Hip Hop

Bethanie is so into Hip Hop thing that just the other day she says to me: "Mom is this Hip Hop? Cause if it isn't, I am NOT wearing it!" OMH that blew my mind....I said "You are 5 and you WILL wear whatever I put on you!"

My mom took some pics the other day and Bethie asked if she could do Hip Hop poses....well this is what my mom got on camera:

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Oh no, where did it go?

About a week ago Bethie came to me and told me she had a loose tooth! She was so excited and could hardly wait to tell someone. We called her dad, her Aunt Heidi, and her Aunt Nichole. She wanted to call her Great Grandma Mary, but she wasn't home. She was soooooo happy to finally have a loose tooth. Days past and she keep asking me, "Mom when is my tooth going to come out?" I tried to tell her soon, but that just didn't work. Well Saturday we were at my sister's house for Brooklyn's birthday. We had just finished dinner and I told the kids about the candy buffet and off they went with their boxes to fill with goodies. We had just cut the cake and my mom says shockingly: "Bethie where is your tooth?" She had lost her tooth eating candy or dinner and didn't even feel it. How could you not feel something hard in your food or evening chewing your food. Anyway it is gone and she was so worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't come because she didn't have a tooth to put under her pillow. We all explained to her that she would come, just put a note under your pillow and she will find it. Sure enough she did and Bethie got her first dollar from the tooth fairy!

Brooklyn's Birthday Party!

Before I even say a word about the party....THANK YOU Heather and Brad for allowing me to have Brooklyn's party at your house. It really meant a lot to be able to have it there!! It was a great party and we all had great laughs and real fun! We had dinner and the kids got to take part of a candy buffet (thanks Amy for the GR8 idea)! Thanks family for all that you do for me and my girls! We love you all so much and am grateful that you are in our lives!

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We had a great night outside....

headache and all!!!!!

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Another cousin playdate!

So today was the second time that the girls and I got together for a play date. We went to Kangaroo Zoo and the girls had a blast!!!! It was good to see the girls playing with their cousins and getting along. Lily, Mary, and Bethie were good babysitters. They keep track of Brooklyn and made sure she was safe. Bethie comes running to us and is yelling that Brooklyn got kicked in the head by another kid. Well by the time we got over there, Lily had taken care of it all. Go Lily...way to be a tough kid! So we ordered pizza and let the girls play some more. I watched Brooklyn at the end so the girls could go off and do their own thing. So Brooklyn was in this on jumper and she picked up something and started to eat it. OMH!!! I yelled and freaked out. I said to little Josh (who isn't so little anymore): "Get in there and get her for me please. She just put gum or something in her mouth!!" So off he went and got her. Once we got her out of the jumper, I took it out of her mouth. Come to find out it was only a Skittle and she ate it not someone else.....phew!!!! You should of seen me, I was dry heaving. It was gross!! Anyway.....the girls had a blast and I am glad that we get to spend time with their cousins on that side of the fam! Thanks Redd fam and Grandma 'D' for letting us be apart our your lives!

Oh by the way here are some pics!!!!

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Not a good thing.....

Training was really hard for me today....I was suppose to jog 6 mins., walk 5, jog 6 mins., walk 5 mins. But that DID NOT HAPPEN!?!?!? I got a side stitch and felt like I couldn't breath in right so I stopped and just walked home. I thought that I had given myself enough time after eating dinner, but I guess not. I just don't understand....actually I do. With Brooklyn being sick I really haven't been able to do my training. Which is hard for me cause I want this so bad! Anyway when I got home and looked at the training schedule I was on the wrong day. I don't think that had anything to do with it cause if I go back to the right day, tomorrow is another long run! Any advice runners?

Yes life can get back to normal!

You know when your children or child, in my case, is feeling much better when you see them doing this with their cousins:

Or when you have to change outfits because they get a hold of a squirt bottle:

I am sooooo glad that little Brookie feels so much better. She has eaten like a horse today and is constantly wanting something to drink. Maybe now we can go back to the potty training thing.....I am so sick of diapers!!!!

Thanks everyone for all that you did for me the past week and all your prayers for Brooklyn....it has meant more than you all know and more than I can convey! Love you all!!!

Progess report and random pics!

Tonight was a training night. I haven't been able to do much because of the whole thing with Brookie and all the ER visits and the doctor visits so I was a little nervous. Now to some of you running for 7 mins straight is probably not hard. Well when you aren't a runner it seems like eternity. So off I went...the first 5 mins was just a walk. Now I am a great speed walker and have done speed walking since I was in college (I had to take PE and that seemed like the best thing to take!). So walking is no biggie! Well once that 5 mins was up I headed into my 7 mins jog.........well I get about half way in and I start to loose it and my mind is telling me to stop and just walk....OH NO YOU DON'T! I had a hard time finding good music to run to on my little iPod shuffler and I need that kind of stuff.....so I start telling myself (out loud mind you) 'Come on girl...you can do it!!" The more I keep telling myself that, I keep going. I then proceeded to say it louder and louder. Well if you were driving next to me or even walking around me you might of thought to your self....'Man that girl is crazy!' No just self motivation!!!!! Anyway I made it and I feel GREAT!!!! I am going to do this...you just wait and see!!

Oh P.S. Here is a slide of some random pics of the girls. In some of them you can see the sores on the front of Brookie's face....the inside is 10 times worse!!!!!

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Herpetic stomatitis Information at myOptumHealth

Herpetic stomatitis Information at myOptumHealth

Just in case you want to read more about what Brooklyn has!

Saturday=ER Sunday=ER Monday=Doctor Tuesday=No Daycare

The title explains it all. Friday we went to PJ's sisters house for the girls to play with their cousins. We headed home for the night and Brooklyn's spiked a fever. Let me tell you I am so sick of this kid being sick. So taking medicine is sooo hard with this kid. She spits out everything...including grape flavored Tylenol. So it was like pulling teeth. We went to bed and it all went down hill. Brooklyn ended up in my bed and around 3 in the morning she started to shake. I have never had a child shake like that while having a fever. So I got really worried and called for my mom. She came in and Brooklyn fell back asleep. So back to bed we went. Well around 5 in the morning she started to shake again and this time it was worse and I decided that I couldn't wait til the morning for the insta care to open, so off to the ER we went. I live just down the street from the new IMC and decided that we just better head there instead of trying to go all the way to Primarys.

We got to the ER and they took us right in and put us in a room. We didn't wait too long and we saw the doctor. She took asked a lot of questions and took a lot of notes. They came in and forced some Ib down and tried some peidalite to see what would happen. After a few long hours they decided that she had a URI (upper respiratory infection) The dr. that we saw was AWESOME. He gave me some prescriptions and some instructions to follow and asked if I would mind bringing Brooklyn back on Sunday around Noon for a follow-up. I didn't hesitate because I need to know what is going on and to get her better. So homeward bound we went and stuck in the house.


The Saturday before Easter is usually one to never forget. We all get together for fun and dyeing eggs. Well just like the Super Bowl, Brooklyn and I stayed home and watched tv and some movies. Well Saturday night was not a good night. Even with the meds in her, the fever spiked and she just laid in bed either crying or moaning. Noon was too far away, but we waited. We got back to the Er and they took her vitals and things had changed. Her fever was higher and her heart rate was accelerated. We got in the room and the dr. we saw on Saturday came right in and started with the questions. He decided that it was best now to run a bunch of tests and figure out why Brooklyn was feeling like this. So IV fluids, urine catheter test, suction of nose for a viral test, and a round of IB and Tylenol every three hours. OMH can you imagine a 23 month old child with an IV......not a good picture. My mom had to leave the room and Bethie just cried. There I was wishing I could take it all away from her and have her not have to go through all of this. I decided that I better call her dad and let him know what was going on....bad idea! I am not going to go into details, but needless to say he didn't come and said "just let me know." Whatever A**hole, some 'father' you are. So we waited and waited and waited......finally she started to came alive. She wanted to get down and walk around and be herself...kindof hard when your IV only goes so far. We read some books, had her uncles come and give her a blessing, and waited some more. Finally Dr. Allen came back and said that all of the tests but two had come back negative and that he was going to send us home. He told us to continue with the every three hours of the IB and the Tylenol and to make an appointment with the ped. for a follow-up and to look at the last two tests. At least she was back to herself.....well at least I thought. We got home and had to spend the rest of the night up stairs in our room cause we had most of my family over for Easter Dinner and we didn't want to take the chance that what she had was contagious. Some Easter! Poor Brooklyn isn't in any of the Easter pics and didn't get to do the whole egg hunt, but its okay. I would rather get her better than make it worse.

Today off we went to the dr. office to figure out what the world is going on. We didn't see our regular ped., but thats ok. I really trust most of the Doctors in the clinic, I don't mind seeing someone else. After the doctor read the file, asked some questions, and looked at Brooklyn....he knew what was going on. Brooklyn has what is called Herpetic Stomatitis. Basically she has the herpes simplex virus. Most child get this virus and when they turn 18 or 19 and get their fist cold sore they wonder how they got it, but once you get that virus it stays in you. In fact we all have the virus hence why we get cold sores, fever blisters, heat blisters, etc. Since it is contagious she can't go back to daycare for about 10 more days and really shouldn't play with others toys, eat off others utensils, etc. Happy Day for me!!! My folks have decided that they will watch her from now on, well at least till summer school is over.

So if you want to know how my Spring Break was......you know now!

Therepy and much much more

So life in the fast lane was great for me...I got divorced, headed back into the work force, sent my youngest to daycare, my oldest started Kindergarten, and I moved in with family. Life seemed to be just great. I keep really busy and a lot of the thoughts I had just seemed to go away and stay hidden. Well when you keep things bottled up and thoughts hidden....it eventually comes to the top of that bottle and bursts. Around December that is what happened to me...things that I had bottled up inside came out and I was a train wreck. I just went crazy with all this stuff and didn't know really were to go or how to handle it. I locked my family out, my friends, my kids, and the whole world. So I went to my parents and asked them what they thought about me going to see a therapist. The decision was made and off I went.

Let me tell you that doing that was the best thing I have done for myself since my divorce. It brought out a lot of anger, hate, and emotions that I didn't even know I had. It showed me how not to hold a grudge and to not keep things inside and to forget about the past. I found out how to handle the rough things in life. I have found out how to get myself back and to own myself and to not let someone else own me. I am at rest with what has happened in my life and I know that I did try my best and I did all that I could. Yes it is sad and I will have that sadness in my life, but I know how to not let it take me. I have forgiven, not only myself, but PJ for all that has happened and I am now putting myself forward and first.

I recently got a comment on my blog that sparked a little conversation.....it must of been from Heavenly Father telling me that I could handle what came my way or as one person said: "thanks for being mature about it!" I ventured outside the box and made a decision that effects me and my little family in a way that I thought might cause a problem, but it didn't. I, along with others, have decided that it is important for the girls to know who they are and to know their other family.

So last night and more nights to come I took the girls to see their cousins and family on PJ's side. I have done it before, but the effect of that caused problems and I decided not to do it again. But now with what I have from my therapy and knowing the fact that the divorce just didn't happen to me, I changed my mind. I gave certain conditions when deciding this and all parties were good with the conditions. I was really nervous to go, but it was actually a really good visit. Thanks Heidi and Josh for opening your home and allowing the girls to come and have a relationship with you and your cute family. I know with all my heart that this will be good for the girls. They have every right to know that part of their lives and am grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Its snowing....

its cold, I don't like being wet, and it is 6:00 a.m. My mind says to me 'DO IT ANYWAY!' and so I did! I got out of bed put on my running/walking gear and out the door I went. OMH was it cold.....I keep saying to myself "DO IT, It isn't that bad!"...and it wasn't. I was a little nervous today with what my training plan said, but I did it without any problems. No huffing and puffing for air, no pain in the side, nothing! And here I am at 7:00 a.m. posting, wide awake, and ready to attack the day! I hope it continues to be this easy from here....it might not and I know that, but with all that has happened in my life...................I AM READY!!!!!!