End of the year teachers gift

Two careers, in my opinion, do not get paid enough: Teachers and Military.

Everyday, I go to have lunch with Noah and I get to see first-hand, teachers working with and for the benefit of their students whom they form bonds with and truly care for, from the bottom of their hearts.

As I sit in the cafeteria, I like to pay attention to the absolute love the majority of these teachers have for their students, especially the special-needs students. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for special-needs kids. Whether Autistic or Down's Syndrome or any other "syndrome"... To see these teachers hold and protect these kids as they try to run away or hurt themselves is amazing. They chase after them, talk calmly and never lose their cool.

Teacher's aren't paid nearly enough to do this job. They do it because they love it and are passionate about it.

Without knowing what to do as a THANK YOU for Noah's teacher, I was left to wonder and think... I saw something SIMILAR to what I did and now I can't remember where I saw it but I've kind of taken and made my own version of what I would like to get if I was a teacher.

I've had a lot of people ask for tutorials and how I came up with the final product, so I decided to blog about it. I wish there was something more I could do to show my true and absolute appreciation for Noah's teacher for loving my child and teaching him... and most importantly, keeping him safe while he's out of my watchful eye when it comes to his peanut allergy. I can't ever begin to tell you how much she means to me.

SO... for my photo tutorial with some written instructions:

First, I had to make some basic purchases. I did shop around first before buying anything to get the best prices. (For example, I could have bought the acrylic paint at Hobby Lobby and saved a trip to Walmart, but it was 2x more expensive at Hobby Lobby as Walmart.)

HOBBY LOBBY:

1. Figure out how many kids are in the class and buy unfinished wood tulips with attached dowel. $1.29 each.

2. If you don't already have a "punch" you can pick one up also at Hobby Lobby for $11.00 for a 3" flower cut out. (You will be so glad you invested in this rather than trying to do every photo by hand and plus it will give a look of uniformity.)

FRONT OF PUNCH:



BACK OF PUNCH: (Make sure you get one with a clear back so you can see the area of the picture you're punching and not going in blindly and hoping you get it right.)



3. Mod Podge - Original ~ $6.99 for a large jar.




WALMART:

1. Acrylic paint if you don't already have some at home. Price ranges from .99 to $3.00 per bottle, depending on size; you don't need much. (be sure to get green for the stems of the tulips and whatever color(s) you want for your tulips.)

2. Large ceramic pot found in the garden department (indoors) large enough to fit an 8" plant. (or larger if your class is bigger than 20 students). $10.00



3. Large bag of fake grass/moss found inside by the glass vases and silk flowers. $2.50.

4. Mod Podge brand Acrylic Spray Sealer (which is necessary to "seal" the tulips after painting with Mod Podge Original paste, otherwise tulips will still be "tacky" and will stick to each other if placed together and pull off Mod Podge paste, even after completely dry.) $4.00 (estimate, I can't remember exactly but it was around this price).



I went to school to have lunch with Noah and after lunch, got all of the kids' pictures taken with the cooperation of the teacher. All individually but against the same background so there was a similarity to all of the pictures. Also, I was sure to set my zoom the same for each child. I zoomed slightly so there was a little background to the top, left and right of their heads and went down about mid-chest. I sent the pictures to be developed at Walgreens who had a coupon (always do a google search for coupons!) - - 50 prints for $5. (SCORE!)

Upon coming back home from picking up the prints, I got out the acrylic paint and painted each tulip. The stems were painted green and each tulip took on a different color.



As the tulips were drying, I took out my punch and carefully centered each child's face into a flower-shape.



Then I punched out the photo, taking great care not to move the punch or photo so it didn't get knocked out of being centered. (You do have to set it on the ground or hard surface and really lean into it to punch it. You will feel it punch when it goes through; practice on a piece of regular blank paper first if you need to).



Once all of the pictures have been punched, take a paint brush and dip it into the Mod Podge Original and paint it liberally on the back of each picture.



Once there is Mod Podge on the entire back of the photo, carefully place it in the lower center portion of the tulip (as long as the acrylic paint has dried!). Take your finger and press each section of the flower to press OUT any additional Mod Podge and seal it really well to the wood tulip. The excess that comes out, just take your finger and spread it outward on the wood tulip.

After a few seconds, re-dip your paint brush in the Mod Podge Original and liberally apply it all over the wood tulip (not the stem) and over the face of the picture. Don't worry, it dries clear and does not ruin the photo!



Also, take care to keep your strokes uniform because in the reflective light, you WILL be able to see brush strokes like this:



The brush strokes are unavoidable, but it's better to have them all going in one direction rather than some up and down and some left to right and others diagonal.

As the Mod Podge dries, it becomes clear and seals the photo to the wood tulip in addition to the Mod Podge holding the photo directly to the tulip.



Once Mod Podge Original is completely dry, get your Mod Podge Acrylic Spray Sealer and shake WELL and apply evenly to the top, bottom and all sides of your tulip.



Since you are spraying all sides, it's important to find a way to set these upright so the acrylic sealer does not stick to other things. I set up the grass/moss in my pot and stuck each one down into it to dry. (I only sprayed 1-2 at a time and let at least an hour pass in between each one so they didn't accidently touch each other as they dried.)

Once they were all done, I organized them into the grass/moss in the pot and the final product looks like this:



I decided also to buy a larger flower than the ones the students are on (also from Hobby Lobby) and will print out a larger picture of the teacher (either by ordering a 5x7 or simply zooming in on her face more and printing the same 4x6. Her picture on the bigger flower will go in the middle of the pot and either ON the pot or on her wooden flower, I will write: Bloom Where You're Planted. (You can write on the backs of each wood flower, even after it's sealed, with a silver Sharpie the year and/or child's name. (Reason for silver is to give it consistency for not only light colored tulips but the dark ones too.)

Anyway, I was also planning to put in the pot some cookie flowers my friend makes:



However, there is not enough room in the pot, so I will still order these cookies from her but have them wrapped in floral wrap so they look like a regular bouquet. SO, her final gift will be the pot with the tulip pictures of her students and then a bouquet of cookie flowers as well. I hope she likes it!

You've Been Warned...

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday. It was quite a show. First of all, I got there and wasn't expecting to have any pelvic checking performed. Nonetheless, after my shower earlier that morning, I gave a quick spray of FDS, just in case, and thank goodness, they weren't "out" of the the "gynecological wipes" provided in the restroom as I left my "sample." Lucky for him.

The doctor came in and I told him of my daily contractions (numbering upward toward 20-30 per 24-hours) and he said he wanted to run a test called: Fetal fibronectin. Apparently this can detect a certain protein released by the cervix which would indicate if I'll go into labor within the next 2 weeks. They called today and said the results were negative, so looks like she's safe for at least 2 weeks.

Anyway, he came in and told me he wants to do this test. He gave me a drape and told me to drop my drawers (rofl I love this guy). He left the room for about 10 minutes and returned with his nurse. By this time, I was sweating and my bare butt was stuck to the paper on the table. I made the mistake of not moving around so it wasn't airing out in those 10 minutes.

So he tells me to put my feet in the stirrups and come down to the end of the table. As I'm doing what I was told, the dang paper I was sitting on TORE right in half!! Here I am with a paper wedgie scooting my big ol' belly down closer to the edge of falling off the table. I apologize for being large and sweaty and he laughed and told me it was ok and not to get a complex that I was too big.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that I had some major gas and need to jump off and sprint to the bathroom; paper wedgie and all. (I made some awesome minestrone soup the previous night and with all those beans and vegetables, well, let's say I'm no longer constipated)...

Knowing I couldn't very well just jump out of stirrups and run down the hall to the toilet, I did my best to practice my kegels to keep the contents of my lower bowel contained IN MY LOWER BOWEL.

As I was trying to control my breathing and keep things in my belly, I was suddenly reminded that I had shaved only a few days prior and was halfway BALD down there!!! (That's right, HALFWAY. I got frustrated at trying to lift my belly and gave up mid-way through the beautifying project) I wanted to snap my legs shut and never make eye contact again, but I just stared at the ceiling and blushed.

He finished, and with the help of Thong, the doctor and his nurse, I managed to get my now completely glued, paper-laden butt from the edge of the vinyl table back to the center where I was no longer in danger of falling off. As I sat there, all I could think of was that my bare butt was now sitting straight on the vinyl table without anything separating me from Lord knows who else's butt dew that had ripped the paper and stuck there before mine.

The end result: He said I'm not dialated, still measuring big and everything else looks good. Except my homemade haircut.

Pretty Flowers!!!!

My little Lourdes is definitely cut from the same cloth as her MeMa. My mom has always loved to garden, taking pride in her numerous flower pots scattered around every entry door to her house. She feeds the birds religiously everyday and makes sure she has her bird bath filled with fresh water for the feathered friends.

NOTE: Don't mistake her for the Bird Lady though that walks through Central Park with pigeons perched on her shoulders while using her overcoat as a toilet. She is liable to spray you with her hose.

Lourdes has obviously grown up away from the daily influence of her MeMa but she shares a lot of loves with her that have no other option but to be encoded in her DNA. I sure didn't teach her to love flowers and chirpy birds. My thumb is brown; nowhere close to green and birds are cute and sound nice when they sing, but I don't go out of my way to buy seed to feed them and give them fresh water everyday. (Although I did buy seed once and none of them bothered coming over so I was left with a driveway full of seed that everyone just slipped on.)

ANYWAY, every day when Lourdes and I go to lunch with Noah at his school, she is bound and determined to find a weed that has some kind of flower attached to the end of it. Mind you, we're not talking about beautiful roses, but yellow flowers that are either weeds or wild flowers that pop up sporadically throughout a field of grass. She runs as fast as she can the split second she catches sight of a yellow flower and picks it without hesitation and clings to it like it's the last thing she'll ever gasp in her tiny hand. She'll hold it and love it until the petals fall off or it hardens to a crisp. I've found countless dried weed/flowers in the sides of her car seat where she likes to store her little treasuries every day that she picks one.

In fact, she loves flowers so much that she decided to pull up a "fancy flower" roots and all from the garden downtown at the Co-Cathedral 2 Sunday's ago when we went to church. It was freshly planted and still adjusting to life in its new soil when she bent down and gave it a good yank! The entire plant came out of the black potting soil in the garden area and we laughed and quickly told her to put it back down in its home. She was surprised but said "OOOOH okay!" and we moved on to pick her a miniature rose from another more mature plant. That seemed to appease her.

I'm so in love with this little darling of mine and am lucky she is made so happy by the little things like flowering weeds growing in random fields of grass. If only we could all take a lesson from her about loving the simple things in life.

Mushy, dirty boobies

You read that right. "Mushy, dirty boobies." That's how my once-perky bosom was described so honestly this morning by my favorite 3 year old brown haired little girl. Changing clothes in the morning or getting dressed when I've stepped out of the shower without modesty is now a thing of the past thanks to my "compliment" I received this morning. I was so taken off guard, I smiled and said "why THANK you!" A huge smile crossed her face like she was the proud new owner of something shiny and new as she said "you're WELLLLcome Mommmmma!!!"

A short time later, I was laying on the bed watching cartoons with my little smartie pants and she said "Momma, are you cold?" I said "No" so naturally, she asks "Are you hot?" Actually, I was quite hot... it's warm making another human being cell by cell! So I said "Yes, mommy is hot." She so lovingly puts her hand on my forehead and says "my goodness, momma, you are burning up with a fever. You are so sick, poor thing!" LOL... now granted, I am fighting a bug and I might have had a low-grade fever, but I certainly wasn't burning up according to my standards.

Well, I'm now 31 weeks pregnant by date and 32 weeks pregnant by measurement. I am getting SO excited to see my newest little creation and am SO anxious about giving birth. I know I've said it before, and you'd think I'd be a pro by the 4th time, but I get butterflies just thinking about it. Each delivery was so smooth, yet so different from the others. I keep wondering how this one will be. I hope labor goes quickly and she inherited MY cranial circumference, but we'll see. Only time will tell. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents too. They are planning to come out before the baby is born so that will be fun. :) Landen is tentatively planning to fly out to AZ after school lets out and then drive back with them, but he's on a stand-by ticket, so fingers crossed, nothing will come up so he can't get a flight... or that Madeleine decides to come THAT much early.

Well I'm tired now, so I'll take my mushy, dirty boobies and go lay down for a little bit while my "burning up with a fever, poor, sick body" can feel better. :)

The Weekend Went too Fast :(

This weekend managed to fly by in the blink of an eye. I look back and can't remember much; life has been a blur since Friday. As I was in the bathroom with Lourdes at Chipotles after getting our lunch in a nice brown bag with handles, my phone rang. Conveniently, I had just sat on the toilet and when you've got a 46" protruding belly, you can't exactly jump up and run for the phone sitting on the metal shelf they provide to set your personal belongings on while using their facilities. I thought it must be my mom, who is pretty much the only person who calls me (no joke), and in typical fashion, would expect a call back or understanding when I called her right back. Something told me to get myself up though and grab the phone. Just as it was about to go to voicemail, I picked it up off the shelf and saw it was a school number. Unsure if it was Landen's or Noah's school (both have the same prefix), I opened it quickly, which answers automatically. It was the school nurse from Landen's school. Needless to say, she fumbled around her words and it seemed like an eternity before I had gotten the jest of what she was trying to tell me. My son had been beaten up along with a friend of his by a group of 4 bigger kids. Landen had been hit in the head and "had a change in neuro-status" of being excessively sleepy all of a sudden.

She put Landen on the phone and I ran through some questions with him that came to mind as I quickly got Lourdes strapped in the car seat and hurriedly drove across the street to our office. I hung up with Landen just in time to call Thong and tell him to get outside and go with me to Landen's school. I was crying so hard I'm actually surprised he understood me, but after 7 years, he's learned to decipher what I'm saying through all kinds of emotions.

Thong came out and by this time I had my mom on the phone trying to get her to understand my words-through-tears diatribe. He motioned for me to get in the passenger seat because clearly I wasn't in a condition to drive safely.

We drove quickly (but safely) to the school and my mind was going in 100 different directions as I continued to shake and cry. All that kept flashing through my mind were scenes from youtube videos that people post about after-school fights; planned or unplanned. I've seen plenty to know that they are usually no-holds-barred and end up with someone being hurt very badly. From what I knew at that very moment, my son was the one who was hurt very badly.

We arrived at the school and the check-in desk was taking their time getting us checked in. They asked for our ID and we gave it to her as she scanned it into the computer... then her phone rang. She stopped what she was doing for us to tend to the phone call and after a minute or so, I said (and there were 2 other women up there watching who worked there too) "My son just got beat up by 4 guys, I NEED TO GET BACK TO THE NURSES OFFICE! Can I just go back there?!" They realized then that we were Landen's parents and hit the "print" button for our ID stickers and we rushed back to the nurses office.

Not knowing fully what to expect, I entered the room and saw my sweet Landen sitting on a hard plastic chair holding an ice pack to his head behind his ear. He was relieved to see us but in pain. I looked at the bump and immediately went from scared and concerned to infuriated with the kids who took my child and roughed him up like he was a rag doll.

Thong and I sat down and started in on the questions, as one could imagine any parent would. The police were already on-campus and dealing with the situation; questioning witnesses, etc., so we waited to take our turn to speak with them.

In summary of what happened to the best of my understanding:

Landen and his friend Jordan were playing catch with this little Nerf football the size of a Dixie cup. (No joke it was tiny). These 4 bigger kids came up and told Jordan and Landen they wanted them to play tackle football with them. Knowing that would get them in trouble, Landen and Jordan told these kids no. They walked away and turned to see these four kids lined up and came charging at them like a bull to a matador holding a red flag. Jordan got hit first and was put in a choke hold/headlock and the three others took turns hitting and kneeing him in the ribs, stomach and side. Landen saw this and tried pulling one of the kids off of Jordan so he could breathe. (Jordan at this time was on his knees and unable to breathe they had him in such a tight headlock). With Landen trying to help save his friend, this made the group of 4 mad and they turned on Landen. One of the kids (whose name I have yet to obtain but believe me, I will!), was holding a wood brush and Landen got hit very hard behind his ear. He is 99% sure the kid hit him with the brush itself, but since he was hit from the side-rear, he didn't visually see that it was the brush, versus his fist. Either way, it was a very hard hit and made quite the mark on my child's head in a spot that could easily have fractured his skull. (And had it been 3" up and to the front, he would have hit him in the temple, causing him to die immediately.)

Thong and I filed police charges, but since Landen could not attest with 100% certainty that it was the wood brush he was hit with, the kid didn't get charged with felony assault with a weapon, but instead, slapped on the wrist with the least possible offense which is a misdemeanor of bodily contact assault. Nonetheless, his parents will have to pay a fine (TBD on the amount) and the kid will serve time in In-School-Suspension for who knows how long. My hope is that it's the rest of the year.

We were quickly shooed out of the school before the offender's parents showed up and about a mile down the road I regretted leaving at all. I had so much to ask those parents and tell them, whether they wanted to hear it or not. I intend on going back to Landen's school tomorrow to talk with the principal (rather than the ASSISTANT principal, who we talked to exclusively (as far as school officials go) on Friday.). He is a very nice man and I have no hesitation about communicating my concerns to him first thing in the morning, assuming they will let me on his schedule.

As much as we were against our kids having cell phones before this incident, our minds were changed 100% after Friday's events. We went out Saturday, bought both boys a $20.00 cell phone (the same one I have) and by today, it's been activated. They are only allowed to use them for emergencies; we have only 200 minutes per month on them (for $10.00 on each line) and T-Mobile has a parental control feature which allows us to control who they call, who calls them, texting, times during the day/night that the phone is physically "on" and all kinds of other features. It's VERY convenient. I'm THANKFUL that they offer this service at such a reasonable price. $20.00 for both boys to have a phone for emergencies only is a minuscule price to pay for peace of mind.

I will also be going tonight to Walmart to buy Landen a coach's whistle so in the event these boys (or some of their cohorts) approach Landen again in any kind of threatening manner, he can blow his whistle, which obviously will cause everyone within ear-shot to turn and look and those kids will more than likely scatter like cockroaches when a light is turned on.

Pray for me to have clarity and guidance with what to say tomorrow to the principal and pray that he will accept me into his schedule to have this important conversation with him about the safety of my child on his campus. My hope is that he will be open to hearing what I have to say and take my suggestions to heart and implement some changes that absolutely should have been in place long ago so hopefully this type of situation never happens again.

OH MY EYES!!!!!!!!!

As I stepped out of the shower this morning, I accidentally caught sight of myself in the massive mirror that spans from one end of my bathroom to the other. I typically try not to look but today it was inevitable. I was taken back by the sight in my field of vision as a flash of National Geographic came into my mind!

It simply amazes me that people grow inside of other people. I am honored to be carrying another child that God is carefully knitting together in my womb but let me tell you, it's wreaking havoc on me. I suppose every pregnancy is this way and I simply get mommy-amnesia after giving birth and healing up to be shiney and new, however, I'm in the thick of it now.

I truly think it's a miracle that God can expand my body to accomodate a growing little person but holy areola's!! It's not without a little caracture in the interrim.

Thankfully, Thong doesn't look at me and see "pretty or ugly" and is far beyond that, as I am with him. When you've gone through 7 years of good and bad together, you stop seeing the person on the outside and truly know them on a level that's deeply indescribable to any who have yet to experience it. In fact, trying to explain it is as easy as explaining the flavor of water. I'm glad he doesn't look at me and think "Wow she is really freaky looking all big, saggy and stretch-marked." I'm thankful that when he passes me after I've freshly stepped out of the shower, he doesn't seem to notice my massively protruding belly, boobs that have grown to unevenly rest on said belly and a butt that sticks way out thanks to my curved spine to negotiate the big belly with the hope I don't simply tip over one of these days.

On another note, I'm excited to be accused of "nesting" recently since I've decided to tackle decorating Noah's room. We went today and bought 3 gallons of paint and I came home and enthusiastically began painting the walls a beautiful shade of sapphire. I ordered the space-theme stencils early this morning and they should arrive the middle of next week. Although I'm so sore I can barely move tonight, I'm glad to feel somewhat accomplished in making sure my second-born feels as important as his brother and sister whose rooms are already decorated and painted with a cute theme to match their personalities.

Noah wanted Star Wars originally, but I knew that would be much more than I could handle, not to mention it might be more of a "phase" that he's more likely to outgrow than the cutsey outer space theme we ended up going with. I will order a specialty glow paint from the internet and paint a really neat nighttime scene of the galaxy on the ceiling so anyone in the room can see our solar system even at nighttime as they drift off to sleep. I'm hoping to get it all done before the baby is born, but if it doesn't happen to completion, it should mostly be done. I might put off the ceiling painting until I no longer am off-balance thanks to the big belly and swayed butt, although stranger things have happened and it's not uncommon to see me on the top of a ladder at 9 months pregnant.

I'm looking forward to going back to my doctor on Tuesday, in spite of the fact that I now have to get a shot for having Rh negative blood. It's routine in pregnancy to get the Rhogam shot at 28 weeks and then again after delivery if the baby is Rh positive (that's the + or - after your letter of blood type for example A- or A+). The shot itself does not hurt; in fact, I can't remember even feeling it the last few times I've had it. When I was pregnant with Lourdes, I remember not even thinking the nurse had given it to me. I literally DID NOT feel it. The anxiety of a big ol' shot going into my badonkadonk isn't overly appealing though so it makes me nervous.

I am also looking forward to being measured and having the doctor tell me if I'm back on schedule for how many weeks I am or if I'm still measuring 2 weeks big (or bigger?????). I will be 28 weeks on Tuesday. Where has time gone!? It seems to be flying by and I'm thankful to know if the baby was born right now, her survival odds are 80% with medical intervention. Although I pray to keep her in me for much longer, it's comforting to know she could and probably would survive if she came out sooner than later.

I have to do my glucose tolerance test tomorrow at our office and am SO not looking forward to it. I've had issues with low blood sugar and really gets worse when I consume a lot of sugar because then it crashes, so I'm expecting a day of turbulant blood sugar. It also means two blood draws tomorrow. Joy!!!!! I'm SURE I don't have gestational diabetes, so I'm not sure why I'm even doing this test, but the doctor wants it, so I will comply. I'm a good patient. :)

SO... some of my friends are giving me a baby shower!! Isn't that super sweet?! Seriously, I don't need anything for this loved baby and frankly, anyone who has had 4 or more kids know what I'm talking about when I say we don't go all out like we did the first or even second child. There is no "room theme" (heck, this baby won't even have a room; she'll be our roommate for as many years as we continue to live in this house), no fluffy butterfly bedding that will get folded and put away in a bottom drawer someday to be handed down to her children, etc. I have more than enough hand-me-downs from the other kids and learned through trial and error what I really need and what is more for show.

I know from experience that I don't need a Diaper Genie because I tried that with the first baby and got entirely grossed out that you can collect a month's worth of poopy diapers and pop them out of this white trashcan to look like massive white sausage links. Who cares if you can't smell it because each diaper is individually twisted off from the rest... you know what's in there!!!

I came to know that I don't need "burp cloths" because a hand towel works just fine to clean up any spit-up that makes its way to my shoulder or lap. By the 4th baby, I don't even plan on bothering to put up a towel on my shoulder to play offense. I'll just go on the defense if I get nailed. I don't plan on having a lot of clean clothes or clothes without some kind of stain. But that's what makes being a new momma kind of fun and adventurous.

Bottle sterilizers? No thanks. I have a pot and water that boils when I turn on the stove... not to mention, I hopefully won't have to use bottles, since I like to rely on the resources God gave me to nourish my babies. I guess I'm a little granola like that. Don't worry, I'll still shave my pits, wear deodorant and a little bit of makeup when I go out in public. I'm definitely pro-breastfeeding and I pity the foo' who tries to tell me not to do it. :)

Anyway, all these fun little inventions that first-time moms collect will someday be looked upon and the realization will be made that most of the neat little ideas really aren't necessary and functionality is much better than commercialization and marketing of these money-making products.

I'm thankful, though, that my awesome friends thought about me and want to celebrate the existance of my sweet little baby girl that they already love and haven't even met yet. It means so much to me to know that there are people who still value the birth of each child, whether it's the first or the fourth. I'm so blessed.

Come to the rescue!

How many times as a mother have you truly wanted to save your child? Whether it's emotionally or physically? I am the type of mom who usually tries to find the lesson and blessing in every situation and the silver lining in every cloud. Today was the exception.

I didn't sleep much last night. I don't sleep much any night for that matter, so it wasn't too far out of the norm. Between having to pee every hour to a sweet baby in my belly that wants to kick or get the hiccups, my sleep is interrupted frequently. I don't mind at all; I usually get up and find something to do since I can't go right back to sleep. Well, Thong has gotten sick and I kept waking up to check on him, make sure he didn't have a fever and walk around the house to make sure the kids were all ok and not catching what he had.

Thankfully, I browned and seasoned some meat last night and got it in the crock pot for today's meal. (YUM for beef stew!!!). Everytime I'd get up in the night, I would go to check on it and it was looking better each time. :)

Given the lack of sleep, I was tired this morning. I got up and did my routine with the kids; got Noah ready for school, fixed his breakfast, combed his hair while he ate his Cheerios and cut-up banana, brushed his teeth and off we went to school after making sure he had his bottle of water and Nutri-Grain bar for his snack.

All seemed to be going well and I decided to lay down when I got back home because Lourdes was still sleeping. I set my alarm for 10, unless she woke up before that, which would give me 35 minutes to prepare lunch for both kids and be up to the school to eat lunch with Noah by 10:45.

Just as I start to drift off to sleep, my phone rings. It's the school nurse. Noah had a runny nose this morning so I figured it was a call to let me know I should come get him or maybe he had gotten worse. Not the case.

"Mrs. Do? This is Stephanie, the school nurse. I have Noah in the office. He wet his pants. I don't have any spare underwear that are big enough to fit him, so I was wondering if you could bring him a change of clothes." Okay, first of all, YUCK on the spare undies!!! Thank goodness my child's hind-end is too big to fit in the normal kindergarten spare drawers. Second of all, what happened? I was so heartbroken for him. She told me he was in the bathroom in her office with the door locked waiting for me.

Realizing that I had not yet put Lourdes' car seat back in my car after washing the padding and cover over the weekend, I hurried to get it securely placed in the car, in spite of a massive belly that tried to get in the way, every which way I turned. Finally, I got it so it wouldn't budge and off we went with a change of clothes.

When I arrived, I found a very large child who felt very small. I wanted so badly to take away his pain. Noah is a really strong and well-spoken child, but is also very tender hearted in spite of his absolute love for Star Wars and light sabers which make him come off as being real rough and tough. I asked him what happened and he said he just didn't know. He smiled when he saw that I brought a very similar pair of shorts to him. I told him I didn't want the other kids to notice he had on something different.

I asked him if any of the other kids saw it and he said he wasn't sure. As much as I don't advocate lying, I told him just to tell anyone who might ask that he had a bottle of water in his pocket and the lid came off and got all over him. A small smile crossed his face as I presume he felt less trapped as he walked back to class.

Lourdes and I came back home and put together lunch for her and Noah and I got some tupperware out and gathered some food for Thong. As we sat in the cafeteria, Noah's teacher (who I LOVE) came up to talk to me and let me know that Noah is such a rule-follower, she thinks he just didn't want to ask for permission to go to the bathroom while they were all sitting on the round carpet listening to a story. That made me proud of him to be known as a strict rule follower, but sad to know that he would rather be humiliated than to ask to go in an emergency. (Which she allows the kids to go to the bathroom if it's an emergency, just not a regular occurrance if it's carpet time.)

After lunching with Noah and giving some extra hugs, love and words of reassurance that it would all be ok, Lourdes and I came up to the office to check on Thong and give him his food.

All in all, I think our day is turning out ok, but it was absolutely one of those times as a mom where I would have given anything to take the place of my humiliated child. The look of complete shame on his face was almost too much for this momma to take without crying.

I haven't forgotten!!!!

I love my blog. It's happy and has pretty colors.

Well, I have finally gotten caught up on my housework and laundry and boy oh boy, it feels GOOD!!!!! I can't tell you the last time my laundry was all done and put away but I hope I can keep it up! Wish me luck.

The baby has begun to kick harder and more frequently these days. I don't just feel her when I'm laying down at night in my bed holding real still, but also when I'm up and about or riding in the car, etc. It's such a sweet feeling and a quiet reminder that I have a new life growing inside of me. How lucky am I?!

While I feel VERY blessed and honored to house a growing soul, I am also frequently reminded that I'm not a young, spring chicken anymore and the aches and pains are a lot more noticeable as a 31 year old than when I was an 18 year old mother-to-be. I try my best to take it all in stride and remind myself "why" things hurt but it's hard to always stay positive. I do try though and that counts for something!!

The weeks are flying by. I can't believe I'm 24 weeks pregnant tomorrow. Talk about exciting! I don't think I'm having a baby shower, although a friend asked if I was and inquired why not since any baby at any birth order is a reason to celebrate!! I have to say I agree about celebrating a new life, but I'm not into the whole baby shower game thing and I definitely don't need anything for her (except diapers which everyone always needs)...

I am getting nervous about delivery and am not really sure why. I've never had any complications giving birth. At this point, I'm a pro!!! LOL... I know what to expect and what to do and not to do, but knowing each pregnancy and delivery is different, that unknown brings me anxiety. I asked Thong the other day if he wanted to go through a birthing class with me (again)... which I certainly don't feel the need to do, but don't want him to feel excluded from any part of this whole process, so asked in case he wanted to have at it. I had to laugh when he replied that he didn't even do anything last time to help me because I already knew what to do! I beg to differ that he didn't do anything to help, but had no choice but to laugh.

As of now, the baby's first name will be Madeleine. Thong and I discussed Vietnamese names yesterday and he suggested the name Hoai Mi' (his mom's name was Hoai which is pronounced WHY)... yes, he was serious, and NO he didn't think about what I was about to say through fits of hilarious laughter... I said you want to name our child WHY ME???????? (That's how it would be pronounced)... HAHAHAHA... He started to laugh and said he didn't think of it that way and was only thinking about the name in Vietnamese which is apparently a very well-respected name. SO THEN... I asked if he had any other ideas and one was Hue which I liked and the another that he liked was Phuoc (yes, it's pronounced how you think)... I was about to pee my pants I was laughing so hard at this point and said "This poor baby! You want to name her Phuoc Hoai Mi" I still crack up thinking about it. Bless his heart. He is so innocent. He really doesn't THINK of things like this. It takes my little convoluted mind to put it together, but thankfully ONE OF US thinks this way or our bundle of joy would be bound to relentless teasing at some point in her educational future!

Well I would write more but the kids are all off to bed and the house is finally quiet. I'm going to pull my sheets down and climb into a nice clean bed and watch some tv before drifting off to lala land. Goodnight, friends.

My Favorite Things & Clinic Update

So Oprah has her list of "Favorite Things" and as I walked up to Noah's school yesterday to have lunch with him like I do everyday, one of my favorite things hit me like a ton of feathery soft flowers. I looked down to see the sweetest little velvet-like hand perched delicately in my hand, as we took one small step after another on our way into the cafeteria. Suddenly, it dawned on me that there isn't much that I can put on my list of "Favorite Things" that can be bought. One foot in front of the other, I found myself rubbing the top of this little hand with my thumb out of habit like I do every single time I hold her hand in mine. The love I feel when I hold one of my kids hands (especially when they are smaller), is astounding.

The other day, I looked at a plate that Noah made Thong for Father's Day back when he had just turned 3 years old. I was amazed at how big his hand was. I took the plate over to Lourdes and had her put her hand on top of the painted piece where Noah's hand once imprinted and noted a full 1" difference between sizes. It is amazing to see how much of a difference there is in size between siblings at the same age. Anytime I hold Landen or Noah's hand, it's actually like holding a man's hand. I will tell them that too. Landen's hands are now officially bigger than mine and Noah's are almost as big. How are they getting so big so fast?! Thankfully, Lourdes is my slow grower and has kept that feeling of having a baby in the house a little longer than it felt with either one of my big boys.

Before you know it, we'll have another sweet little girl in our house to hold our hands and steal our hearts. :)

I went to MD Anderson and had my ultrasound done. Normally they don't have wait but this time they did. Once I was finally taken back into the ultrasound room and left there for another 30 minutes to sit on the barely-cushioned gurney in my gown that opened to the back, I realized how cold it was in there. The tech finally came in and introduced herself. She seemed pleasant enough but spoke not a word to me the entire time, unless it was to tell me to turn my head to the left, right or look straight up. After she was done, she told me that my results would be sent up to my doctor and he would go over them with me at my next appointment on March 3rd. The last ultrasound I had done (2 years ago), they told me they did not see anything abnormal so that I wouldn't wait in wonder between ultrasound day and appointment day. This time she didn't say that, and I didn't dare ask. As much as I wanted to know, I didn't. And I didn't want to hear her tell me that it's "policy" that they do not discuss the findings with the patient. So I just left.

As I walked down the long hallway, I saw Thong step out from one of the many waiting rooms. He told Lourdes "Here comes mommy!" She saw me and took off running as fast as she could toward me with her little arms stretched outright toward me. She hugged me as hard as she could when she reached me and said "Mommy did you go and get your baby out of your belly!?" Sweet little soul. She thought we were there to get the baby out of my belly. I told her no and she disappointedly said "So the baby is still in your tummy?" Yes, dear heart, the baby is still in my tummy.

Non-patients fall into one of two categories. They either are overly chatty and try to find out what kind of cancer everyone with a wristband has/had, or they deliberately try not to make eye contact with anyone for fear the patient will feel like they're being stared at. I encountered both. I also encountered children. The sunglasses were immediately lowered from the top of my head down onto my face. Thankfully, I was able to keep any tears from falling out of my eyes while I was in the building, but once the car was brough back around from Valet and I got inside and we pulled away, they freely flowed. The look of despairity among the children whose little bald heads walked the hallways or sat silently in their wheelchairs is so much more sad than I could ever accurately describe in any post. I saw both boys and girls with big blue surgical masks and latex gloves hanging on their little hands, too big to fit right, but doing the job of keeping germs away from their bodies. Not one of the little ones I saw yesterday was older than I'd say 8 years old. It's not a children's cancer center specifically, but it is the best cancer clinic in the world, so it's no surprise people take their children there for treatment.

Thong treated me to the best Mediterranean food EVER at a little restaurant about 5 minutes from the clinic. It's my favorite place to go and a must-stop location any time I go downtown. I was starving and got a little carried away with everything I was ordering. We left there having spent $68 and carrying 3 big plastic bags stuffed with food. Delicious food. I will eat it all in the next few days. Just you watch. It's THAT good. Plus, I'd feel awful to waste any of it, especially after he didn't even blink twice when we were given our total as he handed over his credit card.

Today is a beautifully cloudy day and right now it's 61 degrees. I am motivated to get this laundry done if it's the last thing I do today and don't worry, the socks WILL be folded right. :)

Headaches, Hormones and Hemmorhoids, OH MY!!

Okay, so thankfully, I'm not dealing with any of the above... TODAY. Been there, done that. But not today! I am, however, the recipient of some not so great lab work. Last Saturday, I drew my labs and while most came back great (most importantly, showing no cancer odds increase for my thyroid)... I had a CBC come back TNP (Test Not Performed) because it had clotted. I noticed that within 3-4 minutes, my SST (Serum Seperator Tube/Tiger Top) tubes had already clotted, when it should take around 20 minutes to fully clot. This concerned me. Well, when the results from THAT lab came back, they weren't able to do the CBC because it had clotted too. This is abnormal because there is an anti-coagulant added to the tube for the CBC specifically so that it does not clot.

I put in a call for my OB/GYN but have not heard back from him yet. His nurse called me to verify the details of my voicemail but I didn't get a call back as of this morning. (First call was 2 days ago). Thong says it's normal for blood to thicken in pregnancy and I've always been a "fast clotter" but never in 3-4 minutes!!! Although he is an amazing doctor, he's still the guy whose undies I wash and sometimes it's hard for me to differentiate between super smartie pants doctor and husband. I do trust his opinion, but typically like to get second opinions just to verify. Especially given that this could be pregnancy related. I wanted to check with my OB.

I decided to re-draw my CBC yesterday and it came back today. It didn't clot, thankfully!!!!!! (Could have been a lab error or maybe I didn't put enough blood in the original tube????) It did show that I am anemic though! Maybe this would help to explain my fatigue lately? Aside from the fact that I am building a human being one cell at time, this could be contributing!!!

Back onto the iron supplements. Oh joy. Who doesn't enjoy a bit of consitpation now and then? I certainly wave my hand in eager excitement!!! At least it's not vomiting though. I literally can deal with ANYTHING beside vomiting or nausea. That, to me, is the absolute worst thing IN THE WORLD that I have ever gone through. (And I've been through a lot!)

Today I have to go downtown to MD Anderson for my ultrasound on my thyroid; which I wrote about yesterday. I'm super nervous just because it's a draining experience to go through when I go down there. Thong took some time from work to drive me down there, THANKFULLY so that is one less thing for me to worry about!!! Walking into the building, though, brings the tears and feelings of life being all too real, into perspective. Every which way you look, you see someone lacking color in their skin, or a shade of cancer-grey... loss of hair, heads lowered in exhaustion and sadness as the poisonous chemotherapy drips into their vein one drop at at a time as they sit in their wheelchair wondering how they got there.

On the flip side, MD Anderson is a beautiful facility. Everywhere you look, there is a gorgeous fishtank with big, colorful tropical fish. Any table you sit at has a puzzle that has usually been partially put together and there are employees and volunteers everywhere you look who are willing to help.

This place brings about hope and despair all in one fell swoop. I am thankful we have such a state-of-the-art facility this close to home and I'm thankful I am able to get my post-cancer follow-up care performed here. I trust them.

I am hopeful that the pregnancy hormones don't mix with my usual emotions that overcome me as I maneuver my way throughout the massive complexes, going from one wing to another in my attempt to find the location I need to go for my ultrasound. (It's MASSIVE). The shuttles they run between inner corridor-linked buildings is a nice distraction from the otherwise long and tedious walk that goes on for miles (or so it feels).

I already find myself wearing my sunglasses every time I am in this building because I just can't typically fight the tears. Especially when I see a little kid who is obviously struck with cancer. You look at a child then glance up at their mom or dad who is trying their best to be brave but your eyes lock and they give the look of desperation to please help this child. Pray for them. Anything... You can't leave this building not being more thankful than when you entered, though, that's for sure. Whether you're more thankful for your own health or that of your family, you leave there closer to God and more appreciative of what you have. Those who have the "woe is me" attitude should go volunteer at a cancer clinic for a day. If they leave there still feeling like life is just horrible, they either have one heck of a bad situation they're battling that is true, or are hopelessly selfish.

Well, it's almost 9 and I have to go shower and get ready to go run some errands after having lunch with Noah, but before we leave for my appointment. I am happy to announce my new flat iron arrived yesterday and it is amazing!! It took me a few minutes to get used to how to use it to curl my hair but once I got it, I got it!! I'm looking forward to using it again today. It only took about 10 minutes to go from flat to awesome waves/curls in my locks!

Cleaning House

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day fighting fatigue and cleaning the house. I managed to get quite a bit done, but am a far cry from where I need to be. Hopefully by the end of the day today, I will be able to sit back and enjoy a fully clean house... at least the downstairs. Not sure if climbing the stairs is even an option today. LOL. Thankfully, all that's upstairs is the media room, game room and a bathroom, nothing too pressing!!

Have you ever had a really bad cold where you are both super congested, can't breathe through your nose at all, yet find yourself constantly wiping the snot that drips out of each nostril? That's how I feel about laundry. It seems to always be clean, but within hours, it's dripping out again from somewhere. I really do wish I could find someone who would come in and do my laundry... the RIGHT way so I could do the rest of my responsibilities. The problem comes with finding someone who will do it correctly. And yes, there is a right way to do laundry!

Let's start with hanging and folding. First of all, nothing should ever be hung or folded inside out. To me, this is common sense, but apparently not everyone feels the same. I know this because when I had the housekeepers coming regularly while I was sick, I asked them to do laundry one day. Not common sense apparently, as I still find things now and then that were hung inside out.

Second of all, if you are looking at the front of a shirt, the open part of the hanger (that goes on the rod) should open to the left. This, so that when you're flipping through the closet to find a shirt, all face the same direction and you don't have to look to the right then to the left to see what's printed on which shirt.

Next, let's look at the subject of SOCKS. Socks can be folded about a thousand different ways, but only my way is the right way. (kidding... kind of). They should be placed on top of each other, folded once in half then tucked inside of each other completely. The final result should look like a bullet that can be chucked across any room with precision. No loose ends, no partial fold over the top, etc.

I suppose my list of needs for laundry isn't too great, but I do admit to having insecurities about telling someone else how to do my laundry when I can't even seem to get it done myself. People probably see the baskets we're living out of and think that I must not care if they ball it up and shove it in the drawer. Au Contraire!!!! I think somewhere along the lines of my life, I've developed the mentality of do it right or don't do it at all. Unfortunately, I take the latter approach. I get my laundry clean and dry and manage to hang up anything that requires hanging straight from the dryer (so it avoids wrinkles with the hope people "outside" don't know about my inability to keep up with my laundry!) but things that require folding are a whole other ballgame. Towels are ok because they're big, bulky and make me feel like I'm making progress. Socks, underwear, undershirts, etc... yeah, that's my vice... and I'm not even so sure that it's a matter of folding, but the putting away that gets me!!! I think my family (except for Lourdes) is old enough to come in where the clothes have been folded and grab their pile (I also stack according to clothing type and owner so all they have to do is literally put it in their drawer. What usually ends up happening, though, is the neatly stacked multiple piles strategically placed all over my king-size bed wind up in the floor at the end of the day because nobody came to get them after I told them they were done. By the time I'm ready to go to bed, exhausted beyond clear vision, things get laid in the floor (stacked neatly) with the hope they will get them the next day... Without fail, someone will come in, in the middle of the night, stumble around, knocking over every last bit of clothes and it's again in a huge pile come morning time.

Clearly you can see my battle.

Now that I've wasted a ton of space talking about random laundry (what fun that was!), I'll move on to another subject. By the way, I type over 120 words per minute, so it doesn't take me but about 5 minutes to write out everything that comes into my mind. Don't think I waste my entire day doing blogging. I'm usually doing it while I'm on the... well, let's just say I multitask. (ROFL).

My boys have taken piano lessons for over a year now from the same teacher. She is from Brazil and owned a music store/shop over there. She is absolutely a lovely human being. So sweet, soft spoken (Like Michelle Duggar) and patient. Rounding the bend on to giving birth to a 4th child, I've come to realize that I need to find alternatives to things I've been doing that accomplish the same goal, while simplifying my own schedule and life. She has so many students, she has them come to her house, versus going to theirs. After much thought, I decided it would be best for me if I could find someone to come to my house so I could keep doing house-things, (whether that means cooking, neverending laundry, cleaning or just dealing with kids.). The current teacher has thousands of teeny, tiny breakable things all over her house. Primarily in the area of the piano and where we sit to wait while each child does their lessons. This makes me nervous!!! I have 3 kids in there and the smaller two want to touch EVERYTHING. Anyway, I've found someone (who is in her mid-late 60's and has played since first grade) to come to the house and teach the kids. She charges the same amount too as the lady we use now! (Bonus!!) Needless to say, I'm excited to embark on this new adventure which won't require me to even leave the house!

So tomorrow, I have to go to MD Anderson Cancer Clinic. I didn't have a thyroid ultrasound last year; the doctor said I could go two years between scans, so this is my first in 2 years. I am nervous!! Even though the blood work came back good, how can I help but be nervous?! Not to mention, the 3 hours it takes me to get there (yes, it should only take 45, but I always get lost because the freeways scare me, so I drive inside streets.) They don't ever schedule the scan on the same days as the appointment with the doctor, which totally stinks because that means TWO TRIPS down there within a week or two's time. Wish me luck!!

Well, it's about that time again. I have to go get ready to go to Noah's school to have my daily lunch with him. When we decided to put him into public school, I made the decision to go eat lunch with him everyday with the goal of avoiding any exposure to peanuts by other students. He loves it and so does Lourdes. It's nice to see him during his day and get to talk to him (plus he's still not embarrassed to hug on me in front of all his buddies).

Catching up...

I used to blog... it was therapeutic, enjoyable and relaxing, but I wasn't sure if anyone really wanted to read about the ins and outs of my daily, monotonous life. I stopped for years but after finding such joy in reading others' blogs, decided to pick it back up. I'm not sure what happened to my old blog; can't even remember the name of it in fact. Oh well. This one has been hanging around for a long time, but now it will be used. I'll do my best to keep it real while hopefully making it interesting. If you blog and I get as much joy out of reading yours, I hope to give you some joy in reading mine... and if you don't blog, you should think about it!

So to catch up on events to date, I'm pregnant with our fourth baby ~ Another girl!! This makes two girls and two boys. We are so excited and looking forward to welcoming our first summer baby at the end of June. Her name will be Madeleine Elizabeth, although she will have a Vietnamese name between the two. Her daddy still has to think of some names he likes then once I give it the final seal of approval, that will be her official name. We debated on keeping her name a secret until after she was born in case it brought about criticism, but were too excited to keep quiet about it. (Word of caution, don't criticize a pregnant woman about the name she's chosen for her child after it's been set...). She will be called Madeleine, not Maddie, Mad-Dog or any other typical "nickname" that comes along with the name.

The other kids are super excited about welcoming another baby to the family, although Lourdes took a while to accept her title of "big sister." She insisted that she would not be a big sister and would cry in protest (literally). We had to tell her she'd have a little sister but that she wouldn't be a "big" sister. Apparently she likes everything associated with her to be little. (Which seems fitting since she is pretty petite for her age.)

Landen and Noah are looking forward to having a new dynamic and spirit in this home, in spite of the fact that Noah was pretty disappointed on his new baby sister not being a baby brother. He's come to terms now with it and is excited. (Thank goodness, because there's not a whole lot I could do about it anyway at this point.)

For those who ask if this is "it" for us... well, if you would have asked me that question while I was in the throws of morning sickness, I'd have told you absolutely!! BUT, now that I'm done throwing up all day everyday, I can't imagine saying for sure this is it. It took me 12 months and fertility drugs to conceive this baby after a prior miscarriage, so she was definitely very much desired. I can't say right now that I'd go through all of that again (fertility drugs, taking temps, getting shots, monthly "follicle scans", the constant rise in hope and subsequent disappointment, etc.) but if it happened naturally out of God's will, I'd certainly welcome it. I stop and think that if I would have never had another child after things were rough with Landen, I wouldn't have Noah. If I would have stopped after Noah, I wouldn't have Lourdes... and if I would have stopped after her, I wouldn't have this little miracle hiccuping in my belly right now. I'm not one of those people who just feel like "this is the last one..." or "this one completes my family." I've never been a girl who said "I only want 2 kids and that's it." Even when I was little, I knew I wanted six kids. I don't know if I'll make that childhood goal, but it's certainly not out of the question if it's in God's plan for me.

Lately, I made the decision to go through my tens of thousands of pictures over the last few years and print out the good ones and put them in photo albums. As I cleaned my closet out the other day, I came across quite a few old photo albums that I used to be diligent about keeping up and it dawned on me that online photo storage is so not even close to being as special as prints that you can flip through. It will take me a while and I will print them as I get coupons from Sam's Club (who is the cheapest) or Shutterfly when they offer their promotions for free prints (pay for shipping still), but my goal for this year is to get a large portion of these memories printed and put in photo albums. Wish me luck!!