just had O’s diaper bag. So E had to wear a diaper home that was just a tad too small.

We made it back in perfect timing and J was just getting done. It turns out that she is a little behind her peers as far as gross motor skills are concerned (jumping, hopping, skipping, etc.) but her fine motor skills (writing, drawing, cutting, etc.) are a little ahead of her peers. The PT thought it would be a good idea for J to have therapy once a week all summer so when she starts school in the fall she won’t be too far behind. She does not think the classroom will be a problem but J may have a tough time in gym. The OT does not see a need for any therapy since she is a tad advanced for her age. *Bragging moment*: certain areas she is at a seven-year-old level!

I think J will have fun and enjoy this time. She does need to work on some of those skills and get a little stronger. She is just so petite and fragile.

I had been keeping T up to date via texting while I was there and on the way home he sent me a lovely text; wondering where we were and making sure I did not have a nervous breakdown. He is a funny one. After we got home we had a little snack, O went to sleep, and I took the three big kids outside to play for almost an hour. J is a rock star at biking (with training wheels!) and E was horrible at first but I think he is coming around. : / I don’t know if he didn’t understand or just didn’t care but E was so frustrating a few weeks ago when we got the bikes out. Now he seems to be on the right track though. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed!

P90X Update

P90X seems to be going alright as of now! We have 2 weeks down and 11 to go. We are not very far into the program but I can already tell a difference. When we started the program there were exercises that I could not even imagine doing and I thought to myself: *Are you kidding me? I will never be able to do this/that!* I can proudly say that I am able to do most of those exercises now! I may not be able to do as many reps as the people on the DVDs but I can do some of them now. I have also noticed that I have more stamina. I probably should not even admit this but… I had a hard time doing jumping jacks for 30 seconds straight (try it and see if you can do it!) but in just 2 weeks I am now able to go for close to a minute. I am not trying to sell anyone on the product I am just stating my personal opinion. I have not noticed a drop in my weight or in inches anywhere on my body yet but I have hope that it will come later down the line. All in good time, right?! They also have good variety within the program. I have tried other exercise videos and they get so boring after a week or so but these make me want to do them every night!

One of the drawbacks that we did find is that you need to be dedicated both with time and finances. The time issue is alright for me because I work out at night after the kids all go to bed at 8ish. But for T he has had to do homework late one or two nights so he had to make up his workouts. The program itself is not that expensive (around $140) but we found after buying the program that there were a lot of things that we needed to buy in order to get better results. For example, they (P90X) said you could use weight lifting bands or dumbbells. We got the bands -because they were cheaper- and found that the dumbbells are actually better and you get more out of your workout. So we got some of those. Next we needed a push-up/ pull-up/ chin-up bar, whichever you would like to call it, but we only need to use it during one DVD (so far). Not to mention the need for: yoga blocks, yoga mats, heart rate monitors, & good shoes. We decided, actually I decided, that we are not going to get crazy about the food aspect of the program. P90X sends a brochure/book about what types of foods to eat, how much of each food group, recipes, and meal choices. I just don’t feel that it is realistic for us to use their food program.

1)The kids would not eat half of the meals so I would have to make extra meals for them.
2) The recipes call for food items that we don’t typically have on hand.
3) TIME. I just don’t know where I would get the extra time to measure everything meticulously to keep track of calories, number of servings for each food group, the size of each serving, etc.
I know that we may not get the best results that we could possibly get because of the diet aspect but we are making a conscience effort to watch what, how much, and when we eat.

*And my absolute FAVORITE part about P90X is that T and I are able to do it together! I know that sounds sappy but it is fun to do something together without the kids (don’t get me wrong I love my kidsies), but it is like a date every night. = )

Happy 2nd Birthday N!

Today is another special day in the B home. TWO years ago today I had the privilege of bringing my second daughter into this world. It is hard to believe she is 2 already! I could write a post about how fast time goes but I am sure you all know just as well as I do! So… April 7^th, 2009 went a little like this:

We were scheduled to be induced that morning so I called Labor and Delivery at 6am and we were told to arrive at 7 or so. Woohoo they were not full so we were good to go. I made a quick phone call to our neighbors (the Js who just so happen to have had a baby 2 months prior so mommy E was home on maternity leave) to let them know the induction was a go. They were kind enough to watch/ take care of J and E while we were at the hospital. We got all our things ready, gave the kids kisses, and were off.

Once we arrived at the hospital we checked in and I got all hooked up. They started Pitocin and we were expecting things to progress quickly. We were wrong! After about 3 hours of Pitocin they finally called the doctor in because N ‘s head was so high they could not break my water (for fear that the cord would slip down before her head and cut off the life supply to her). My doctor finally broke my water around 11 and once again we expected things to pick up. I was contracting and labor felt like it was progressing but her head was not low enough to work on dilating the cervix. Eventually I dilated to 9.5 cm and we were ready to go. This is where her story gets good.

I pushed a few times (15 minutes or so) and her head was almost out and then panic set in. My doctor (who has 30+ years of medical experience was almost *sleeping* [old hat for him]) jumped off his chair, the nurse who was assisting me jumped on top of me and ripped the emergency cord out of the wall. My delivery room was FLOODED with medical personnel. Once N was born she was moved to the other side of the room and surrounded by nurses. My doctor was trying to get me to stop bleeding (sorry if that is TMI) while keeping a close eye on N. I vaguely recall him asking if the baby was moving. I was so out of it I just kept asking if the baby was a boy or girl? (We did not find out ahead of time!) And then I told T to go and take pictures! (Typical mommy I guess) He said he was going to stay out of the way. I got a couple shots in my leg and finally was able to sit up.  And eventually see my baby GIRL from a distance.

I did not get to hold her or even get a good look at her before they rushed her off to the NICU. That was a scary moment for me because I had no idea what was going on! I was finally able to see her at about 9:30 or 10 that night when I hobbled down to the NICU so I could at least touch her on the day she was born.

So what went on during my state of absentmindedness? Over the course of time I learned what actually happened… N had SEVERE shoulder dystocia (Her shoulders were too big to come out). Our doctor had to make a split second decision: break her clavicle and have her born right now or push her back in and perform an emergency C-section within minutes. I guess that is what happens when the baby weighs 9lbs. 11ozs.! N was in the NICU for about 24 hours and then we came home the next day. After doing a bunch of research, after the fact and now that T is in medical school, we have learned more details that I am glad we did not know at the time. This could have been very dangerous and possibly deadly for N and/or myself. I guess that is one of the many reasons I went back to my OB doctor. He is fantastic!

So that is the condensed version of how ‘little’ N came into this world.