As Always

Kara enjoying the water on Spring Break
My baby and I on Vacation

Brandon and I at dinner

looking so sweet and innocent

Kara and her cousin Savannah on Easter Sunday.

As always it has been a while! I guess no news is good news, but with the busy life of 3 children I don't find time to get on the computer as much, honestly my online time is spent when Tim is driving and I'm online on my Blackjack! I'll try to update us all "quickly"

Tim--is officially a graduate, we are patiently waiting for him to finish up one last clinical tomorrow with Dr. Delaney in the ER and he will be taking his state exam in Rochester on June 18th (a special day for me, so I have no doubts that things will be fine for him). We received paperwork today in the mail and he is "good to go" with testing. Other than that he really doesn't have a life so there is not much to report.

Brandon--as of today with 14 days of school left Brandon has perfect attendance and is wicked proud and happy that he will be receiving a free yearbook this year (simple things...we love it) for having perfect attendance. He has had it 2 years in a row and is pretty proud of himself. About a month ago when all the kids were sick, Brandon, who is never sick, got a bad sinus infection, he dragged himself to school and said "Mom, I can't ruin it now, pick me up in 3 hours please..." He made it through the day, but we went to the doctor after! This, for Brandon is a huge change for when he was living with his biological mother he was missing on average 38 to 40 days of school a year! He is signed up for swimming lessons for the summer and is excited to get in our pool, he wants to beat Grampie for the first one to swim!

Tyler--""Sigh"" oh Tyler, I will continue to say this and dread for the next two that I believe that age 3 is worse than the terrible 2's. We have regressed in potty training and he currently wants nothing to do with it! He used to throw a fit when we would put diapers on him, now, he doesn't care, he won't pee on the potty (except for school) and will throw a down-right fit when we try to put him on. We haven't given up, we are just researching different approaches for Tyler. As far as regressing goes, he is also have a hard time lately with what I say "life in general" He seems to be "lost" that's the only way I can put it. He whines alot, he cries for no reason, screams and throws tantrums, it doesn't matter where we are. He can get spanked by either Tim or I and it doesn't seem to phase him. They have started seeing the behavior in school and have approached me on it. While having a conference with his Special Ed teacher the other day she mentioned the word "Bi-polar" and I almost lost it in tears. His teacher had no idea that his mother is severely bi-polar and has to be medicated because of it. Knowing it is hereditary, I immediately called the pediatrician for a referral to a child psychologist. I may be jumping the gun, but I need to get this under control in the next 3 months, because having another child with Tyler still acting this way will be extremely hard. I would love to go into length on what else Tyler does but I really would be typing until bedtime. For Tim to recognize it and actually come to me with concern means that we need to get to the bottom of it. It's extremely hard to deal with him at this age, with him not able to tell us what he saw while living at his mothers because he was so young and was subjected to alot while the older kids were shipped off. It's starting to show in more ways than one.

Kara--A person once told me that girls were harder to raise than boys and I laughed and said that is completely impossible because I am a girl, how hard can it be. I'm going to tell you this, Miss Kara is simply amazing. I'm not one to brag about my children, but then again, it's my blog and I'll do what I want...hehe...Kara amazes us everyday. Tim calls her "my clone" and I'm starting to believe him. Today I called her "mommy's little bitch" because honestly I can't come up with any other word for her attitude and personality. Growing up as the only child I was very friendly with people because I had no one other than my mother in the house to talk to. My mom often tells the story of my first plane ride and trip to Disney World. She read me books on how NOT to talk to strangers and the first stranger I saw, I talked to. Kara is completely the same. She will talk to anyone who will look at her, in fact, even if you don't look at her she will say HI to you until you say HI back. She is very independant, will do what you ask of her, this morning she was hungry so while I was cooking breakfast she went over to her chair and pounded on the seat until someone lifted her up. She constantly beats on Tyler and makes him cry and will not STOP until he cries. Her favorite words are No and Nahhh, everything...EVERYTHING is NO with a shake of the head. She gives the best hugs and kisses that I have ever had and she makes me melt every single day. She's almost too good that I'm worried about how this one will be. My expectations are that she will act the same as Kara but I'm worried that she will give me a run for my money. OH YEAH, DID I MENTION THAT I WAS HAVING A GIRL? We recently had to change babysitters last minute (long story) and we are waiting for our sitter to become state certified...Kara now cries every day when I have to leave her, and it breaks my heart, but it makes picking her up the best part of my day! She is my miracle and I'm absolutely in love with her.

Me--I am doing wonderful. I have the best family I could ask for and this pregnancy is going faster than I would like it to, but on the other hand, I'm ready to NOT be pregnant. I am enjoying all the movements and kicks, but I don't miss the tossing and turning and aches and pains. I don't remember being this uncomfortable with Kara so soon, but maybe I just forgot. I'm starting to "panic" about how things will go down when I go into the hospital (I've 25 weeks today...you are all thinking get a life right?) When I had Kara it was only Brandon living here so he was easy to just leave, now we have 3 to worry about where they are going and who will be taking them. Work is going well, I'm also ready to have the summer off and excited to spend time with the kids before this baby is born.

That's all that really has been going on with our life. Same ol' Same ol'...we are excited for all the fun summer stuff that will be happening on the weekends. Our weekends seemed to be booked for all of June and most of July! Also in July we will be having Grandma and Grandpa Salnorris coming from Florida (Tim's mom and step-dad) This will be the first time they have seen Kara and the first time since Tyler was a newborn. We are looking forward to it.

And finally, after asking Tim to make it public we have come up with a name for this baby and Tim has made me promise that I won't change it because he really likes it. Kara's baby sister's name will be:

ALEXA LOU THOMAS

Hope all is well with everyone and we hope everyone has a safe and healthy summer! xxoo from our family to yours!