Thoughts

No one told me that when you have 4 children, there is never enough time or energy to go around. Especially when you are the only parent most of the time. Lately I feel so pulled in so many directions. Ayden and Thatcher are still very little so they need lots of attention for every day things. Caroline and Kylie are older but they need help with homework and they need to study. They also need to chat about thier friends and thier day. By the time they go to bed, I basically just sit very still and try to empty out my brain. I am usually physically tired but not as much as I am emotionally exhausted. I have also learned that no matter how good a husband you have they will never take the place of mom. Trust me, I have one of the best guys out there and yet I still am needed more than he is.

My next thought revolves around our move. It hurts my heart to see Caroline tear up when we talk about moving. She is so grown up about it and understands we have to do it but the bottom line is she is only 7 yrs old. This house is her home. She is very close to my mom and sisters. Then she loves her school, her friends. She has some very special little girls as her friends and it tears me up that I have to take her away from them. I know that this is all God's will and this will all work out for the good. I have explained that to Caroline a million times. The problem is no matter how great it will be down the road, it is going to be miserable right now. The mother in me does not want my precious little girl to hurt at all. I am very thankful that we have been able to teach her about God and how he can be a rock when you need someone to lean on. I hope that by giving her that gift, she will lean on Him and he will comfort her. I am trying but I am not quite as powerful as He is.

My brave little girls

I must confess. I am a horrible mom when it comes to keeping my kids up to date with thier shots. I have torn opinions about vaccinations. I just worry about giving my babies so many vaccinations at one time. I also HATE bringing my kids to get a shot. Well due to this, my girls are behind on thier shots. This has not been such a big deal, since they go to private school and the school doesn't push the issue. Well as of January, we are going to public school. I brought them on Monday to get shots. It worked out okay, Kylie had to get 3 actual shots (not sure how many vaccinations) and Caroline had to get 4 to catch them up to date. I had promised them that if they did not pitch a huge fit we could go get ice cream afterwards. I was pretty sure Caroline was going to be okay. She is my little toughy. Kylie, on the other hand, I feared for the nurse's life. She is our drama queen by far. So I have to admit, that I was more than impressed when neither of them cried, screamed, or hit the nurse. In fact, neither of them even flinched. My kids surprise every day.

In other news, we close on the house tomorrow. I go next Mon. and Tues. to clean the house, and tour the girls new school. Then 1 1/2 week from today we move all of our things over there. The kids and I will come back for thier last week of school. It is very exciting and terrifying at the same time.

Everyone has been sick.

It all started two weeks ago, about 4 am on a Saturday morning. Ayden woke up whining and breathing rather funny. He would grunt like he was in pain and then just constantly whine. We gave him his bottle and he eventually went back to sleep. Well he woke up again at 6 am and was doing the same thing only this time he felt warm. We took his temp and it was 99 degrees. I started rocking him and trying to comfort him. I was moving his limbs trying to figure out if maybe something hurt. He continue to whine and grunt and he was constantly getting warmer. His fever spiked from 99 to 104.6 in 20 mins. I remembered my mom telling me that babies under 2 months do not run fever that high unless something is seriously wrong. So Jeremy packed him up and took him to the E.R.. About 9 am, Jeremy texted me to let me know that Ayden was being admitted and they thought he had pnemonia. Of course, I called a babysitter and headed up to the hospital. Over the next two days, we learned that he did not have pnemoinia but Group B strep. Something pregnant moms can give to thier babies when they deliver. I was tested for it and my results came back negative but I was told I could be a carrier and it would not show on the test. We spent Sat. through Thurs. in the hospital rotating between the hospital and home. Jeremy spent most nights and I did the days. My mom and Pud came over to help when we need them. Ayden spent 6 days on IV antibiotics and then we took him up to the hospital for 8 days to get antibiotic injections. He had a spinal tap but they were not able to get enough spinal fluid so they are treating him like he has menigitis.(which is what most babies get with Group B Strep). He goes to get his hearing checked next week to see if his hearing was affected by any of this. We thank God every day, this could have been so much worse.

While we were in the hospital Kylie developed a cough and then it turned into a fever and a cough. That Wed., Jeremy took Kylie to the dr. to find out she had an upper respitory infection. Friday, Caroline was running fever. Saturday, Thatcher woke up breathing like Darth Vader. We watched him closely and took him to the dr. on Monday to find out he had croup. Then Caroline started to run fever again on Wednesday, only to find out she had bronchitis.

That has been my last two weeks. I have been to the dr. for each child and to the Walgreens pharmacy every day this week. The pharmacist knows me by name now. Everyone has been on antibiotics and it seems like it is all starting to look up. All the kiddos are feeling better. Now you notice through all of this, I have not been sick. This worries me, because what usually happens is everyone gets better and I get sick. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hopeing that I might have just missed being sick this time.

Even though the last 2 weeks have been rough, I have been reminded every day that we are truly blessed. My kiddos made me smile and laugh when I was so tired. My husband helps in so many ways and gives me a break anytime he can. Hopefully now we can get back to packing, enjoying our last holiday in this house and moving on to our new home!

A big change is coming!

It has been awhile since I have written anything on here. I seem to have all these great ideas on things to write but never quite enough time. I figured that we should update everyone on what is going on over here.

Over the majority of the last 3 years, Jeremy has worked away from home for 5 days a week, only coming home for the weekends. It has been estremely hard considering I was pregnant through 18 months of that. His home office is in Metaire but his job takes him to different courthouses in LA and TX. I have to say the reason he has stuck with it this long is because he loves his job and is very good at it. We always said that we would move closer to his office eventually, but we live close to my family and have had lots of help while he was away. I was always scared we would move over there only for him to go to work in some place like Shreveport and not be any closer to home. Well in Aug. his boss told him that the majority of the work he wanted Jeremy to work on would be in the New Orleans area.

So we sat down and went over everything and well we figured out finiancially we couldn't move. I was really bummed. It looked like it would be at least 2 more years before we could move over there. Jeremy was going to miss everything from soccer games to first steps. I remember crying to my mom about how we were never going to live together again, about how I had not signed on to be a mom with a husband who "visits" on the weekends. My mom (who is rather wise sometimes) reminded me that when it was in God's plan things would just fall into place. That night Jeremy called me to let me know his mom and dad had decided to help us buy a house in Mandeville (about 30 mins. from Jeremy's office). I was dumb struck. I know I should know by now that God can do all things but I guess, I am still learning.

Since then everything seems to be moving kinda fast. We decide that we would try to be over there by the time Christmas break was over so the girls could start school at the begining of a semester. We made a bid on one house, only for it the fall through. We are now negotiating on our second house, which I might add, is our favorite. It is going to be very hard, my kids family is here. I will miss my sisters terribly. Caroline is leaving some very good friends. It is one of the hardest things I have had to explain to her. But overall, I know God has a plan for my family and I and I am very excited to start this new adventure in our lives.

Funny things

Everyone knows that when you have children, you never know what will come out of thier mouths and when it will happen. I thought it would be funny to share some of the things said at our house. With 3 kids talking, we have plenty to share.





Mommy: "Kylie did you go to speech class this week?"


Kylie: "nope"


Mommy: "Are you sure?"


Kylie: "no mommy, I didn't go."


Mommy: "Are you sure Kylie? The speech teacher said she would start this week."


Kylie (said with exasperation): "Does it sound like I went to speech class?"

We have a refrigerator where you can get water out of the door. Kylie is waiting for her turn behind Jeremy. Jeremy is filling up a huge cup. Kylie's comment" Daddy, hurry up! You are holding everyone up!" A few seconds later from Kylie "Daddy thats enough water, you are going to teetee in bed!"

I asked Caroline the other day if there was a little boy in her class named Cameron. Her reply is "yes, and he is, like, sooo in love with Mia (caroline's best friend). It is just so awkward when he is around." Later that night she asks me "Mommy, what does awkward mean?"

Kylie: "Caroline, do you know what daddy does for a job?"

Caroline: "Nope"

Kylie: " He is a Landman. That means he goes out and finds land for other people."

As you can tell our comedian is Kylie. She doesn't mean to be but she seems to think much differently than most 5 yr olds. Caroline is our reasonable one and Thatcher is our stunt man. Only time will tell were Ayden fits into this group.

The end of a very long month...

I have considering writing a blog about the events of August. For some reason, the task is just too overwhelming so I decided to give you a summary of everything that has happened.

Begining of August: Ayden is born.
Kylie starts Kindergarten.
Caroline starts 2nd grade.
Jeremy celebrates his 28th birthday.
End of August: Jeremy gets a raise.
We celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary in the ER.
Kendra is extremely sick for a week due to gall stones left
from a former surgery and the wrong medication.
Thatcher turns 2.
We all recover and prepare for Jeremy to go back to work in
New Orleans.

Now here are some pictures from August:

Little Ayden has arrived!!

Ayden James made his appearance into the world on August 4, 2009 at 2:37 pm. He weighed in at 8lbs 1oz (exactly what the ultrasound said the day before) and was 20 inches long. I went in Monday, August 3rd at 10 pm. They hooked me up to a monitor and said his heartbeat was a little strange so they were going to watch him for awhile before the induction. We did not start the induction until about 2 am. I had my water broken about 9 am and my epidural in at about 11 am. I have to admit this was my hardest labor yet. The contractions seemed to start much stronger than the other times and they didn't seem to make as much progress considering how much they hurt. I do not know how I did it mostly natural with Caroline. The only thing I can figure is that when you go in with your first, you are much more rested. I was exhausted before I even stepped into the hospital. My epidural did wonders and took most of my pain away. The delivery went smoothly and my dr. was prepared for my tendency to hemorrahage. So when I started, I got tons of drugs to stop the bleeding. Needless to say, I was horribly sick for about 30 mins. after the delivery. Overall though, it was very nice to have a normal delivery without any big complications.

We were able to go home the next day and everyone is doing fine. The girls love having a baby around and even Thatcher has taken to Ayden. Thatcher points at Ayden and says "my baby, mine." Ayden is much different than Thatcher already. He seems to be fiestier, LOL! He does not like being messed with, so he screams when his diaper gets changed or we change his clothes. Everytime he opens his eyes, he wants food. Kinda funny since, it seems like he eats more even though he is the smallest of them. Here are a few pictures of Ayden.