9 Years Ago Today...

My youngest son was born. Gabriel was born at 8:20 am, weighing 7lbs 5oz and 18 1/2 inches long. It was a cold day with snow still on the ground, not like today, where it's 50 ish and rainy.
I really can't believe it's been that long, where does the time go? Today he's 9 years old.

This morning he woke me with "Who got me things for my birthday?" Made me laugh, because most everyone is in the same boat as us, no one can really afford much. He got some hot wheels and a new book(which he's looking at in this pic!), and my sis said she was going to send a card. He'll get a small cake, and pretty much that's it. We don't do a whole lot for birthdays, mostly because we're broke a lot of the time. But he will get a few more things towards the end of the month.

Our plants are doing well, except that some mice apparently got into our little tray and ate a few of our tomato plants.

Been a Busy Week

Lets see...what have we been up to?? Well, Saturday was crazy, because we had 2 round trips to Milwaukee. We picked up Dad and Colleen, had cake and all that, and took them back up. Dad told Mike that he's thinking about moving down here by us! That was something I totally didn't expect. He was talking about how it's so much quieter and not as busy and all that jazz.

Got the hallway primed and almost ready to paint. Just need to finish the corners and a few other little things. I plan on getting it done hopefully this week.

School has been pretty good, the kids are enjoying checking the plants and seeing if they're growing yet. We'll plant our herbs on Wednesday, and then we'll have 2 trays of plants to keep track of. I can't wait for it to get warmer and for us to have our last frost. I'm looking forward to transplanting our little plants and watching them grow.

Caleb has finally learned to tie his shoes!! It's taken such a long time for him to coordinate the necessary hand movements. I'd almost given up on him learning to tie them and was seriously wondering just how large a size they make of velcro shoes. Next to learn that skill is hopefully Gabe.
Gabe's now convinced that he needs to become a samurai or a ninja, depending on the day. I told him that he needs to learn to read and write if he wants to be either. I'm sneaky that way! Caleb is improving in his reading and surprises me daily with the little tidbits that he picks up on tv and signs.

Big news of the day: one of my best friends, Missy, has moved back to town! She has a little girl who will be 4, and her little boy shares Gabe's birthday and will be 1 on Saturday! Gabe will be 9 on Saturday, can't believe how fast time is flying.

Any tips from anyone on how to teach a child to read who really has no drive to learn?

Tired and Sick....

Well whatever is going around has finally made it here. First Adrian came down with it, then Gabe and Caleb and me, and of course Caitlin and James. So, we're all sitting here with stuffy and runny noses and headaches and body aches. Pretty miserable stuff. But Adrian is feeling much better, go figure.

The 23rd was my dad's birthday and his anniversary with Colleen. It would also have been him and mom's anniversary if they were still married. It would have been 32 years for mom and him. That's a LONG time. It's been a year of being married for him and Colleen, and 7 or 8 years of them being together as of this June or July. I can hardly believe that it's already going to be a year that we've been back in touch with dad. We were planning on having them down today, but with all of us being sick, we figured next week would be better for that. Jaime's making a cake, and I'll be making the drive up and back to get them. Here's hoping we're all feeling better by then.

I also have to finish painting the front room and hallway before then. We picked out a fairly bright blue that I had planned on using for the boys' rooms, but decided to touch up a few areas in the front room with it, thinking that it was a close match to what was already in there. Wrong. It's such a bright color that the old blue that was on the walls already looks almost gray in comparison! I painted the bathroom a nice cherry bright yellow, and have the same color picked to use in the hall, since it doesn't have much light to brighten it up. The boy's rooms will be 2-tone blue, with a dark almost navy blue on the top of the walls and the ceiling. And glow-in-the-dark stars and moons on the ceiling.
Caitlin's room will be a color that she picked, called bright citrus. It's a peachy pink color. It'll look great in there, and bring more light in. She has the smallest room in the house for her bedroom, so it can use all the brightening it can get.
Still need to pick a color for our room, because right now it's a deep red color that reminds me of a bordello. Not really my thing. Personally, I favor earth-tone colors. But Mike says he really doesn't care what color, as long as it's something that I like. Makes it easier and at the same time harder, because I really would like his opinion on things.
I'm thinking of light tan-ish or beige, or maybe something similar. Who knows.

As far as school, we're going to take a few days or maybe a week and just cut back to the basics while everyone's feeling under the weather. It'll be a nice break for all of us.

I'm Back!!!

Well that was too long of a break! I just (tonight!) got my netbook and set it up. So now I'm getting used to the smaller keyboard and how much faster than my old laptop it is. Amazing. And this one has a built in webcam, and of course wireless so I can take it anywhere!

James' birthday went well, and he did get a few things like an rc car from us and my mom and stepdad got him a couple little cars as well. We've been running around like crazy getting things ready for winter, and fixing the car again. Go figure! So far we've managed to avoid any major illnesses this fall, which is unusual for us. I can only attribute it to us being home more since they aren't at public school now. There is a lot of it going around in the neighborhood right now though and I'm grateful that we haven't caught it.
Not a whole lot else going on right now, just getting ready for Halloween and planning on having Dad and Colleen down for Thanksgiving. He's excited because this will be the first Thanksgiving he's spent with any of his kids in a LONG time.
Hope to post more since this thing works sooooooo much better than the old one.

Laptop Died!

Not sure how often I'll be able to get on here in the next couple of weeks, as my laptop decided to die a fairly slow and painful (for me!) death. It's no longer even turning on, so my wonderful brother in law is going to salvage what he can off the hard drive and help me to put it on a new computer (when I finally manage to get one!). Right now I'm using hubby's not-so-ancient-but-very-slow desktop. It has brainfarts, so when I type anything it takes two to three times as long as it normally would because I have to wait for the computer to catch up. So not fun!

On the plus side, since I'm on his computer, I don't have to try 20,000,000,000,000 times to get it to turn on and then hope that it doesn't shut itself down while I take a potty break like my laptop was tending to do towards the last. I'm hoping that he can salvage my pics and files, but not overly hopeful at this point, given the fact that as of late, whatever can go wrong does go wrong.
For example, Mike fixed his car last week right? Wrong! The bearing that he changed is shot too, and we don't know why, as it's only a week old. He bought rotors but why put them on when you'll just have to tear it all apart and do it again? So this weekend has been spent, not with family time, but with him still trying to fix the car. It sucks, because the weather has been especially crappy, going up and down all the last 2 weeks, and I may be walking everywhere this week if he can't fix the problem.

Not much else going on here, we are doing things for James' 12th birthday a little late, because with all the car troubles we just don't have the money. So I told him that he and I will go shopping on the 30th and then the whole family will go out to dinner where he picks. What should I get for a 12yo boy? He likes cars, but I worry about Gabe messing with them. He likes games, especially racing games, but that gets expensive quick.

Quick Note: In case my sis is reading, Happy Birthday Brianna!!!!! Would have messaged you, but like I posted, the laptop is D-E-A-D! Happy Early Birthday to You too, in case my computer problems aren't fixed before then! Call me at home some time sis!

10 More Days....

...And James will be 12 years old! His due date was the 17th of October, and by then I was 80% effaced and dilated to 2. I spent the next 6 days dilated to 2, so we thought when I went in for my induction that it would go smoothly. We were sooo wrong.

Went in at 7am and filled out all the paperwork, and got into my room and gown. They did all their usual stuff, checking me and giving me an IV and hooking up the monitor. After a bit, we started walking the halls in an attempt to get him moving and on his way. No such luck. I labored all day, and the doc broke my water at 6pm. I'd gotten to 6cm at about 4pm and was stuck there. Labor was SO intense after that, and by 8pm I was BEGGING them for an epidural. I still hadn't progressed beyond 6cm, and I figured I could at least get some sleep before the really hard stuff started (ie pushing). By 9 pm, James had started having a few decels here and there (times where his heart rate would slow). The doc came in and said if I didn't have him by 11, they were going to start prepping for a c-section. Needless to say, nothing happened! And James was born at 12:22 am on the 23rd of October via c-section. He weighed in at 8lbs 10.5 oz, and was 20 inches long. He had a full head of hair, and beautiful blue eyes that later changed to brown.
Now, he's almost as tall as me (and I'm 5 ft 2 or about there) and weighs in at about 110 lbs or so. He's grown so much, and matured some, and is starting to show an interest in girls. Particularly a certain 17 yo girl that lives 3 doors down from us! We keep joking with him about her and telling him that she's WAY too old for him. But I'm sure it's just a crush, or at least I hope it is.
I just can't believe that my baby is going to be 12. God, I feel OLD!

Busy Day Yesterday

Every time I get ready for a trip back and forth to Milwaukee (or more precisely, several in one day!) I forget how tired I am by the end of the day. Wow was I wiped lout last night. Got home about 7:30 and was asleep by 9:30, finally woke up about 7:30 this morning.
Left home yesterday about 9 in the morning to go and get Dad and Colleen. Had Gabe, Caleb, and Adrian with me for the trip. There was a lot of construction on the way up and back. Finally got back with them about 12:30 or so, between the construction and potty breaks on the way there and back.
Went to David's birthday party and had a great time! Cake, ice cream, presents and pinata. Lots of chatter and playing. Catching up on what all had happened in each others' lives since we last saw each other on the 2nd. Left to take them back up about 3:30 because there was a game Dad wanted to catch last night. Pretty uneventful trip back, aside from the construction.
Took a side trip before I went back home. I drove by the school I used to go to, our old house and my grandma's old place. Just remembering how things used to be. I never missed a visit with her, every time I was up I went to see her. Usually at least once a month, sometimes more often, we'd make the hour trip to see her and spend the day in Milwaukee. I spent most of the month up there when she was in the hospital the last time. I'd leave work on Thursday or Friday depending on my schedule, I'd stop back home and grab one (or more) of the kids and grab mom and we'd all head up there. We'd come back sometime Monday morning. I'd grab a power nap and be ready for 3rd shift and do it all over again. I'm glad we got to spend all that time at the end with her. I think about her every time I go to Milwaukee. The way I would take to her house, the way to the hospital, to Kevin's work. The way grandma would laugh when the kids were goofing around.
Makes for lots of memories on every trip. Not all great memories, especially the ones about the last few days of her life, but a majority are great ones.
I'm planning our next field trip for October and I think it's going to be a few-day-trip to Milwaukee to see the Museum and the Domes, and of course Dad and Colleen. Maybe we can even catch a fall festival or something. All I know is if things work out the way I hope, we can have a lot of fun and enjoy our few days up there.

Not Much Going on Here

We had Mom's birthday party (surprise party!) on Wednesday. I drove up to Milwaukee to get Dad and Colleen, and took them back up after the party(and didn't finally get home until a little after 11pm!). Dad got to meet some of the people from the VFW/American Legion post where mom and Dave go, as that's where we had the party.
They also got to spend some time with the kids and have dinner with us. Gabe wasn't in the best of moods, as he's working on another cold/sinus infection/plague. Seems like every time the weather changes dramatically he gets sick again. But this time I can partially blame it on Adrian. He was over last weekend hacking and coughing with a runny nose and bad attitude, and gave it to Gabe. Problem with Gabe being sick and feeling crappy is that since his nose is running all the time, he's always wiping it on his sleeve, and he's been licking his lips CONSTANTLY! Poor thing looks like he's been rubbing cherry koolaid all over his mouth and chin, that's how red it is. And with the runny nose also comes the drooling.
We've had the drooling under control for the most part, but when stressed or sick he drools more, and chews his shirts more. He's ruined at least a dozen since the beginning of the move.
We started going through our books for school today and even managed to read some. I'm planning on formally starting on Monday, and from there we will be on a 4 day a week school schedule. I'd like to do 3 weeks on and 1 week off, ideally. But we all know how things work out when we want to do something a particular way around here.
I'm hoping that Gabe will be feeling better by next week. For all our sakes! The more icky and out of sorts he feels, the worse he makes every one else feel. Tonight we went to Walmart to pick up some last minute things for dinner, and to pick up some school supplies. That went pretty decent until he decided that it wasn't fair that he wasn't getting a toy. Wow, you'd have thought I said that we were going to amputate his feet and make him walk over hot coals! All hell broke loose - at the checkout of course - and Mike had to take him out to the van to calm down. The cashier was very nice about it, and we talked about autism and mental retardation while she scanned our things. But the "lady" in front of us in line wasn't so nice about it. Kept shaking her head at us and mumbling things about kids these days and needing a good butt-warming.
Of course to top off the wonderful week I've been having, my computer is acting up. Sometimes it just doesn't want to turn back on and takes a few tries to get up and running. I'm actually thinking of buying a new laptop when we get taxes back in February. Maybe.
guess that's all for now, gotta go give the little monster his cough meds so he can hopefully sleep a little better tonight.

The Weekend Hasn't Been Too Bad

The weekend wasn't too bad. Friday ended well, with their SSI stimulus payments coming, so I was able to go get the part for the dryer. Mike got the dryer put together and working again. We also did some shopping at Walmart. Saturday we did the rest of the grocery shopping, went to Adrian's birthday party (2yrs old!), picked up a new lawn mower since the old one broke, and I took all the heavy winter blankets and quilts to the laundromat to get them done quicker.
In 2 hours I did 4 trash bags full of blankets and quilts (enough to fill 5 of the "50 lb" washers) and dried and folded them.
Pretty much same old same old. Gabe's been unusually whiny/pouty/clingy the last few days. It seems like he's getting his feelings hurt really easily, like something major is bugging him. Just can't put my finger on it. Tonight he was crying because, "dad told me sit down!", which normally he just laughs at and ignores. It seems like this time of year is a bad time for him in general. Spring and Fall, kind of like with Bi-Polar flare ups. At first I thought that the whole fall thing was because of school and his total aversion to it, but if that's the case, then it shouldn't bother him to the same extent because of being home.
I'm trying to figure a way of helping him to sleep easier (and me!), we've done benadryl for years, and really it seems that he builds up a resistance to it. It used to be that we only did it on school nights, and didn't on weekends or during breaks. But even then, by summer break, it wouldn't seem to be working at all. Now we only do it if he's had a particularly horrible nights sleep the night before and has had a really bad day on top of it.
Last night we tried melatonin on him. That was fun, NOT! I tried to crush it and put it in his juice, but he saw it and wouldn't drink the juice. So I reverted to sticking it waaaaay far back in his mouth so he HAD to swallow it. He was out in about a 1/2 hr, but I'm not sure if it was the melatonin or the fight he put up against sleep finally being lost. I put him back in the chair when he came in our room (3x last night, usually only 1-2x), but finally gave up when he came back about 4am and just let him sleep in our room. Then he slept in till 1030 this morning! Poor thing must have been really tired to sleep that late.
He's currently sitting/laying in the recliner 1/2 out (10pm here!), as I am typing this and sitting here while the boys settle in and get to bed. He's been all out of sorts today and I'm wondering if it's related to the melatonin from last night. Another thing to look up tonight.
Thats all for now, need to play musical chairs and check on the other kids.

Packing, Soc Sec Stimulus and Birthdays....

Been keeping busy this weekend. Rearranged the front room because we got Grandma's old recliners (she got new ones!), and we needed to make room for them. We've been planning on getting rid of the couches before the move, so this was the perfect opportunity. They're sitting in the garage now, waiting. Took down the bookshelf that has been slowly falling apart. Boxed a lot of books and knick-nacks that we won't be needing before the move.
I've been going thru the kids' clothes and mine to get rid of things that don't fit or are ripped up. If things are decent enough I'll put them in a rummage sale before we move. Otherwise they will be trashed and whatever doesn't sell will go to goodwill.
We're getting rid of a bunch of games that the kids no longer play with, and some movies that we never watch anymore. Little things everyday to get things moving in the right direction before the move so that we're not trying to run around like crazy moving everything in just 1 or 2 days. The last time we moved, we took 3 days, and on the 4th day we cleaned things up at the old place, making sure that we had it locked up and all that. This time I want to be more prepared than that.
Still waiting to hear from the landlord on the new place, I did talk to him Wednesday, and he told me he was looking into some options and that he had another meeting on Friday. So hopefully he calls us on Monday or Tuesday.

On another note, I'm really happy that they are doing this stimulus thing for the people on SSI and Social Security. I know that it's going to help a lot of people, including us. Some people have already gotten theirs, and the rest will be staggered throughout the month of May.

And, we have a bunch of birthdays this month! Adrian will be 2 on the 16th, his mom will be 24 on the 29th, Caleb and Caitlin will be 10 on the 30th, and my nephew Daniel will be 9 on the 31st! That's a LOT of cake! Usually Jaime makes cakes and such for the birthdays, but she's got a lot going on right now, with some personal issues at home. So we'll see about that, maybe we'll just wait till the next weekend after their birthday to do something like we did last year.
Guess that's all for now, need to go chase kids and give baths and all that jazz.

Is It Really Wednesday Already??

It's been raining on and off all day, making for a great amount of cabin fever. Not hard rain, at least not til about 5ish, mostly just sprinkles. But just as we sat down to dinner, the sky opened up with a huge deluge!
Gabe wrote his name all by himself without any help or prompting from me today! Talk about a big step from the "I hate school" kid, and hopefully a good start for him to actually start writing words soon.
The other kids had a good day, and Caleb's pumpkin plant has 3 leaves now. It's grown probably another 1/2 inch or so since we planted it this weekend.
Got a call from Adrian's mom, freaking out, because he fell down the stairs(carpeted thankfully) and landed on a toy truck. So now he has his first black eye! And then when they went grocery shopping today, he got his arm 1/2 stuck in part of the cart and now has a nice long scratch down the side of it. Go figure that he gets all this the week before his birthday party! I can't believe that he's gonna be 2 already, seems like just the other day that he came home from the hospital.
Hoping to get him something little for his birthday and maybe have my sis make him a little cake.
Not much else going on here, just trying to stay caught up with Mount Laundry and keep hanging clothes to dry.