My Baby Is 8!

Today, my baby turns 8. I remember so clearly the emotions I felt when we found out we were pregnant. It was completely unplanned, but we knew that God was in charge and had a plan. It was an emotional last trimester with 9/11 happening. All of the pregnant moms who had just lost their husbands in this great tragedy struck so close to my heart. I will always remember them and the sacrifice they have made. 

It was a scary delivery that brought along emotions we had never felt before. From birth to about age 3, we went through so much with our E. medically. The emotions are still fresh from the pain, procedures, and surgery that she had to have. It is amazing how much love you can have for someone.

E. has brought so much joy to our lives, and we couldn't imagine life without her. She is a sweet, caring little girl (well, I guess not that little anymore). She is the 2nd mommy to A. and a teacher to G. and all her friends. She is growing up to be so kind and gentle. I have high hopes for her teenage years.

I know some how we will probably screw our kids up and they will need therapy at some point :). But I just pray that I will have been a good enough Godly example to her as a mother and a wife.

Happy Birthday to our first gift from God. We love you so much!

Horse Time!

 

Once again, Craigslist's free section has come to my rescue. Our E. wanted so desperately to go horseback riding for her birthday. We are completely experiencing the economic status right now so I started researching how much horse riding would be. Of course, it turned out to be completely too expensive. I turned to friends to see if anyone had a horse and then I was once again on Craigslist.

Then I saw it "Free Horse Rides"! I just knew God had put it there just for me. I immediately called. It turns out that Victory Farms is only a few miles from our house (303 and Waddell).  

They wanted $5 for each girl to ride for 20 minutes (they also offer a 2 hour camp for $12 per kid).   So for $15 the girls rode for about 45 minutes (guess this B1G1 is for all new customers, she has other deals on the website under programs.)  We probably could have extended this if we wanted too, but everyone had had enough.

It was absolutely PERFECT!!!!  Each girl got up and rode all by themselves.  And they each took a turn with A.  They also visited the other horses on the farm and got to pet them. 

Originally we were thinking about a trail ride, but soon decided that wouldn't be ideal for us right now. My girls have never been on horses and we wanted something that was cheap and could give them a taste as to what riding a horse was like. My E. is also very afraid of new things and I didn't want to pay out the nose for something she may not even like.

 Even A. was brave enough to get up there by herself.  She really enjoyed it, except for the helmet was a little big.

With the Tyk Rides, the parents get to lead the horse around.  We got to ride Buddy today.  You can go in the pen or walk around the neighbor hood.I completely recommend checking them out. We had so much fun and here are the pics to prove it. 

 Happy Birthday Emily!

Fibro Friday - What is a Flare-up?

The Best Offense Is, Indeed, a Good Defense

Some of you might hear me say that I am in a "flare-up" and you might not understand exactly what that is. So I thought I would just take some time to explain it.


In my everyday life, I have my good days and bad days. And then there are the flare-ups, where everyday is a bad day. Flare-ups can last for a few days, a few weeks, or even months. After I had Annabelle, I felt like I was in a flare-up for over a year. My flare-up that I have been in now is finally starting to ease up, (which is about time it has already been over 4 weeks).

On an everyday basis, I have my usual symptoms and complications from FM that range from mild to severe. During a flare-up you can get a sudden onset of more severe symptoms, more pain, or get every symptom possible all at once. It really varies from person to person.


There are times when I can figure out exactly what triggered my flare-up and other times it just seems to happen. Once again, that is completely different for each FM suffer. Some things that can bring on a flare-up are: depression, interrupted sleep patterns, changes in weather, physical and emotional stress , and other illnesses can contribute to a flare-up.


For those of you with FM, it is important that you have a Personal Fibromyalgia Symptoms Flare-Up Management Plan. Having a plan a head of time, can make you feel more in control and give you the strength to get through your flare-up. The website link above gives some great tips for helping you get through your flare-up. For me, getting control of my mental thoughts during a flare-up is very important. That completely controls how well I handle a flare-up.


I have linked a few websites that offer some great tips for managing and helping you get through your flare-up.

It's Time!

Today has been a long day, but a good one. After another cell phone taking a bath, I have my lifeline back. But the other part of my day has been dealing with Annabelle and weaning of the binky.

It all started yesterday afternoon/evening. She was leaving with my hubby and we couldn't find her binky. So she took a binky with her that she didn't like to hold in her hand. I purposely didn't look for the binky while she was gone. When she got home, she had been fine. I gave her the binky she didn't like at bed, but she just threw it on the floor and slept the whole night with NO binky!!!!

So far today, she has been pretty whiny at times, but it's been survivable. I was really dreading nap time. I laid her down at the normal time and let's just say that didn't work. After working with her for like 2 hours to take a nap, we had to leave to pick up the school girls. Luckily on the way home she got pretty sleepy and went down without a problem.

With my second girl, she did awesome at night with no binky but nap time was horrible. That's when she stopped taking naps. With my FM and 3 children, I cannot have Annabelle stop taking naps right now. So let's just hope and pray that naps will get figured out.

Originally, my hubby wasn't ready yet to get rid of the binky, but if the opportunity comes up you minds well take it.

Friend to the rescuueee!!!

Finally, we have pictures. After we were stood up by the other photographer, I thought we were out of luck for pictures. And then my friend came to the rescue! She is starting up a picture taking business and wanted to use my girls are her test subjects :).

I went ahead and put the girls in white shirts and khaki shorts. But I was not sure what to do with their hair (because Gracey is growing out her bangs and it still at an awkward point). So we went with pony tails. Since my girls new the friend pretty well, they did awesome. They had so much fun. I did have to go hide a bit away from Annabelle because she started getting whiny and wanted mommy. But as soon as I was gone, she did great. She ended up posing and having fun.

So thank you friend, we are soooo happy with the pictures. They turned out awesome!

I want a "Lovey"

Don't you wish we had a "lovey" that would make the world all better?

Two of my girls were major binky and blankie babies (the other one only had a binkie). My Annabelle was desperately crying for her blankie the other day. As we found it, she layed it out on my shoulder, put her head on it, and stopped crying. And that's when I wondered... what would it be like if we had something that would take it all away and make it all better?

There are those days that you just wish you weren't an adult and you didn't have to deal with adult things. You wish you didn't have to make those adult decision, but you know you must. We sometimes long for the days where we didn't have a care in the world. What would your "lovey" be?

As I am writing this, I am being reminded that we do have our own "lovey." Jesus is my lovey. He is there for me to cry on, for me to crawl in His arms and make it all better. He is our ONLY saving grace. He is our very own protector and comforter, and make-it-all-better person. He is the one and only that can give us the comfort and support we need.

Fibro Friday - It's not in my head!

Being a FM sufferer, it is so hurtful and frustrating when you hear people say "Oh, it's all in your head!" Don't they realize how mean and completely ignorant a statement like that is? Have they ever tried to spend a day in my shoes to see what I really go through? No, they are talking about something they have no personal or medical understanding about.

Do I wake up every morning saying "Oh, please let me be in pain today, please let me have no energy to take care of my children, or clean my house." No, it's not in my head. It is a true, physical disorder. If only people would take the time to get to know "it" and it's sufferers a little better.

Now, I admit, I have a great "face" I can put on in public, while inside I am feeling horrible and I am in so much pain I really need to sit down and take some pain medicine. I guess I do this as a defense mechanism, a way to not complain and tell everyone every single thing (because honestly I wouldn't want to hear it all), and it's just easier than trying to explain something that people can't see.

I almost wish people could see my everyday life because they would truly know how I am affected. But that would be scary all in itself because in a world where I am trying to act like a normal mom people would be able to see that I am really not normal. They would see the days that I take care of my family all from my bed, how sad I am that I just can't get up and clean or do something fun with my kids.

So take some time to learn about your family and friends and their diseases or illnesses. We don't really want too much from you, just some understanding and sympathy rather than a comment like "it's all in your head."