Happy Birthday Tony!

Yesterday was Tony's 6th birthday. It's always amazing to me how fast time goes by. Tony's birthday also marks the time since Jay returned home from Iraq. He got home 8 days before he was born......that time has also flown by. I can't believe it's been that long since he was away, seems like half that time.
For his birthday, we went to the theater to see Night at the Museum 2. It wasn't nearly as good as the first one, so that was a bit disappointing, but the kids liked it. We went with Helen, Paul and the kids and then back to our house for pizza and cake. We got him a new MP3 player that I had already downloaded all his favorite songs onto. He didn't take it off his ears until bedtime. He also got a new Wii game and wheel controller. He's downstairs playing that right now.


Friday night we met with our new Couples in Christ group for the first time. There were 4 out of the 6 couples that we are hoping to have in it. We had a really nice time and I think it's going to be a good group. At one point, one of the husbands made a 'global warming' comment that made me think we may be on the same page about stuff and then another of the husbands said he knew he'd like the evening when he pulled up behind our van and saw the McCain sticker. It took that comment and all of 2 seconds to realize that every one of us could have a political talk and all agree. This is my kind of group. :)
So, on a lighthearted note......I came home from work on Sat. afternoon and Tanner met me at the door with a hug and kiss. I then stood back and got a good look at him. Oh my gosh, he had on mismatched pj's from the night before (this is at 2:30pm mind you) and mismatched socks that were too big for him...one black and one blue. Not to mention, he still has a tatoo on his arm from a week ago. I really do take care of my boys.....but he looked like a total ragamuffin. Too funny.

A mama's pride

I got this note sent home from Tony's summer school teacher yesterday.
"Tony had a super day at summer school! Really sweet and caring boy! Thanks, Ms. B"
It's so nice to get things like this from school. Gives me a bit of relief cuz that kid is crazy. HA!


Helen came over yesterday and we ended up taking all the kids to McDonalds. We were there from 12:30 to 3pm. The kids played a long time, but I think they were all asking to go by the time we left. After being there for a couple hours, they had all resorted to climbing up the OUTSIDE of the play equiptment and entering the bathroom to get their hair wet so they could spiked it into a mohawk. It was nice to have some adult conversation for a while. I could have sat there until dinner.

I am so tired this morning. I didn't sleep well at all last night. I'm double booked at work tonight, which I'm not complaining about, but sometimes it's nice to just chill out a bit. It's 7:15am right now, I will be at work until 9:30pm tonight.....I think I may need some caffeine to get through this one.

My goal

I've been afraid to even put it into writing, because I just don't know if it will actually happen. My ideal plan would be to do daycare through Christmas and give a 3 week notice to my daycare parents so that I would be done just as we're leaving for our family cruise. We leave on Jan. 22nd for an adults only family cruise....how nice would it be to come home afterwards and NOT have to do daycare again. Oh my gosh, that would be so great. I'm just not sure if we can pull it off....as far as money goes. Will we have enough saved? Will the adoption cost more than we are anticipating? Will I be busy enough at the salon if I start working a couple daytime hours? So many questions and no sure answers. I just have to have faith. I know God has a plan in all of this and I have to keep reminding myself of that. He'll show us what to do and when it's the right decision, it will not stress us out but rather give us peace. I look forward to that day.

Our first Asian festival

Yesterday, we went to the Dragon Boat Races at Lake Falon. It was accompanied by an Asian culture festival with vendors and booths and entertainment. It was pretty cute to see all these Asian kids running around. They are so adorable and it got me very anxious. Maybe by next years festival, we'll have our own little one. We met up with Helen and the kids and then went to dinner and then to their house for a while. We had a nice visit and they showed us all their Chinese things around the house. Very cool.







On a not so good note, Tony had a dentist appointment today to fix a couple cavities that were found at his checkup last week. One actually started giving him a toothache this weekend. I felt sooo bad for him, I know how that feels. The dentist removed a small filling in that tooth since more decay had appeared around it and said that it was all the way to the nerve, so it had to be pulled. :( I was so upset about it. I just don't want him to struggle with his teeth, poor thing. So there I was watching them yank out his molar. He was pretty out of it from the nitris which was for the best. I was more bothered by it than he was. So, Tony's first visit from the Tooth Fairy will be for a cavity filled molar. Just a guess, but I'm thinking she will be generous tonight to my baby boy.

Timmy's injury....again....

This cheek injury is an ongoing saga. After it didn't look any better by yesterday morning, I called the dr. office. She told me to call if the antibiotic wasn't changing it. Long story...short...the nurse took all the info for the dr. and then the dr. called me. She asked a lot of questions about it and decided it was best for him to come in and be seen that night. Half hour later, another dr. called and said that she and her collegue had been talking and debating about whether or not I should just take Timmy right to the ER instead of even keeping the appt. That surprised me. Then she said she was worried that if this infection wasn't going away, he would need to have it surgically reopened to drain it. HUH!!
After talking for a while more, we decided to just keep the appt. last night so she could see him and decide from there. Jason took him in since I had to work and when she looked at him she didn't feel like it was an infection. She felt like the bump was maybe from a callous that was forming due to a broken bone in his face. They did a facial X-ray and she sent it to radiology. Her initial feeling was that he had a hairline fracture on his cheekbone, but she wasn't sure and said that the radiologist would call me today. Weelllll......instead we got a call last night at 9pm from the pediatrician. She had already gotten word about the X-ray. They said they think there may be fluid in his sinuses and they think he may have a sinus fracture, so they want him to go in today for a CT scan. I just can't believe what this has turned into. I was relieved last night when the dr. said she didn't think it was the infection cuz that worried me. But now.....gosh. What a mess. I don't even know what they would do if this IS a sinus fracture. Nothing, maybe? I guess we'll see.
On another note (notice I didn't say happy note) I went to the dentist this morning. As usual, that is also an ongoing saga.

Today

I made a list of things I want done to the outside of the house before having our family get together on Aug. 1st. The WI Duerrs will all be in town for a huge family picnic the next day in honor of Sr. Teresa. They are arriving on the 1st and wanted to see everyone so I offered my house. My mom tries to figure out another option for us to all meet cuz she thinks it's too much work for me....which I suppose is a reasonable assumption....but I have to convince her that I actually WANT to have it. She should know this by now, and she does, she just knows how little time I have to get ready for this sort of thing. It's all good though...I love to entertain, always have.
One good thing about having 25 people to your house for the first time is that you want everything to look it's best. Let's face it, the house is 29 yrs. old so it's not going to be anything spectacular. I think all the landscaping is original. HA!
But with a little paint on the playhouse, some more to cover the rust on the swingset, some new sand in the sandbox, a little pressure washing to the deck, some hanging plants and a few other flowers....to name just a few things on my 'to do list'...it can look pretty decent and it's a good size yard for company and a great setup for all the kids. I'm really looking forward to the whole weekend. I know Teresa is as well. This all means so much to her.
Timmy's eye is looking the same, which is not good I don't think. It's supposed to be looking better. I called the dr. office today and our ped. was out until tomorrow. She said if it wasn't any better by today to call her. I am calling her in the morning if it's still the same. I'm very uneasy about the fact that he has this infection under his skin near his sinus/head/brain and that it's been brewing for a week now.....if he shows any sign of a fever at ALL, I'm going to the ER. I'm not an over panicky mom, but I'm not messing with this.

Timmy's eye

It's not over yet...you'd think that by 3 weeks later it would be all healed up and feeling okay. Nope....it's been looking really bad. Red, puffy, irritated..it's been real tender to the touch and there's a weird lumpiness (is that a word?) under the skin. Then yesterday morning he comes up from his room and he's got a black eye. HUH?? I called the dr. office and was told to come in last night to have it looked at. He has an infection brewing under the skin. The topical part is looking okay after a week of overnight triple antibiotic treatments, but all the rest of the mess needed to be treated. So, now he's on an antibiotic.....a $71 antibiotic! Good greif....we're over $200 into this injury. Dang, kids are expensive. I think I'm going to ducktape them all to the couch, turn on the TV and forbid them to get hurt anymore.