My Dear Brother...

My dear brother, Tyson, is in the hospital.



Yesterday, Tyson and his family were on their way to Bakersfield to celebrate his mother-in-laws birthday. He had had a stomach ache since the night before, but felt like he could make it out of town for the day. Well, his stomach continued to hurt and so his brother-in-law took him to an Urgent Care in Bakersfield where he saw a nurse or a physicians assistance, he never saw a doctor. They took blood and ran some tests and ruled out his liver, kidneys and some other things. They finally said they thought he had gallstones and told him to check in with his doctor on Monday and sent him with a prescription for vicadin. Since his family wasn't planning on spending the night they filled the prescription and headed for their hour drive home. The pain continued and Tyson took a vicadin and that upset his stomach and he wasn't able to keep it down. By the time the arrived home he had a fever and was in a lot of pain. So my sister-in-law took him to the ER in Simi Valley and they said that his appendix has ruptured. Oh my goodness! I cannot believe that they could not figure this out at the Urgent Care. That is negligence!

They rushed Tyson into the OR for an emergency appendectomy and they were able to do the surgery laproscopically, which makes for a quicker recovery. While they were in surgery the surgeon noticed a small hernia and some scar tissue, which is really weird since Tyson has never had surgery before. They were able to take care of the hernia and all went well with that. Tyson will be in the hospital for about 5 days. My mom is going out there to help out with the kids. Please keep Tyson and his family in your prayers.

The picture above is Tyson and Rebecca when she was about 8 months old. I couldn't find any other pictures of my brother. I love you big bro! Get well soon.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Annie!!!

Today is Annie's 2nd birthday. She was very excited all day about it being her birthday. We serenaded her with the Happy Birthday song throughout the day. Annie would have the biggest grin on her face whenever we started to sing.

For her birthday we had our neighbors, Kevin and Leah, and our good friends, Chris and Amanda over for dinner. We were going to have hamburgers, potato salad and birthday cake but instead just went out for burgers and then came home for cake. Rebecca wanted Annie to have a pink cake. So, I made a strawberry cake with strawberry icing out of a box. I followed the directions on the box, but for some reason the cake stuck to the pan and broke apart. So, I thought, this can still work. I put the first layer, that was still intact down and frosted it. Then came the top layer that was in about 3 pieces. I place it on top and thought the frosting will act like glue and no one will ever know that the cake was falling apart. It didn't work. The cracks in the cake began to separate and slide off. By the time we ate the cake, it looked like the cake had earthquake fault lines. It looked horrible, but tasted good. I personally am not a big fan of strawberry cake, so it didn't taste that great to me.

After dinner, Annie opened her presents. It was like Christmas all over again. She got a lot of stuff. Annie got clothes, a Dora backpack, Dora toy, cash register, play camera, apron, binoculars, a purse with play lipstick, perfume, cell phone, and sunglasses. She cleaned up! Rebecca cleaned up too, even though it wasn't her birthday. Seems like the grandparents can't help but get the other kid a present too. Rebecca got a Dora backpack, clothes and binoculars. Those silly grandparents!

On Saturday, we had the local family out for her birthday party. However, it was not a good time for everyone because Papa Willis and Grammie Linda were the only ones that were able to make it. It was nice to just visit with them because we had not seen them since before Christmas. For this little party we had chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Those were good. That was more to my liking. Rebecca and Annie got to open some more presents. They got clothes, books, and puzzles. They enjoyed spending time with Papa Willis and Grammie Linda.

Overall, Annie had a great birthday. I catch her singing happy birthday to herself every once in a while. It is cute. It is funny to think that I have a 2 and 3 year old.

So Sweet

While going through and sorting pictures on the computer, I found these pictures of the girls. The bond that they have and are going to have for the rest of their lives is priceless. My mom and her sister are so close and that is what I see in my girls. Makes me wish that I had a sister...though I have been blessed with two of the best brothers ever. Anyway, thought I would share the pictures that I ran across.

As you can see these pictures were taken before the pacifier was taken away. We are on day 5 of no pacifier. When I say no pacifier, I mean during the day. However, I did let Annie go to sleep with one for her nap and then took it away when she was asleep. Lets just say that her nap was less than an hour, more like 30 minutes. I am going to try maybe going cold turkey. I've got to break this habit.

Has Anyone Seen My Sanity???

Okay, I think my title says it all. The terrible two's have struck our household and has slowly and painfully chased my sanity out the door. This has got to be the worst way to lose your mind.... slowly. You are very aware that it is happening to you and you try to muster up some strength to hold on for dear life, but then it just can't take it anymore and heads out the door. I just wish I could let my body follow it and re-group.

This is day 3 of the no "Bink" situation. I think that is playing a huge, huge role in the whole tense atmosphere in my house. Annie has just been a bear (and I am being so nice by using this word instead of so many others that come to mind) lately and just agitated. It is like the pacifiers have caffeine or nicotine on them and she is going through withdrawals.

Today, my dear friend Laura and I went to lunch and of course we had to bring the kiddos. So, we had a nice pleasant lunch and then we let the kids play in the play area, while I got some venting out. It sure is nice to have friends to talk to at these very trying times. My sanity enjoyed that a lot. So, before I knew what was going on, Annie was in the middle of a meltdown over a french fry (or I think that was what it was over). She was screaming and refusing to put her shoes on. I am really trying not to make eye contact with anyone for fear of some dirty looks. So, I am carrying Annie out of the restaurant kicking and screaming and at that moment I lost my sanity.

We made it home and I am sitting in the quietest house ever trying to mend my frazzled nerves. I am re-thinking the "Bink" situation. I am just about to give in and try it again later. Both girls are taking naps. They will be up soon and I will have to do it all over again. I am so envious of my friends that have family close by to help. That is the only down fall to living here in Texas.

Reverse Psychology or Just Plain Mean

Yesterday, I got the wild idea to try and take away "the Bink" (pacifier) from Annie, who will be 2 next week. I didn't want to be mean mommy and let her go cold turkey, so I googled how to wean from a pacifier. There was an article that said cut the very tip off of the pacifier and give it to your child. The lady who wrote the article said that her son continued taking the pacifier, even after she cut the tip off. She did say that he put it in his mouth and then took it back out and inspect it and then continued to use it. So, the next week she cut a little bit more off and her son would not have anything to do with it. And it was his decision not to use the pacifier.

So, I did it! I cut off the tip off of two pacifiers and left two intact (just in case it back fires). I gave Annie the altered pacifier and she put it in her mouth and immediately took it out and looked at it. She told me it was broken and handed it back to me. Annie continued to look for another pacifier. She found the other "broken" one. Again the same thing. And that was the end of it. Annie had made up her mind that she did not want a broken one.

However, that night she wanted a "Bink" and I tried to give her a broken one. She was not going to have it. She hollered and begged for me to give her a "Bink". So, I broke out the good pacifiers and gave her a good one to go to bed with. I figured she did not have one hanging in her mouth all day so she could have one at night and during a nap. This is a start.

This is day two and it is going very well. She asks for a "Bink" and we find a broken one and she hands it back to me and says she doesn't want it and that is the end of it. I am thinking this might not be so bad. I think by next week we will have broken the habit, except for at night, which is fine. I will break the night habit very soon and just give the broken ones to her and make her realize that she doesn't need it anymore. But don't you like the way that I made it her decision.

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The Texas Bluebonnets are out. Last weekend we went out looking for them to get the girls pictures taken. We found a huge patch of them on the side of the freeway. But it was a big hill and the girls were no where close to being by any on coming cars. The pictures turned out great. Take a look....

I have to throw this bottom picture in too. This is one of my favorites. Rebecca and Annie are eating breakfast while sharing the same chair. They are really close and enjoy playing, sleeping and eating together. Don't get me wrong, we do have our moments of screaming and yelling and time-outs for hitting, but I love the moments that they have pictured below.

Three's A Crowd

Okay, in my previous post I explained what our weekly routine was. Well, we have a new twist to our routine. I started watching a little boy occasionally. I have watched him total of 3 days, not in a row but sporadically. Anyway, the first two times watching Tyler were on days that I didn't have anything scheduled so we didn't go anywhere, until today.

Today, is Thursday and Rebecca has school. So, I loaded up the kids early so, just in case anything came up, we would not be late. Everything went smoothly until I took Rebecca to the bathroom before her class started. Annie and Tyler are in the double stroller while I am helping Rebecca go to the bathroom on an automatic flushing toilet. Okay, so I put Rebecca on the toilet and cover the sensor with my hand so the toilet won't flush and scare the poor child out of ever using the toilet again. Well, Rebecca was just doing what she was told, but she ended up peeing on her pants while sitting on the toilet. The stream just didn't want to land in the toilet. So, I am telling Rebecca to stop and she can't, of course. So, Rebecca gets finished and we pull up her pants and they are pretty wet. Hmmm. I didn't bring another change of clothes for her because she hadn't ever needed a pair of clothes before and that is just one more thing I have to remember and lug around. So, before her class I talked to her teacher about it and she said she doesn't mind if she still comes to class, but of course Rebecca was like no way, I'm wet.

So, instead of going all the way home for a change of clothes, I ran by target and purchased Dora panties and some pants. During the shopping trip I was thinking this is me with 3 kids. I had Rebecca and Annie riding in the back part of the basket and Tyler in the front. The girls were pushing and fussing in the back at each other and I was constantly telling one of them or both of them to sit down. I was ready to pull my hair out. It wasn't because I had a 3rd kid with me it was just the events of the day and it wasn't even 9:30 in the morning yet.

I just confirmed my plans to having no more children. Having Tyler here has definitely made me see my future with 3 and I didn't like what I saw. It was lugging 3 kids in the car, putting their seat belts on, getting them out of the car, putting 2 in a stroller and fussing at the 3rd one to be okay with walking. Then after picking up Rebecca from school walking to the car, thinking I should have gotten the stroller out, because Annie is going one way Rebecca is going another while I was carrying Tyler. It took entirely too long with much frustration getting the 3 in the car. Tyler being the easiest. So, can't you see that with 2, my hands are already full. It is hard to make my two listen to me when I just can't grab them and make them go where I need them to go while carrying a baby.

No pictures today.