Still Alive!

My huge apologies to everyone for falling off the face of the earth (or so it seems to those not close by). I am alive. Esther still hasn't come. I think I am just to busy for her to come or something. I am going non-stop everyday. I will do some updates soon. I need to add some more Disneyland pics - first day of school - Lucy's baptism - kids' birthdays - etc. Lucy has another MRI coming up Nov. 13th - so I will have to update that as it happens also. And of course, as soon as Esther graces us with her presence - I will update that as well!

I do appreciate all your thoughts and prayers for me and my family, and I am sooo sorry that I have been a ghost personally. I just drop into bed each night, physically and emotionally exhausted - unable to blog, email or chat on the phone.

I know they say that on a plane, you need to secure your own mask first, before helping others with theirs - I just haven't mastered finding the time. So, for now, I am running around putting masks on everyone else, and hopefully soon will have the time to put on mine (or in other words, have time for myself to meet friends for lunch, or chat on the phone). Until then, please be patient with me, and don't give up on me!!

Proud Mom Moment....

So, the other night I had gone to bed, and Lucy came into my room with a very sad look on her face. She walked over to me with her fist clutched, and opened it to show me that she had broken the arms off of this little frog statue that Emmie had made for me. She started crying and said "Mom, I'm sorry....I broke your frog. I was playing with it, and tried to move it's arms. I'm sorry." I explained that although I was very sad that it was broken, that I was very proud of her for coming and telling me, and not trying to hide it or lie about it. I also explained that she had someone else to apologize to, since Emmie had made it. She was mortified and didn't want to have to tell her.

I called Emmie in, and Lucy started crying again, and relating the story. Instantly...and I mean without ANY hesitation, Emmie took Lucy in her arms, and said "It's OK LuLu, we can fix it. It will just take a little glue." and she comforted her sister with complete love and compassion.

Things that make you swell with joy inside!!! :-)

Better Late Than Never! Disneyland Photos

Ok, so I am bad about uploading photos - because we store them on Ryan's computer, and I am always blogging from my computer. But yesterday the PhotoPass Disk arrived from Disneyland - so here are a few of those photos.....

Nathan is OBSESSED with Cars. He would watch it all day if I would let him. He plays with them constantly. So when he saw Lightning McQueen "in person" - he ran up, and just like a little man, started checking him out all over. It was so cute - that the Disney photographer just went nuts clicking away. This is just one of many.

Here we are on the last day - Lucy's birthday, for a family pose. Everyone was getting pretty worn out by now.

These photos are pretty large Jpegs - so I will add more later, from Ryan's computer. There are some really cute ones!! So check back again!

Will I ever escape homework???

Remember when we were in school, and we would think "I can't wait until I am out of school and an adult, so I don't have to do homework anymore!"?

Then we grew up, and realized that life had other things for us to take the place of homework. The sad thing is - once you have kids - you have homework again! My mother never had to sit and do homework with me, and now my kids have so much homework, I spend all afternoon doing homework once again!

The worst part is, that these teachers don't take into account, that the more kids you have, the more homework you have! I am exhausted by the end of the day! Poor Lucy, we were working on her homework immediately from when she came home from school, finishing just in time for dinner, pjs, brush teeth, scriptures, family prayer and bedtime! Just so she can wake up, and go to school, come home and start the vicious cycle again. There isn't any free time to just be a kid - or a parent for that matter!

Luckily, Emmie is pretty independent with her homework, and I rarely have to help her (except on those occasions where she procrastinates, and announces at bedtime "Oh, I forgot, I have a huge science project due tomorrow" - and we scramble to help her put something together. Mind you, I do NOT do their homework for them, I am a "Mean Mom" through and through. But I do sit with them, and ask questions or give explanations to help them do it themselves.

Abigail's homework will start next week - and she is only in Kindergarten.

This is not to mention the swim and dive that we do, to try to help Em towards getting a scholarship for college.

All said and done - I wouldn't trade my kids for anything in the world! I love them so dearly, and can't wait for Esther to join our herd!

How old am I????

I was trying to figure out the title for this entry, and it revolved around doctors - to update for Lucy and I. Then I thought...dang, how old am I that my blogs revolve around multiple doctors! That is for old people, who have nothing else going on! But, I guess at this time in my life - turning 38 a few days ago must be old enough!

My doctor is doing another ultrasound, to check on the baby and make sure everything is ok. Between contractions and lots of stomach pain, he just want to make sure. I didn't have this with my other kids. He is an awesome OB. He is very thorough, competent and worries enough, but not too much. I have had him since I moved to California in 1993 - through fertility that didn't work, and birth control recently that didn't work either! OK - I guess that doesn't sound too good - but neither were his fault! 8 pregnancies (2 ectopic, 1 blighted ovum, my four kids and now Esther), and I wouldn't trade him for anything. Maybe he will deliver my grandbabies some day - who knows! He always asks me how Lucy is doing, and even put a call in to her neurosurgeon (who he goes fishing with sometimes), and got him to call me back the very next day with her test results!!! Thank you Dr. Maher!

Having said that - Lucy's neurosurgeon said that everything looks like we can just hold off, and wait for the next scan. She will have another MRI in Oct/Nov of this year. I will definitely have to learn patience, and gratitude for each test that says we can wait for the next test. We are so grateful to have her in our lives. Her silly sense of humor and contagious smile keep us all laughing.

AARRRGGGG!!!

So all weekend I start having contractions - regularly. I try to get up and do something, and boom - they go nuts. I am still too early for this - only 27 weeks. I have never had to do this before - I just go along on my merry way, until my water breaks and the baby comes.

This morning, I get up, and after 45 min. they start up again - but don't go away. We go to church, and after an hour and a half, I have to come home and go to bed. I don't know what I will do if I have to stay in bed for months - I can't do that! Too much to do with a large family, and school starting in a week. I called the on-call doctor, and that was no help! She said I had to be the judge of whether to stay in bed or come to the hospital, neither option did I like.

I think I will wait until tomorrow, and call my doctor during office hours.

I despise waiting!

Ok, so yesterday Lucy and I got up at 0'dark hundred, and drove downtown for her PET scan. She was so nervous, and so we talked about it again in SpongeBob terms. (Yes, I am ashamed to admit that my kids are SpongeBob nuts! But I'll blame it on Ryan, since he is too!)

So, in short, we talk about her bad tumor being Plankton in the Chum Bucket, and how he is trying to take over Bikini Bottom (her brain), so we have to keep an eye on him, and see what he is doing. That always seems to help her feel better about it.

We get there, check in, and wait. When they call us back and put her in a chair to draw blood and inject the fluoride/sugar concoction - she starts crying and looking up at the poor tech, saying "Please, please don't do this to me.....please stop". He had only put the rubber around her arm at that point. It was so sad! That part only took about 5 minutes, then she had to sit quietly for 45 minutes. She feel asleep. They woke her up, and the scan only took 10 minutes.

We drove home, and then back downtown to meet with the neurosurgeon, Dr. Boggan. Last time he took almost 2 hours, to come in and see us for 90 seconds (literally). This time, we got right in, and he came right in. He was looking at the PET scan, and it hadn't fully uploaded from the hospital yet - so he couldn't see it all. He said we would do another MRI in October, and that he would have to call me with the results from this PET scan after he got the full report and file.

On a preliminary note - he said that he tumor he was looking at wasn't looking bad so far - so it was good news. However, the other side of her brain was lighting way up - so he didn't know what to think of that until he had the full report.

So bottom line, what was supposed to clear everything up - just made everything more confusing, and we are still playing the waiting game! Yuck! If I don't hear from him by next Wednesday, I am supposed to call him to get the update.

So sorry...but you are all stuck playing the waiting game with us!