What a Week

Busy, busy, busy. I'm sure none of you feel that way! LOL

Lots of errands this week to get a package ready to send to Cub@ this weekend. Hopefully all of the folks at Grace Church are getting letters and pictures together. Please pray for the people of Cub@ as yet another hurricane is headed their way. Food is already becoming harder to get. Please pray for Pastor Jose as his visa has still not come through. If it takes much longer he may not be able to be here by the 8th of December as we are planning.

Yesterday, the Melody Makers, the volunteer choir made of fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at my children's school, gave their first perfomance. Our Gracie is quite the performer. Really animated. She had so much fun on stage. She also has a roll in the Christmas play next month. And yes, I said CHRISTMAS!! In fact, her principal referred to it as the Christmas play. Not winter or holiday, but CHRISTMAS!!

Parent Teacher Conferences for Olivia and Grace were this week. I am so proud of my girls. Their teachers said the same thing about both girls. They are working to their potential. I cannot ask for more than that. Well, I can. But that was answered, too. Both of the girls are very well behaved and treat their teachers and classmates with respect. (Just like they treat everyone at home, right? NOT!!)

I've had three straight days of migraines this week. I promised Kevin I'll call the doctor this morning and make an appointment. It's getting really hard to function. I have the best husband. He's worked all morning and then come home and taken over the household so I can take pain pills and crash. He is simply amazing.

Community Dinner and Other Ramblings

Tonight at church, we are hosting our first Community Dinner. Just a chance for neighbors to come together and hang out while enjoying a free dinner. If you are in the area, come join us! Grace Church on Slane Ave. Starts at 5:30.

Charis went to the dermatologist yesterday. Big surprise, she has eczema! She is on an oral antihistamine and another ointment. Hopefully it will make a difference. The dr. said that her eczema is not allergy induced. It may go away on its own, it may not. ( I could have figured that out!)

Grace tried out for the Christmas play at school. She is so excited. She got a call back! Which means she'll probably get a singing role. She has a cold right now. Last night she put herself to bed early. Gotta rest the pipes, ya know!!

Ella also has the crud that Grace has. Poor baby. She is never this calm...is it bad to be glad she's calm? Not glad she's sick, just glad she is calm.

For the first time in 2 weeks, I woke up without a headache!!

I am down 18 pounds as of this Monday. Only 72 to go!! LOL

I have become addicted to f@cebook in the past couple of weeks!

Should I buy the Nikon D40 that I have sitting in an on-line cart?

Lap Band, Fills, and Real People and Headaches

Several of you have asked about the whole lap band experience so far. Thus far, not much has happened except healing. I spent a week eating only liquids. Then 2 weeks on mushies. Food with the consistency of refried beans. For the past week and a half I have been on solid food. My band is empty right now. Which means my stomach is pretty much back to normal. I can eat what I could eat before the surgery. This afternoon I have my first "fill" where saline is put into the band through a port. A needle is inserted into port and saline is injected. It goes through a line into the band. It will probably take 2 or 3 fills to find the spot where I am consistently losing weight. Will keep you updated. So far I am down 10 pounds.

This week the kids have been out of the house a lot more because of the whole school thing. Yesterday, I caught myself, a couple of times, reminding my kids that there were "real people" around us. Just a general reminder that they were not the only people on the planet and to be aware of others around them. This is usually given when they are running through groups of people that we don't know.


Last night I was on the phone with a dear friend who lives in Maine. His kids have just entered middle school and high school this year. He and his wife are the same age as Kevin and I. As we were trying to talk, 4 of my kiddos were running around the table screaming while Grace sat at the table trying to do her homework. Her solution to this? To alternately yell at them to stop and at me to stop them. Never mind that she has a homework desk upstairs in the quiet with a lock on the door so she can do her work without distraction.

Have I mentioned how much I love these 'unreal people' or how much they make me yell and laugh at the same time??

In case you are wondering what "unreal people" look like, check out the following:

Oh, and yesterday's headache, named Headache Gustav by my sister, is still hanging in but is more a tropical storm that the level three hurricane it was yesterday

I'm Back!!

Headache abated, I am ready to tackle baking! Erin is coming over this morning and we are getting our bake on! Stocking up on freezer pancakes and waffles, cookies, brownies, etc.

Did I mention that we are going to watch Kathy's twins ( 8 months old) in the process? Should be fun. I promise to take pictures!!

Need a laugh this morning? Check out this!

Another One of Those Days

Elliana Karen

I'd call this post "Conversations with Ella", but since all she did was scream, it really wasn't much of a conversation. Ella does a lot of screaming these days. She has entered three with a vengeance! Anyway, you are probably wondering why the picture of the undies. (And yes, I did a search for underwear images on Google and nothing unsavory came up.) We had baths tonight. The lovely weather necessitates cleaning children a little more often. After baths I got Ella dressed. As soon as the undies went on, the screaming started. She is so picky about clothing and how it fits. Have I ever told you about her sock issues? So, after a few minutes, I got her different undies. They went on, the screaming resumed, a pitch higher, I believe. 4 times this happened. 4 times!!! EEEEEK! Eventually we just went with her pull-up. Usually those bring on a screaming fit, too. Not today, thank goodness.......and I thought she was going to be my most laid back child.