Some of my Favorites!

my 2nd favorite family pic (the 1st is on the header!)

I LOVE this look- but there's too many crazy angles in this pic! :o)

Oh those goofy kids- I sure love 'em!

My favorite pic of Preston!

My favorite pic of Logan!

My favorite pic of Paris!

and all that Sass! :o)

Me and the 'Hubs'

Not my favorite

Kissy, Kissy, Kissy!

Do you love them? I sure do! :o)

Family Pictures!

Yahoo! It's only been 3 years since our last picture and I've been planning on new ones for months! We finally did them today and they were FREE! Thanks to Uncle Zach for coming along and taking them. AS I scrolled through literally hundreds of pics the one above was one of the last ones to show up (yet one of the first to be taken). I LOVE IT! :o)

I'll post more later but for now I need to go feed the kiddo's!

Almost Famous!

Seriously. Check it out here. :o)

S.A.D.

I don't want this post to be sad. I just thought I would post my thoughts on S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Dissorder). It is REAL. And this year I am feeling it a TON.

Honestly, in past years I have had a day or two where the gloom of the weather puts gloom in my soul. But this year - when the sun is gone behind the clouds I just can't get up! Maybe it's due to lack of tyroid or even lack of spleen (you never know!) but whatever it is- I don't like it.

The other morning it was FREEZING outside (literally) and I bundled up just to feel the rays on my face for a moment or two. I think it helped.

Today I was out of bed before 9am. This is a miracle for a 'non-school' day. Since the kids are old enough to pour their own cereal I try to stay snug in bed as long as I can. But today the boys are at a sleep-over and Paris and I have some errands to run. Besides, another storm is on the way and today is supposed to be the "warm before the storm". I'm hoping to get some sun and ENERGY.

I was looking online for lamps. they make them to help combat S.A.D. but they're EXPENSIVE. Gilbert suggested a pass to the tanning salon. Do you think that's his way of telling me I look a little pasty!? :o)

Something new

I've been busy. Really!? Yes, really. I've been trying to get some Christmas projects finished up which is why I decided to change my blog now. If I wait any longer it probably won't happen.

Most of you know I was in Houston in Oct. I had lots of fun and made many great contacts to grow this little company of mine. The most exciting thing (that I can't really talk a lot about yet) is that a very well known name in my industry is interested in working with me on some projects. That's about all I can say. But it's AWESOME and I'm EXCITED!

So between that and some other smaller projects for some other companies to get a little extra Christmas cash- I'm swamped.

In other news it appears that we may FINALLY be getting family pictures taken sometime next week. We have everything set- outfits, location, photographer- we just have yet to set a time.

And lastly, our little Paris is doing much better. Only faint marks remain on her legs. She's been to school everyday this week. Today she was looking forward to going to PE!

Well that's about it for my update. Hopefully I'll be back soon! :o)

HSP

Last wednesday our little Paris went in for a T&A (tonsil and adenoid -ectomy). Everything went well and we were looking forward to restful and QUIET nights. Unfortunately we haven't had that yet.

On Friday Paris developed a rash on her feet. Assuming it was allergic reaction we just waited. by Saturday morning she couldn't walk and the rash had worsened. She also was complaining of a stomachache. We weren't sure what was going on but knew we needed to take her to the ER.

As soon as we got to the ER the ER Doc said "I can tell you what it's not- an allergic reaction. But I'm not exactly sure what it is." Nice. Paris was pretty lethargic and out of it. We hung out in the ER for a little while until the Pedeatric Hospitalist came down to see. He walked in the room took one look at her feet and said "She has HSP." Umm, what's that? He said she had classic symtoms but to be sure he wanted to know if she had the rash on her bum as well. He asked if he could look and sure enough there were spots there too. Gilbert and I looked at eachother surprised. We had no idea they were there. The Dr. then said "It's pretty cool when you say something is going to be there and it actually is. Makes me look pretty smart." He is a great pedeatrician- funny and fantastic with kids.

You can read about HSP here. It's pretty intense. After the Dr. told us a little about the condition he told us we needed to decide whether we wanted her admitted now or take her home and wait for her to get worse. I was thinking "WHAT!?" So I asked- how bad is this? He then told us that the pain is bed enough that they'll have to give her morphine and that if we take her home he's certain we'd be back in the next day or two. After seeing how much Paris was already hurting we decided to go ahead and take her upstairs to the peds unit. HSP is not super rare, but it isn't very common either. Doctors and nurses as well as med students kept coming in from all over the hospital to look at Paris and get an idea of symptoms and signs of HSP.

Paris had a rough night in the hospital. She was given 1 mg of morphine almost every hour and it only helped for about 30min. Around 3am she got sick, but after that she slept for 4 hours. once it was actually morning the Dr. came in and told us that since she hadn't had morphine for a few hours they wanted to try and treat her with other pain meds. The thought was that if those meds took care of the pain we'd be able to take her home. Luckily they worked and her stay in the hospital was a short one. However, the battle is not over.

Paris is still in a lot of pain. She mostly has pain in the stomach. She also woke up this morning with tiny spots up her legs and on her arms (we expected this). The hard thing is the meds only last for about 3 hours and she can only have it every 4. So I spend lots of time snuggling her and rubbing her tummy. In the hospital they have a chart for pain so the Dr's and nurses know how bad it is. When Paris is hurting she'll tell me "Mom, it's an 8". the hardest thing is that she absolutely HATES the medicine. Getting her to take it is a battle in itself.

We have a wonderful ward and have had so many calls of concern and offers for help. It is so nice. we're hoping that this doesn't last too long but we're gearing up for at least a week. I've talked to a few people that have had children who've had HSP. It is such a crazy illness and definately one I don't wish on any child.

Right now she's sleeping next to me in bed and guess what? She's not snoring. And, shen she'd sleeping she's not in pain- so this is what we like. :o)

p.s.- if you read the link on HSP you should know that it is not very likely at this point that Paris will have any lasting problems from this.

Christmas huh!?

Halloween is exactly one week away and then all the focus goes to CHRISTMAS. My kids have already been scouting out the shelves at Wal-Mart and the ads from the mail with their latest wishes. I know I say this every year but this time we're going LITE! Y'know, LOW FAT!? There just isn't aot of spare change around these days for extra "fluff". I am determined to show my kids that you don't need a ton of cool expensive presents to have a nice Christmas. Unfortunately my husband's opinion differs from mine on this. He think we should get them 'cool, expensive gifts' anyway. This time I hope I WIN.

I remember modest Christmases when I was a kid. And yes, there were times that I'd wished for more. But i got over it. I survived. And I grew to realize that life isn't all about the stuff you have. My kids may not realize it now. Or in a few years. But someday they'll come to the same realization. At least I hope they do.