We Got This!

Scarlett made a huge mess and the girls asked to give her a bath. Caroline just comes out and tells me they need to put her in the shower since she won't let them rinse the shampoo out of her hair. I start to get up to go into the bathroom and she puts her hand up "you don't need to come, we got this, we got this!" Love those crazy girls. Now they're all in the shower together and the laughing is great! As to Scarlett's mess, and Ariel dress up dress and  3 towels are now in the washer because Scarlett decided she needed a new diaper IMMIEDIATELY! Ewww  And I need to get back to vacuuming the rice off the floors downstairs and all the way up the stairs. She's giving me a run for my money today!

I have severe ADHD!

No, not the one you're familiar with. I suffer from Always Decorating my House Disorder. I can't seem to get a room finished before I'm redecorating it or changing it up in some way. It used to drive my husband crazy. Now he just asks "does it make you happy?" Why yes, yes it does. Our weekend went a little like this. We need some additional shelves for the garage. Peyton has quite the collection of power tools and yard equipment. We made a deal several years ago that if he can build me some of the furniture pieces I want in the house, then he can get whatever tools he needs to build them. He's in dire need of some organization for his collection, so a trip to Lowe's was needed. Well, that plan turned into a trip to 3 different furniture stores, 1 new dining room table, 2 new couches, 2 garage shelving units, 1 laundry room shelving unit, a gallon of paint for the laundry room, and paint samples for the Master bathroom. I will update with pictures from my newly finished rooms next week. Our furniture delivery is Tuesday and I'm so excited!!!
Here's a little sneak peak of my new table.


Photo courtesy of Haverty's

Back By Popular Demand

This poor neglected blog of mine is getting ramped back up! This was the best way for me to journal about everyday life and keep family and friends in the know about what's going on. I started a little segment I called Try It Tuesday and a couple of friends said I should bring it back. In the beginning it was me trying out some of the latest and greatest new products, infomercial types. I'm going to change it up a little and do a little "Tips and Tricks" meets "Try It Tuesday". Should be interesting! And now for the first installment for this year. 

Enjoy!

Ever had one of those days where you come downstairs and see that your children have done exactly what you've asked them not to do? No? Me neither. I enjoy walking into a room completely covered in sequins. Tons of stars, circles, flowers and hearts just make such a nice addition to a bland cream carpet. And I love how they stick to the bottoms of bare feet and find their way all over the house. Did I mention that these sequins aren't even mine? Nope, they belong to the daycamp that I volunteer with in the summer. So as tempted as I was to just suck them all up and toss them out, I couldn't do that. They needed to be saved, and rather than pick up each one by hand, I had to come up with an easier plan. 

 Bring in the reinforcements! Vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment, nifty attachment for the hose, old pantyhose and scissors.  At first I wasn't even sure if I still owned any pantyhose and there was no way I was going to cut up my nice winter tights! I think these date back to high school, thanks old friend for saving the day.

 

  I cut off one of the feet of the pantyhose and placed the hose attachment inside.

Make sure that you pull it tight around the hose attachment or you'll just end up sucking up the pantyhose.

  Tuck the extra bit into the top of the attachment. I did this a few times, cutting off some of the excess until there was just about half an inch of hose to tuck.

 Place the pantyhose covered attachment over the vacuum hose and Voila!

I managed to salvage almost every single sequin. This also works for buttons and beads.

And for your viewing pleasure, a picture of the little culprit who created such chaos. 

She's lucky she's cute!

(and she has pockets!)

Weekly Challenge #1

Starting tomorrow, I'm challenging myself to consistency! I'm challenging myself to do something every single week day. Weekly Challenge #1 - Cook Dinner every night.  I've already started prepping to help make it easier. 
On this week's menu:
Monday night - Manicotti, Salad and Garlic Bread (and an extra pan to take to some neighbors)
Tuesday - Jambalaya
Wednesday - Teriyaki Steak bowls with Rice and veggies
Thursday - Shepherd's Pie
Friday - Baked BBQ Chicken, baked beans and salad
Maybe I'll follow each day with a picture and the recipe.  I'm only holding myself to the cooking right now, anything else will be a bonus. Wish me luck!!

What we know...

We got some SHOCKING news today! Ethan came to us last night after using the restroom and said that something strange happened to his pee.  First it was yellow, then orange, then red.  Peyton and I didn't know what to do right then so we told him not to flush the toilet the next time he went.  He did go again and called Peyton in to look.  He came out and said that we needed to get him to the hospital.  Rather than hastily going to the ER, he got on the computer and did a little "research".  It was sounding like a urinary tract infection (UTI).  According to the internet, it's not life-threatening so we opted to make him an appointment for today.  Peyton took him in this morning and they asked for a urine sample, which Ethan gave and they determined it was definitely a UTI.  They also drew some blood.  Because of the amount of blood in his sample they sent him to Summerville Medical Center to have a renal ultrasound to check his kidney function.  On the way to that appointment Ethan threw up in the truck. So needless to say, had nothing in his system for an accurate ultrasound of his bladder.  They did however get a good look at his kidneys.  In fact, we found out today that he has only ONE kidney. His right, and it is enlarged, which is common for those with only one.  The hospital then sent him back to our primary care doctor where the girls and I met them to talk with the doctor about where to go from here.

What we know: It looks like only one enlarged kidney.  There is a possibility that he has the other but that it is not in the "right" spot.  As of now, they're saying just one though. 
His blood work came back that he has normal kidney function but is slightly anemic. 
He is on antibiotics for the UTI.
We have a follow-up urinalysis on Monday and they're sending the sample from today to run a culture.
We have an appointment with a urologist at MUSC on Wednesday.  After that appointment we'll definitely know more. 

Please pray that Ethan doesn't get worse and that the antibiotic does it's job and knocks out the infection.  He's only complaining of mild back pain and a queasy stomach.  He says it doesn't hurt to urinate, which is great!!

I had numerous ultrasounds while I was pregnant and apparently never drew suspicion of him missing a kidney.  Ethan was also hospitalized for 5 days when he was 5 weeks old and they never found anything then either.  While I'm glad that we found out, it's just still such new news that we can't do anything but pray that everything else is normal and that Ethan will lead a normal life with one functioning kidney. The doctor today said that we'll monitor him closely from this point out.

Simplify

Every year I read the blogs that say "pick a word for the year".  I've never really given it much thought until this year.  Those of you who know me, know that I hold on to everything that I've ever been given.  My own mother even told me that she thinks I'm a hoarder. I completely agree!! I've done a little psychology on myself and think that it stems from moving so often. It didn't matter where we were, I could still surround myself with familiar "things" even when I was surrounded by the unfamiliar.  It doesn't make it ok though. Peyton and I vowed together to simplify things in our house.  Simplify everything from the amount of toys the kids have, to dinner preparations, to our finances. I can't even begin to tell you the weight I feel I've lost just from the thought process.  It's almost like I'm living  in a computer simulated sense. I can walk into a room and see it as it will be once we  go through all of the drawers and cabinets and bins and closets.  My system needs a bit of tweaking, but with Peyton and the kids agreeing to be on this journey with me, I'm hoping to see some real progress by the end of January!! Please pray for me! I know that I will fight with myself about letting some things go, but I need to concentrate on the end product; a simplified, well balanced home. I'll try to post photos of my progress. Maybe not the before pictures(yikes), but definitely the during and after pictures!! The room I've chosen first is Riley and Caroline's. We're almost done with organizing the toys that they're keeping and have a nice donation bin started. I've rearranged their furniture and downsized from 2 twins to a daybed and mattress underneath. They now have so much room to play! Now to just keep telling myself to keep up the good work!

What I thought was bad timing

I'm gonna get a little personal with you here so bear with me. A year ago I had an appointment with my GYN.  I had my IUD taken out the previous August because I kept getting ovarian cysts that would develop and rupture every six weeks like clock work.  We were hoping that by getting that out of my system that my hormones would regulate themselves and the cysts would stop.  Well, that wasn't the case. I went to the doctor in hopes that the cyst I currently had had shrunk.  Again, not the case. I was given an ultimatum by my PA; either go back on low estrogen birth control pills or have my ovaries removed. Not wanting to be on hormone replacement before I even turned 30, pills were my only option.  She gave me some samples and told me to start taking them the Sunday of my next cycle. I remember being so heartbroken. We were unofficially trying to have another baby.  We'd never "tried" before.  The other 3 were all complete surprises and I was getting very  disheartened that I wasn't pregnant already.  I went to see a friend after my appointment and broke down.  I remember telling her "how badly is God trying to knock in my head that it's not time to have a baby, birth control or lose my ovaries, neither one of these says it's the ideal time to have a baby." She consoled me and told me that it must not be the right time. I resolved myself to believe that.  In God's timing.  He knows what's best and right no matter how badly we might want something right now. I started to accept the fact that we might never have a 4th child and I was ok with that after a week or so. Peyton wasn't quite sure how to console me, but also just accepted it for what it was, bad timing.

I had been tracking my cycle ever since I had the IUD removed and it was coming up on my next cycle being due 16 days after my appointment.  On day 14, which happened to be a Thursday, I opened up a drawer in my bathroom and found a couple of pregnancy tests.  Just for kicks, I took one, thinking that if I was pregnant by some crazy chance that it would show up now.  I wasn't expecting for the little pink line to register as quickly as it did.  I just stared at it in complete astonishment!!

 I walked into Peyton's office holding it.  He was on a conference call and I just held it up and he whispered, "is it positive?" I nodded yes and then broke down in tears and left the room. He probably thought I'd lost my mind. After he was off the call he came into our bedroom and asked me if I was ok.  I told him I was beyond happy, but wasn't expecting it to be positive. I wasn't expecting to get pregnant again, I wasn't expecting to be expecting! I started thinking at that point that it was God's timing, but I think he wanted me to want it bad enough, but be willing to accept that it might not happen.  That 14 days of thinking it wouldn't happen really set me up for being completely ready and more excited just because I wasn't expecting it. I guess it was God's way of telling me that it didn't matter how hard I tried, He was in control. So baby number 4 was also a surprise, just like the other 3.

And just in case I was a little slow and needed it spelled out for me, I took another test the next day.