Peekaboo…Guess who!

Yep, thats right, you aren’t rid of me totally. I’m up sick tonight, and am actually using my phone as a modem to get online. I have no idea if this will even post…lol its worth a shot though.

Living with the in laws isn’t as stressful as it could be. The main stress is H-O-T weather keeping all four kids inside and pent up with way to much energy.

Life back home is, well, like we never left. We just slipped back into our old routine, and old habits. Its been nice, you really can come home again.

Casanova got a job right away, unfortunately it didn’t work out, so we’re looking again. His unemployment has yet to go through, and due to the ten hours he worked at that job, it will be delayed a while while they “investigate” to make sure he did everything he could do about the situation. It would be so easy to flip out, and stress my days away, but really, what a waste would that be?

The other day my father in law came to us with an idea, one that could change our lives forever. I’m excited, very excited to see where it could take us.

We’re still in the very beginning stages, where the idea is just that, an idea, but we’re wanting to move quickly, and hopefully I’ll be able to share more with you soon.

We’re also busy planning Diva’s 10th birthday party. We’re having a Hollywood themed party, red carpet and all. Its all very exciting.

I hope to be able to share pictures soon, and I am working on catching up on my blog reading. And, hopefully soon, we’ll have stable internet access. I miss ya’ll! Hope your summer is starting out great!

Stinkerbell is 6!!

Six years ago. I woke up around 4:30 am feeling crampy and icky. I was overdue with my third child.

I woke Casanova and told him if I was still feeling the same at 5 that he should call the midwife.  About 15 minutes later, I decided we weren’t waiting. So I woke him again and said CALL! He rolled over, looked at the clock said “Its not 5” and tried to go back to sleep. Since our midwife had at least a 45 minute drive, and my labors are fast and furious, I insisted he call.

I went and got into the warm bath to try and sooth my body during the contractions that now seemed to come right on top of each other.   The plan was to have a water birth. We had bought the pool, had it all inflated and ready to go.

The midwife showed up around 6:30 and I was in the tub working through the contractions, when Casanova came in and said he had to run to wal mart to pick up attachments for the sink to fill the pool. Um, nope. Gone were my visions of a water birth. I was concentrating to hard to freak about it though. Sitting in the hard bathtub was getting increasingly more painful, so I decided to switch to the shower, and let the water hit my back. This felt perfect, but I needed support, so on a whim I yanked Casanova into the shower with me. He was fully dressed, shoes, wallet everything. He scrambled to get his valuables out of the water as the contractions came rolling one after another. The hot water ran out and the midwife asked me to get out so I could be checked. I got out and gripped the bathroom sink while another contraction siezed my body. It was then that my water broke.

“Oh Crap!” were my words. I knew from experience that once the water broke it was about to get  HARD. I tried to lay down for the midwife to check me, but couldn’t. My body wasn’t having it. I squatted at the bottom of our bed and started saying “I can’t do this!” Casanova just smiled, because he knew that was transition for me, and baby wasn’t far behind.

The urge to push suddenly overcame me, and I couldn’t NOT push. I didn’t ask, I just said I’m pushing! It was 7:40am.

Perfect and beautiful, Stinkerbell entered this world at 7:42 am. May 12, 2004.

She was healthy, and perfect, and I was doing great. Casanova went and got me a McDonalds  hot breakfast while she and I were being monitored. I nursed her for the first time, she dozed off to sleep, and Casanova and I climbed back into our bed and took a well deserved nap. Life went on as it always had, she just fit right into the routine.

It was my one and only homebirth and I’d do it over again and again if I could.

She was full of personality from the beginning and every day has been an adventure.

She comes by her nickname honestly. She can be a stinker.

But she’s also oh so sweet. Just bats those big baby blue eyes, and thinks she can get away with anything.

 

Happy 6th Birthday Stinkerbell! I love you so!

And the hits just keep on coming!

I miss you all so much! But life is a whirlwind right now!

 

We’re moving! Back to East Texas. So my life is now an ocean of boxes, packing tape and sharpies.

 

Crazy crazy life I tell ya!

 

Soon I hope to tell you all about it, and what has transpired over these past few weeks. Just rest assured, I haven’t forgotten about ya’ll and hope to get back to posting soon.

Where am I?

I posted over here today! (BTW: since going back 'on the wagon' I'm down 8 pounds!) So click over and leave some love. Not only for me, but for all the other wonderful peeps on this journey!

I’m still alive!

I’m still here. Survived the first week of homeschooling. Loved it.

Casanova’s kidney “thing” turned out to be a cyst. Its shrinking already and no further action is needed. Yay!

Struggling with Sam being gone right now. This is the time we should all be on pins and needles waiting to hear the good news. Instead, today marks two months to the day since we said good bye.

In addition, today is my brother and sister in laws two year wedding anniversary. I have a feeling it will be bittersweet for them.

Just wanted to pop my head in and say “Hi”! I miss you all, and hopefully I will be back on top of the blog soon. Family is coming first right now, I know you understand.

May be scarce

After much soul searching, conversation, and prayer, we came to the decision to withdraw our kids from the public school system and begin homeschooling them immediately.

This will slow down my posting schedule, my response time, and my tweets significantly I’m sure.

I will be doing my best to keep up with my own schoolwork while teaching my children. We went shopping tonight and picked up enough books and supplies to last us the next 6 weeks until we break for summer. Tonight, I’m sitting and writing lesson plans and getting organized. Its been a crazy whirlwind of a couple days, but I am confident that we are doing the right thing for our family.

I won’t disappear altogether, and, hopefully you won’t even notice a difference in how often I’m here.

But, if I am missing a while, don’t worry, I’ll have to come up for air eventually! ;)

Public School, College and Casanova’s Kidney

This school year has been filled with difficulty. From bullies, to rude lunch ladies, to lying nurses, I have had my fill. I have homeschooled before. I know I am able to, and I know that I can do it well.

My fear is that if I pull the kids out of school, that I will end up having to drop out of college (again) because homeschooling is time consuming. I know it sounds selfish, but I don’t want to leave school!

I do not feel it is wrong of me to hold our school system to a high standard. We entrust them with our most precious people after all!

Next year, the kids will be in a different school- same district, different school. I am hoping this will result in a better experience.

There is a month and a half left of school. After today’s experience, I’m afraid I don’t know what to do. Pull them out and homeschool for the remainder of the year? Or suck it up for the remainder and hope for the best come fall. I hate choices like this.

As for Casanova’s kidney. If you follow me on twitter, on Tuesday you would have seen my tweet that doctors found a growth on his kidney.

How this all went down is a little crazy. You see, Casanova has had shoulder problems for years. He has been seeing a chiropractor, who ordered a MRI of his shoulder, neck and lower back. He had the MRIs done, well the chiro never received the report. Tuesday was his first appointment with his orthopedic doctor for his shoulder. We brought the MRI disc with us, and they called and got the report.

The PA came in and explained that they had found a growth on one of his kidneys. They recommended we get a sonogram as soon as possible to find out what was going on.

So today, at 3:30 central time, we will go for a sonogram. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. But I am trying to just turn it all over to God.