Oh what a day

So I woke up this morning to my husband getting sick in the bathroom and two boys not feeling well either. Needless to say I guess that means I can't go to church this morning. I was really looking forward to it to because the Pastor is in the middle of a really good series of sermons! Oh well-maybe they will have the sermon online or something!

Other than that things have been going pretty good lately. We got basically all of our Christmas shopping done. The kids are done we just have to buy for eachother and for Jon's dad. I am so excited about that. It is nice to have that all taken care of and not having to worry about where we are going to get the money to buy them! Now I just have to mail two gifts off and we are all set!

I just love sitting here and watching the kids play. The twins are so excited about the craziest things. It is so nice that they can be entertained by just about anything. I just wish they were not so interested in taking things off my Christmas tree!

Well, I think that is all that is new for now! Have a great day everyone!
Stacy

I was asked a question on what I was thankful for and it got so long and so important to me that I decided to post it on here! Hope it doesn't bore anyone! Have a great Thanksgiving and truly think about what you are thankful for!

There is so so much I am thankful for. I am thankful to God for giving me my beautiful family. My wonderful husband that I love more every day-through everything that we have gone through we have gotten closer and closer. He loves his family so much and works so hard for them. He is a great father to them and spends all the time that he can with them because he knows how special that time is for him and for them. I am thankful for the smiles on all their faces when they get to spend that time together. He is the one that makes the kids life so fun. I am greatful for my wonderful, beautiful children-the ones with me and the ones that are not for they have taught me to cherish the ones that I have. For Michael who teaches me new things every day. That boy is so so smart and loves people so much. He is such a caring little boy. For Adrianna, my beautiful girl who has her struggles dealing with things but has taught me so much about unconditional love. Her beautiful smile makes my day and how she loves her little sisters and cares about helping me and Jon just makes me want to hold her and hug her and protect her from anything that makes her uncomfortable or scared!


Ok-time for a new paragraph! I am thankful for Justice--oh boy! That boy has so much energy and brings so much laughter to this house! You just have to love him-even when he is bad sometimes it is hard to punish him because he is funny. He just has so much mischief in him but so much love and happiness. I am thankful for Kayleigh-she just says the cutiest things that make my day. I love when she says I love you-it sounds so so cute! She is such a happy little girl for the most part. She loves to be read to and give us hugs and kisses. She is such a little pleaser. And then there is Kiersten. Now I have to say right off the bat I struggle with this some times. I don't in any way favor Kiersten or love her any more than the other kids. I will say I am in awe of her. I feel so blessed to have her as my child. I feel God has given me a mircle-that is the only way I can explain her. First-not everyone has twins-obvious. I got a double blessing from God when he gave us the twins and even though I know that these two are not the two babies that we lost but I feel that God gave them to us because we didn't give up on him after everything and with them being due the day that we were due with the first baby that we lost and finding out that I was pregnant with them on the day that Bryce was supposed to be born I feel that was definitely a sign from God and then a few weeks later find out that I was having two babies-how can you deny that. But back to Kiersten-God has shown us so much through her. We have to totally rely on him with all of our children and with Kiersten I feel blessed to be able to watch her grow and laugh and just love. To think that if she was born maybe not even 7-10 years earlier she wouldn't of lived because of her heart problem and here she is bigger than her "older" and "bigger" twin. Even with the seizures it teaches us that we have to trust God everyday with the lives of our little ones. It is so hard to watch her go through these hard things and I wonder why she has to I really don't think it fair for her but God knows why she does and he also knows why she is here and with us. It just amazes me how much God loves all of us and I am thankful for every minute I get to spend with my family.


I am thankful for my In laws-all of you! You all have touched my life in so many ways. You all have helped us through so much and I know that I can count on all of you for prayers or advise when we need it. Especially thankful for Mom and Dad who has been there through so much. Letting me and the kids live with them when Jon went to Korea. That turned out to be such a tough year and I don't know what I would of done without them. So much happened with my health and the health of the kids during that time that there is no way I would of been able to deal with it on my own. That was the year that Justice got so sick and was finally diagnosed with asthma, Adrianna was diagnosed with the kidney disease and I was told that my kidneys were only at 50% function and it straightened up my act on not having the salt and caffeine that I loved! Without there support I would of went nuts. And then when Kiersten had to have her heart surgery they dropped everything and came to help us with the other kids and supported not only us but touched so many other people at the Ronald McDonald house in the process! They truly are an example of God's love!

Last but certainly not least I am so greatful for my mom and grandma. They are truly my best friends I don't know what I would do without them. They have helped me with so much through my whole life and I don't know what I would do without them!

Ok-sorry that was soooo long! Just so much to be thankful for!

A long day...

So when I woke up this morning at 7am I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to get up and bake 7 dozen cookies. That's right! I had to make cookies for Justice's class for their Thanksgiving meal tomorrow and I doubled the receipt so it made 7 dozen and now we have cookies for Thanksgiving as well! The kids are going to have fun decorating them on that day! Well, after that I had to get the kids ready for church and I decided I would try to go. I didn't have a fever today but still have the headache and coughing with runny nose! It is driving me crazy. Needless to day that by the time the service at church was over with I was exhausted and we still had things to do. We went to Walmart and finally got our turkey for Thanksgiving. Jon went to the Commissary and called me from there yesterday to tell me they had three turkeys left-all 13 lbs and were $55 each. I freaked out and told him no way-we would shop around today and get a better deal. Sure enough good ol Walmart had a better deal! We ended up getting two turkeys for less than half the price of the one at the Commissary!

I can't wait for Thursday-all the good food we are going to be eating. We are going to have turkey and ham and all the trimmings plus the stuffing and pumpkin pie. My Brother in law is also going to make a Carmel Apple Pie that I have never had before but boy does it sound good and I can't wait to taste it! The boys don't know it yet but since Eric has to work the next day they can only stay the day but the boys can be together for the whole weekend. Not sure if I am having one of Shari's boys and she is having one of mine or if she is taking all the boys but they get to spend the whole weekend together! They will be thrilled but I am not telling them till Thursday!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! First off-HELLO we are back in the States and close to family. Second our kids are all beautiful and doing well. With everything that we have gone through with Kiersten this year God is still with us and is keeping her healthy minus the seizures! She did only gain 2 oz when we took her to the doctors this last week so they want her to come back in three months and check things out. Now there is only 7 oz difference between the girls when there used to be 2 lbs. Kiersten is still a lot taller though.

Anyway, better get off of here and get some rest! I am not sure if I am going to bed early today or not---it is my favorite TV night but I can always watch my show on the computer tomorrow if I want so we will see! Have a great night everyone!
Stacy

Ok-I figured it out

I think the reason that I have been so tired lately is because I was getting sick. I have had this awful headache since Wednesday night-so bad that I have had to take Tylenol and I try to avoid that at all cost. Well, last night I started running a fever and still have one today now with back pains! Please pray guys that this is just aches and pains because I do have that kidney disease and it is starting to kind of feel like a kidney infection and I really can't afford one of those right now-or anytime for that matter! I might just be making an ER trip this weekend!

On a good note! I just may have the twins potty trained. Neither one of them have had an accident all day and here it is 40 minutes before bedtime! I am so excited about this. It has been a long time coming. If I could just get them to stop going when they are sleeping we would be all set. I also need to get the nerve up to take them out with underwear on. Maybe we will try this Sunday when we go to church-with extra clothes packed of course just in case! Anyway, I am off of here! My head is spinning so I need to go and lay down! Have a great weekend everyone!
Stacy

Long days

I am telling you-I have been so tired lately! I know that in 50 minutes when I go to put the older three kids to bed I am heading there myself! Not sure why I am so tired but I could sleep for a week!

Today has been a pretty good day. We finally got all the paperwork done and turned in for Jon's leave so we can head to Michigan for Christmas. You don't know how excited I am about this! I can't wait to see family again. The girl across the street is probably going to watch the animals too so that is nice to have that out of the way. Of course though Thanksgiving comes first and I am so looking forward to that too! Jon's sister and her family are coming for Thanksgiving and I am really looking forward to spending the day with them. And of course I am so looking forward to all the good food! I can't wait for pumpkin pie and turkey sandwiches and of course the stuffing! YUMMY!!!

Kiersten seems to be doing better! She goes tomorrow for her weight check. Kayleigh also has an appointment tomorrow. It looks like she may not be allergic to Eggs and Peanut Butter anymore. I am so excited about this! They did another allergy test on her last week and it came back that she isn't. She also has an appointment tomorrow with the allergist and we will discuss it all then. We know that the peanut butter does give her a rash basically a break out of her dermatitus but if that is it then we should be good!

The older three kids are doing good. Michael is getting so big-I just can't believe it. He is so smart and is starting to get so independant. He is always wanting to go to his friends house and stuff and I just want to keep him in the house because I am a worrier. I am learning to let go a little and let him be a kid but it is hard in todays world. Adrianna is doing so much better in school. We are going to have a meeting still to see about some testing still but I think she is doing great. Her attitude is starting to change a little too. She is having less freakouts and when she does have them they are lasting for shorter periods of time. Justice is still Justice although the last two days he has gotten purple cats at school. He is trying to behave so I guess that is a start! I just love being their mom! Each one of them is special in their own way and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world!

So I guess that is my blog for the night! Kind of boring but right now I like boring-it is better than some other things that have happened with us lately! Have a good night everyone!
Stacy

Ok-Now a quick update

So my Father in law finally got out of the hospital yesterday! He is very happy about that. They decided it is a problem with his heart. He has to go on medication and if that doesn't work then he will have to have surgery done. He has an appointment with the cardiologist on the 25th so please continue to pray for him. I think that Kiersten is doing a little better. She is eating more everyday so that is good. She still lays around alot though so I am still wondering what is causing that. I am just praying that she isn't having different kind of seizures and we don't know about it. Everything else seems to be going ok besides the fact that I don't seem to be able to get enough sleep! I am so tired all the time! I am also sick of not having enough money for things. I am so stressed out about money all the time. Some how each month we end up ok but this month I am afraid it is going to be different. We are supposed to go and get Justice's Christmas gifts with this check-I just hope we will be able to do it. With each check we are getting a different kids gifts. We already got Michael and Adrianna's now we just have to get the other three kids done. The girls I think will be easy-we are going to get them tricycles-probably the big wheel type-Dora or Barbie-and some dolls or something. Justice we are getting a bike since his got stolen the first week we moved here. Can you believe that-right off the back patio! We will get him a new helmet to go with that and then he wants a Bible! I think that it is awesome that he wants a Bible for Christmas! The only problem is that the bikes are so expensive. Oh well, we gotta do what we gotta do. Since they are only getting two gifts from us this year we pay the price. Anyway, gotta go and put the kids on the bus! Have a great day everyone!
Stacy

Quick Prayer Request

I just wanted to get on here really quick and ask everyone if they could please pray for Jon's dad. He went into the hospital last night with tightness in his chest and was admitted. They know that he hasn't had an immediate heart attack but are keeping an eye on him and doing more tests. Haven't heard anything new this morning and will update when I do hear something.

What a day!

So I am telling you I really am looking forward to Christmas vacation! In the mist of cooking dinner the beautiful babies that I have took pencils that my wonderful three children left out and wrote all over the front room walls! Yeah-not too happy about that! So I gave each one of the kids a pencil with an eraser (of course ones that are not sharpened) and told them to get to work. If they want to keep leaving things out for the girls to get a hold of then they can help clean up their mess! So then I decided it looked so funny having five kids on their knees erasing the wall that I would take a picture! Well-my camera is not working. It keeps saying that it can't focus. I have a nice camera and it was not cheap and I do not want to have to buy another one! I am hoping that Jon can figure it out or something because with the holidays coming up I have to have the camera! I am a picture person and I can't go without one-Jody will understand where I am coming from here! Needless to say since the girls didn't take a nap this afternoon bedtime is early for them so in about a 1/2 hour I will have them up in the tub washing off all the spaghetti and then to bed! I just may go to bed shortly after that too!

We also had Parent Teacher Conferences today. The kids are all doing pretty good. Michael doesn't always turn in his homework and has some issues paying attention to his Math to know what kind of problem that he is doing but is an awesome student! Justice is Justice! He is a great student but does have to stop following what the bad kids do! If we can work on his behavior we will be all set! Adrianna-what can we say about her! Lets just say her teacher raved about her! I am so excited about that! She said what a great student she is. How much better she is doing since the beginning of the year. She is making great strides and while she is not up to grade level on anything she is improving every day. Her teacher thinks that she will be reading fluently by the end of the school year. She told Adrianna that she has the hard part down. Most of the students that can read in the class without missing a word doesn't understand what they are reading. Adrianna understands all the stories and can tell you what they are about but can't read very well. We are just so blessed to have the teacher that we do for her this year. I think she takes special interest in Adrianna in this problem because the teacher also had reading problems growing up. It is just amazing to me how much Adrianna has learned and how much better she is doing! I am hoping that she will be on track by the end of the year and will get some confidence.

Well, I think that is it for tonight! If I can just get my beautiful Kiersten to calm down and not be so angry and upset about-I don't know what-we might have a good evening! Have a great night everyone!
Stacy

Kiersten's appointment today

Ok-so we just got back from her appointment. The doctor went over basically the same as before with me but added a little new info. Basically she now has an 80% chance of this happening again and because the first one happened before she was 2 years old (technically the first two since the second one happened just two days before her birthday) the likelihood of it happening again is good. He went through the timeline with me of the last episodes and said that she needs higher doses of the Motrin and Tylenol and it needs to be given more often-every three hours for each instead of the normal 4 hours for Tylenol and 6 for Motrin. Obviously we can't do this for days at a time but for 24 hours she should be good. He also wants us to get some Tylenol suppositories because she tends to throwup Tylenol. We no longer are to wait for 5 minutes of seizures before giving the diastat. He only wants us to wait for 1-2minutes at the most. He also told us that if she continues to have seizures and keeps having them close together like these last two he may have to put her on some sort of antiseizure medication. There are a lot of sideeffects that go along with them-like making kids very angry so we are trying to hold off and hope that she no longer has them. Thanks for all of the prayers and please keep praying that she doesn't have any more period. It is hard to watch her go through these and then have her in the hospital for days at a time not being able to move or function.

So other than that there really is nothing new here. Things have been mainly revolving around Kiersten and worrying about her. The other kids are all getting colds that I hope go away quickly but other than that nothing. My sister is moving back to Michigan today so I hope she finds what she is looking for there! Well, I guess I will update more later! Thanks for the prayers everyone!
Stacy

So it happened again!

Ok-for those that didn't know Kiersten ended up back in the hospital on Wednesday night. She woke up screaming at 9:55pm and when I ran up there she was running a 103.8 fever. After trying to give her some Tylenol that she threw right back up Jon and I decided to take her right in. When I brought her downstairs to put a new pull up on her she started screaming and jumping like she was seeing things so that freaked me out. Jon sped the whole way there and it was a good thing because literally when we walked in the ER and sat down she started having seizures. They took her back right away and started medications on her to stop them. She ended up having two different episodes of them and they decided to keep her and try to figure out what was causing the seizures. She again lost all control of her body-couldn't sit up or anything. This time she was complaining about her neck so they decided to give her recephin again through an IV this time since she actually managed to not pull it out. The doctors at the hospital thought that maybe she does have a seizure disorder but when they talked to DR. Jaffe-her neurologist-he said he still believes that it is febrile seizures and he doesn't think she needs medication. They don't have medications for febrile seizures so if they gave her the medication from regular seizures then it wouldn't help stop the seizures and would only give her the side effects of the medication. He said I could have an appointment if I wanted but I said it is the same stuff that he said before so I was fine. Well, they finally let her come home today. She still has low grade fevers but has most of her movements back-still a little unsteady on her feet and when she was outside a little while ago she fell and scrapped up her face. I was a little surprised when I got home though because I found out that Dr. Jaffe called and Kiersten does have an appointment to see him Monday morning so I am not sure why he decided to do that. Anyway, please pray for her. This really messes her up and makes her an angry baby so that is kind of hard to deal with-it is like Adrianna times 10! I will get on here after her appointment on Monday and let everyone know what the neurologist says!
Stacy

Our night last night

So last night Jon and I went out on a date! Can you believe that we were actually able to get out without the kids! It was such a great time! We brought the kids home from church, got them their lunch and then left. We went and did some Christmas shopping and then went out to eat at this Japanese Steakhouse! It was so good and so nice to be able to spend some time with Jon one on one without the kids running around like crazy-and nice to eat a hot meal without me having to get the kids their food first. My sister did a great job watching the kids too! When we got home dishes were done, house was clean and vaccumed, and the kids were all in their pj's ready for bed. Alot better than the last time I left the kids with a babysitter!

I will have to say thought that yesterday morning didn't start off so well! The girls have all of the sudden learned how to get out of their room so early in the morning I had two little girls in my room. They even shut our bedroom door. So I turned on the TV for them so they could watch cartoons. They decided that they wanted their blankets so I went and got them out of their room. Well, when I came back Kayleigh had my glasses and had broken the arm off them. So now I have the glasses taped and am trying to save some money so I can go and get some new ones! Not the way I wanted to start my day but it did end pretty good so I guess I can't complain too much! Hope that everyone else enjoyed their weekend. And another thing-if anyone knows how to get cat pee smell off things please let me know! Midnight has decided to start peeing on things for some reason including my nice reclining chair in my living room and I have to try to figure out how to get the smell out! It is driving me crazy! Talk to everyone later!
Stacy