Aches and Pains and Recliners, OH MY

it's started...literally a pain in my ass! This baby is way more active than Kara ever was. I can be doing something when all of a sudden a jolt hits me like a ton of bricks, it scares me. I've gotten to the point where I dread going to bed, in fact I cried when we went upstairs to bed last night because I can't sleep, I can't get comfortable in bed and when I do I have to roll over or get up to pee. My siatic nerve is pinched to the point it crams up on me and I can't move. The other night while Tim was working I actually came downstairs and slept in the recliner, even though I got up 3 times during the night to pee and check on the kids upstairs, I slept, but really don't want to make it a habit.

I don't know if it's because I'm on vacation and I'm trying to stay busy, but I have cleaned (including dusting, moping and vacuuming) the downstairs of this house completely. I am caught up on my laundry everyday and before I go to bed, there are no dishes in the sink and no toys on the floor. My bed gets made everyday, as do the kids, and sometimes I find myself looking for stuff to do, I actually was going to get on a ladder and wash my windows but thought twice about that. I'm pretty sure my husband doesn't want to be at work and get called to my house to pick up my butt off the ground.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th.

2 weeks already

After my monthly visit to the OB doctor I was informed I have hit the official "see me in 2 weeks mark" I looked at him and he said..."something I said" I said "well, I just can't believe I'm already coming every 2 weeks, I think with Kara I was done and ready for her to come, I haven't even started getting things ready"

Everything is looking good with Baby "Lexi" as the kids call her. Now that I'm on vacation all summer, it is time to get going on all the "jazz". I had my 1 hour glucose sugar test yesterday, took both little kids with me, what a mistake that was...We have been letting Brandon stay home alone for small amounts of time, so he didn't want to go yesterday so he got to stay home...yup, I'm sure all the people who saw me, with an active 3 year old, a crazy/naughty 1 year old and my ginormous stomach were wondering what I often wonder "what the heck is she thinking" Tyler, I do have to admit, did "ok"...yes, just ok. He understands, but on the other hand so does Kara she just doesn't want to listen. Tyler also had to get an xray of his belly, boy was that an adventure. It ended in tears flowing down my face, sweating, kara screaming and 3 people to hold him down while I watched and pushed a button when they said "PUSH"...not an interesting experiance to say the least!

Today, we are packing the kids up to go to Fort Drum for the Mountain Fest Air Show...we went last year, I wasn't too "keen" on the idea last year but once I got there I saw the excitement on the kids faces and realized why they like it so much, so this year I am actually excited about going, Kara will be more fun this year, I just hope it doesn't bother her ears.

Time to get my chores done so I don't feel guilty about going! Have a good weekend all!

Father's Day

Father's Day...has so many meanings. The morning was the usual Sunday routine, with Kara coming in bed with us, making us laugh and waking us up, but today, went to the cards and the hugs and the kisses.

I'm so grateful to have a wonderful father for my kids, he is so great with them, I only wish that my "donor" was this involved in my life. The more I think about it though, I don't need the "donor" I have the greatest step-father anyone could ask for and that's all I ever need.

Happy Father's Day to all fathers weather you are donors or have stepped up and are REAL fathers.

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!

Miss Vocab Herself

First of all, I will as always apologize for not updating sooner, but if you lived in this household, the only free time I get is when I sit on the toilet and usually that isn't always alone either.

I have an amazing, intelligent 14 month old who is beyond a doubt the littliest SHIT there is. Currently I am yelling at her every 15 minutes (most times less) for hitting, pinching or tormentering her 3 year old brother who cries because she is hurting him. She looks at me and laughs and that just makes Tyler cry harder while inside I am snickering. I used to get so frustrated at Tyler when he was her age (I was pregnant also) and say "Kara will NOT act this way" Tim would respond with "Nope, I'm betting she's worse" I always ignored his comment but just the other day I looked at him laughing and crying all in the same sentance and said "Damnit, you were right and I hate you for it" I spent all last week on vacation, yelling at my DAUGHTER, not the 2 boys, KARA...little sweet KARA MICHELETTE, who has grown quite the vocabulary of "get", "go", "no" "dog" "kaka" "paci" "baba" and any other word you say to her and say "Kara say...." and she will repeat it, believe you me. I know I haven't updated in a while, but I will go back to last week on vacation.

I spent Friday at my parents with just Kara and Brandon, we went for a walk to "show her off" to all of Grammy's friends. Two of the friends worked in the big grocery store in Croghan we stopped there to say hello when all of a sudden Kara spotted the banana's...a.k.a "bonnas" well didn't she freak so mommy bought her one. We traveled along to Big Grammy's house and on the way we finished our "bonna" and wanted more so she proceeded to eat the skin, all while saying KaKa, Big Grammy was on her way to church so we turned around and started to head back home to eat a snack, but only Miss Thang wanted another bonna...so back to the grocery store we went a bought another bonna! You would think by seeing her that we never feed her, I keep telling her "skinny baby, this WILL catch up to you"

On Saturday...well, Saturday....long story short, Grammy and Grampie came over to watch Kara while Daddy and Mommy went out to celebrate Mommy's bday. Sadly Mommy and Daddy went out to eat and went grocery shopping...sad...I know!

On Sunday we got all pretty and went to church, then ventured a highway to Syracuse (Central Square, ((West Monroe)) ) to have dinner with my family. The kids did well, but thanks to mother nature is was decent enough outside for the kids to play outside. Kara was into everything, included my bday cake, but with a little prevocation.

Monday and Tuesday were a blur when along came Wednesay...we started packing for our trip and getting stuff around. Let me just note that while on vacation it didn't matter what time Kara went to bed the night before or what time she woke up (one morning 10:00) at 11:30 she was ready for a nap...God love her routine.

**side note, Tyler and Kara are actually getting along, in Tyler's exact words, "Mom, look at your daughter, mom look, your daughter hugging me."**

We set out on Wednesday at 7p.m. (after daddy went to school for a couple hours) for Lake George to the Great Escape Indoor Water Park/Lodge. Lets just say from Watertown to Port Leyden Kara did nothing but vocalize that she was there, we would give her her paci...she would throw it. I finally got so mad I made Tim yell at her, it was at that point a game that I wasn't playing. Not a good start to vacation. She eventually fell asleep but as soon as we got off the exit in Lake George, she was singing like she was wide awake. We got to our hotel room and got settled at 10:30...surprisingly after claiming her room and scoping out her territory she went to bed without a problem.

Now the next three days entailed this...and really other than we had a great time all you need to know is "KARA....NO" Kara loved the water and was completely fearless...which scared the hell out of me...she figured out how to climb in her stroller and used it as a toy, she figured out how to climb into the bathtub and she figured out how to climb on top of the air conditioning/heating unit in the room and look out the window at doggies...there were no dogs just birds. She managed to tell her father the first morning we were there..."shhh, dada...shhhh shhhh" she managed to tell everyone and their brother "HI and BYE" but she hated all the looney toons characters.

Currently, the kids are still playing but I thought I would quickly (my blogs never seem to be quick) tell you how my baby is growing up to be quite the big girl. And now as I close, they aren't playing Tyler is showing her (like she needs to be shown, she can do it alone) how to take every DVD out of the cabinet and empty it to the floor.

Goodnight ALL xxoo

...what would I do...

The last 2 days have been nothing but bringing my head out of my ass. I can say right now that I have one load of laundry in the dryer and one load in the washer...and they are my last. All of the other laundry is put away and my house is picked up. Yes, it may be 8:23 at night and I have yet to eat dinner (its in the microwave, has been heated up twice) I have to credit most of this on one thing...

My best friend...Marybeth came over Wednesday night after her class and sat down with me and made a list. She of all people know and get to listen to how overwhelmed I am and with her working on her Masters in Psychology she decided to come after the kids went to bed and help me with a list. This list, just on a piece of plain computer paper, is the best thing. We sorted out room by room what needs to be done and the frequency, then we highlighted, different colors, who does this...Tim, Me, Brandon, and Shared chore. I felt better after she left and was excited to start. For example, each night after the kids are in bed and before I go to bed take all the laundry and put it in the washer and wash it...the next morning when I am ready to walk out the door, start the dryer (yes I had quite the anxiety about letting my dryer run while I'm gone, but I'm still working on getting over it) when I get home from work take it out, fold it and go put it away to get ready for the next nights. So far, day one went wonderful. Although we were behind again (you wouldn't believe the amount of laundry a family of 5 goes through...I was doing it once a week...overwhelming) Tonight she came over to watch the kids while Tim and I ran some errands (DMV, Stores, etc) While I was gone, she prepared dinner, fed the kids, did my laundry and did my dishes...she didn't stop, she helped me put it all away and pick up my house...then she left. I feel so much better, maybe because she helped me, but because I vowed never to get like this again. Tomorrow we are working on a chore chart for Brandon, because he is old enough now to have responsibility, he wants things, he needs to show us that he can be responsible for things.

Thought I would share that I am almost out of my funk...its been 2 weeks...and tomorrow hopefully is the last...things are starting to look up...thank you so much for the help...

Mom, your annoymous comments always make me cry...thanks for always being that rock that is just a phone call away!!!...you deserve this vacation more than anything!

Let the Hormones Flow

There really is no other way to put this other than, "this fetus is kicking my ass" I have looked so forward to this point, to start, NOT feeling crappy but I just do. I am not happy with myself in so many ways. I want so badly to remember this pregnancy as my last in so many ways, but our lives are just so hectic and I don't think that it's fair to Kara or the boys for that matter to have our lives be just about this baby and not them. I am upset with myself that I'm starting my 2nd trimester at the weight (heavier) than I was the night I went into labor with Kara. I remember that number so vividly and I never wanted to see that number again, but I hit it Jan. 28th, 2008. I am not there and a tad more today. I know it's only going to get worse and I hate the fact that it is. I know that I will remember the good parts but it just bothers me.

With Brandon in Pee Wee Wrestling now, it's hard for me to find time to go to the gym. I used to swim 3 times a week, but I find myself going less and less and I hate that too, but on the other hand am excited that Brandon found something he liked to do. I think after tonights practice the little kids and I are going to start walking for the hour that Brandon is at practice outside. It was so nice out tonight that I just hate sitting in that basement smelling sweaty boys and girls. Hopefully I can keep to that promise and start doing that. Then I come home and it's so overwhelming. I feel with working full-time, coming home, making dinner, going to either swim or something for the kids and coming home and ready to crash I get nothing accomplished at all during the week. I have almost accepted that fact, but it still puts me in a bad mood to see a "messy" house. I feel like since this new carpet has gone in I have done nothing but vacuum it. It is darker than the last but catches everything. But it's Monday, no doubt I will be "bitching" about it still on Friday and it will get done Saturday. I can honestly say looking into the weekend that we have nothing planned, but again, our lives changes so quickly. I would love to get outside doing "outside" work but again, things change so quickly. I was lucky enough to have cleaned well in the livingroom. The upstairs is the main focus now and I just need to make it 6 more weeks to find out the sex of this baby and the work can be done.

I've "petered" out for the night, I'm off to bed early as this morning Tyler decided that 530 was time to raise and shine. Hoping for a better Tuesday