The_Botzy_Blog's Xanga

Let's give it a whirl...

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:09:51 GMT

http://thebotzyblog.wordpress.com

Changes...

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:27:41 GMT

They're in the works (I hope!). I'm not happy enough with Xanga to continue paying to get rid of all of their advertisements for another year. I've found another site (okay, so my mom found it for me ) that has the features I had here (for a price) for free. So I'm in the process of moving. Hopefully before the baby comes

Thanks for bearing with me!

Why yes!

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 02:15:38 GMT

I am still alive!

Despite 3 colds and 1 stomach virus since the day after Christmas, we seem to be nearly recovered!

Looking at my ticker is getting scary, seeing that I have only 9 weeks left until my due date! How on earth did that happen??? Everything is going good. I made the mistake of eating lunch on the way to my last appointment though... It was the appointment that I get the 1 hour glucose test. Under 140 is normal, over 200 is diabetic. Mine was 144 **sigh** So now I get to go in for a 3 hour glucose test, which involves getting 4 blood tests in 3 hours. YIPPEE!

Don't forget to play the baby game over on my sidebar

Nesting is starting to kick in, and I'm pretty much ready to just throw everything out to the curb and start over. But that's not too practical, so instead I'm sorting and chucking. Filling up our trash can to maximum capacity every week. I haven't even started going through the stuff that can be taken to Goodwill. While I usually Freecycle* stuff. I just have too much stuff to deal with the emailing and pick-up scheduling this time, so off it'll go to the Goodwill truck

Our Christmas decorations are still up. I just wasn't ready to take them down at New Years this year like I usually do. I'll get the indoor ones taken down sometime this week, then maybe we'll get the outdoor ones down on Saturday.

With the holidays and the majority of the illnesses behind us, school was back in session today (shhhhhhhh, my kids don't know that it's a holiday ). I slept in way too late to start it this morning (stupid "best of" radio shows saying that it's 6 a.m. when it isn't!), so we started school after lunch. We began the Secret Garden today, got math lessons done, then handwriting (we skipped phonics today, because my dry erase markers all seem to have mysteriously lost their caps over the holidays ). I sent the kids off to play, only to have Dexter return to me with his math book and ask to do another lesson. Learning to tell time... I've been avoiding that. It's just so easy to say "Oh look how late it is! You guys better get in bed!" when they can't tell what time it actually is! So he finished that lesson while his brother and sister played with tangrams. Then Prince Charming decided to do another lesson as well, so he set off to learn how to tell time too **cries** In the meantime Dexter moved ahead with his lessons. He finished his 4th math lesson before dinner, and now that he's finished eating, he's back here asking for more! I'm a leeeeeeetle bit worried about these children of mine! Thankfully I've given up on pre-writing lesson plans, and have instead decided to just write down what we did at the end of the day. Unfortunately my still-in-the-box white-out pen has disappeared (I have a feeling it fell victim to Pixie Girl and her tendencies to throw things in the trash) to fix the lesson plans from when I tried to pre-plan. I'm going to need to run to the office supply store for another one, and some dry-erase markers.

*If you haven't looked into Freecycling, you should. It's a really great program where you send down a group-wide email to people in your part of town, listing still useful items that you have to give away, or something that you may be looking for, and you receive emails about items that other people want, or are giving away, all completely free. We've given away small appliances, furniture, etc. that we no longer used and were just sitting in the garage, and have received 2 beautiful encyclopedia sets from people who were moving and needed to minimize what they were taking with them. We usually choose a public place for pick-ups, such as a grocery store parking lot.

Who me?

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:17:38 GMT

I would never stoop to such a level... Would I?

1 month???

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:57:21 GMT

Seriously??? It's been a MONTH since I posted? Oops!

Let's see... where to start?

We continued a tradition in the beginning of November, of getting the kids portraits taken, then Rob's mom and I heading out to choose ornaments for this year. Picture taking was an experience, as we had 2 very emotional girls that morning, but they turned out good

I came under fire from family members (you know who you are ) for starting up Christmas music before Thanksgiving LOL

We had a good Thanksgiving. We spent it with Rob's family this year. The guys played games on the Wii, where Prince Charming, despite only playing twice before, beat the adults at bowling (his tip: You have to kick your leg up when you let go of the ball). Dinner was delicious, and we had a good time visiting

2 days after Thanksgiving we set up our Christmas lights outside. I'll have to videotape them flashing to the music again this year, since we've added a couple of new things. Oh! And wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! We didn't lose ANY lights over the past year! Every single one of them still worked!

We're still working on decorating the inside. It's pretty slow going, because of the events of this past week...

Sunday evening Pixie Girl decided to attempt a high diving act from her highchair (she's quite an escape artist, and had been sitting there, happily eating, just seconds before!). She cried and cried, but we couldn't figure out what was wrong with her (besides being mad), and it was past her bedtime, so we figured a good nights sleep would help her forget her fall, and if she was still upset the next day, then we would know something was wrong.

Monday morning she did just fine, unless I tried to pick her up under her arms, then she screamed bloody murder. I worried that she'd broken her collar bone, so I called for an appointment with the pediatrician. I had to argue with the advice nurse for 40 minutes, who kept telling me "She's getting older now, and they like to throw temper tantrums. You're probably interrupting her play time, and she doesn't like it". After explaining to her repeatedly that this was my 4th child, and I knew the difference between crying over temper, and crying over pain, I finally had to use their special little phrase that they aren't allowed to refuse, to get an appointment. The pediatrician was all full for the day, so I waited for a call when they had an opening. A few hours later I got a call from the office saying that another pediatrician had an opening to check her for injuries but that we'd "have to schedule another appointment to discuss her behavioral issues". I explained to them that she didn't have behavioral issues, and that the advice nurse refused to believe she was in pain, the office lady laughed at the stupidity of it, and crossed off the "behavioral issues" from her notes.

We rushed to the doctor (the appointment was 30 minutes from the time I got the call, and we live 30 minutes away). I went to park in the garage at the hospital, where the security guard stopped me, unsure that my van wasn't too tall (I assured him that we were fine), then as we walked past, munchkins all in tow, I told him "quack quack" (stupid I know, but it gets funnier trust me ).

The pediatrician and I both suspected either Pixie Girl's collar bone, or her shoulder, but since it was so hard to tell, she had her x-rayed from shoulder to fingertips, just to be sure. Pixie Girl was NOT happy with being x-rayed! We headed back, and the pediatrician said that it all came back clear, so it was probably a muscle issue that should get better in a day or two. So back home we went, quacking at the security guard.

Tuesday I had an appointment to check on baby. The security guard stopped me, to make sure I wasn't too tall. We walked past and quacked. The heart rate is great, and I measured just perfectly. I've gained 3 pounds since my gallbladder was removed. Still down 27 from pre-pregnancy weight! **happy dance** We went back to the car, quacking as we passed the security guard.

Wednesday at 4:15 the pediatrician called again. She said that the radiologist saw something on the x-ray and that he thought Pixie Girl may have broken her elbow. They wanted it casted so that she couldn't hurt it worse. Oh, and orthopedics closes at 5. Now, we live 30 minutes away, except after 3:30, when it takes us 45 minutes if we're lucky. And kids were napping... I threw everyone in the car, tossed shoes at them, and off we went, getting there 5 minutes before they closed. The security guard stopped me, afraid my van was too tall, I told him that this was our 3rd day of being stopped in a row and that we were fine, we walked past and quacked, he laughed again (because he didn't remember us), and we got to the orthopedist just in time to get a temporary cast put on her arm. The orthopedist would look at her x-rays in the morning, and decide what to do about it then.

So back we went, quacking at the security guard, knowing that I'd be back the next day too, and hoping he'd remember us by then.

Thursday we went in first thing in the morning. But this time we managed to sneak into the garage while the security guards back was turned LOL

Pixie Girl's cast was cut off, and 2 orthopedists came in to check her out. They looked at the x-rays, and looked at her, probably half a dozen times. They poked and prodded and squeezed, and got no reaction from her. They couldn't see whatever it was that the radiologist thought he'd seen either. They even checked her for broken ribs! I explained to them that she was perfectly fine, unless I picked her up under the arms. So they decided that it sounded like her collar bone or shoulder. So they poked and prodded some more, and moved her shoulder and arm all around, with no reaction from her at all. I told them again, that she was perfectly fine, and only cried if she was picked up under the arms. She seemed to take a liking to one of them, and he picked her up under the arms...

10 minutes later, when the blood curdling screams stopped echoing through the halls, they decided that there was definitely something wrong with her, but were just as clueless about what it was, as when they started. So they decided that the best thing to do was to use several ace bandages, to bind her entire right arm to her side to immobilize it, leave it there for a week, and see her again if she cries being picked up next week. If so, they'll do more extensive x-rays. If not, then it may have just needed to rest, and she's done. The poor kid looks like an amputee though!

We headed home for a bit, then out to my moms for the afternoon, where Pixie Girl managed to learn how to handle a sippy cup one handed. My allergies flared up horribly as the day went on. By the end of the day Pixie and I were both messes. Emotionally she'd had ENOUGH, and I was exhausted from sneezing my head off all day.

Friday morning Pixie welcomed me with both arms raised. She'd managed to escape her confinement, and was quite proud of herself I strapped her back down, and we went on with our day. I realized before long that my allergies weren't allergies, but a cold. Figures You can't go to the doctor 4 times in 1 week during December, and NOT catch something. Pixie managed to escape her mini-straight jacket another 3 times, and scream the remainder of the day, because she only had one hand to use. Poor thing! She doesn't know that it's for her own good!

Today she seems resigned to being one handed. Other than occasionally tipping over, and being unable to catch herself, she does pretty well. The last time I bandaged her yesterday, I left her fingers free, and that seems to have helped her frustration too. I need to go to the drug store today to find some more cotton for under the bandages, so that I can bathe her and change it. She's got a pretty good little funk goin' on under there.

So that's what we've been up to lately! I'll try to get some video up in the next few days if I can!

Tagged again!

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:10:31 GMT

By Dani!

Now I need to think of 7 more random things that (hopefully) I haven't already mentioned

1. Caffeine doesn't affect me. I can have a mocha just before bed, without any problems. It's nice

2. I've recently fallen in love with Dermalogica, and their products for dry skin. I just wish it was cheaper! LOL

3. Each member of our family, capable of reloading by themselves, owns a rubber band gun. I like to quietly load mine for sneak attacks and send them all running for cover, while trying to strategize how to get their guns and get to the giant bag of rubber bands

4. I have craved, and eaten, at least one salami and cheese sandwich a day for the past 2 weeks.

5. I've been nicknamed, by an online, grammar conscious, friend, The Comma Chameleon. I don't know why, I mean, it's not like I use a lot of commas, or anything, right?

6. I'm not sure where my weird sense of humor came from... perhaps from the woman who calls me daily to excitedly tell me that she's ordering me an Obama Mama t-shirt?

7. I can't help but laugh hysterically over the similarities in these two videos...

#1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nokTjEdaUGg

#2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

**begins dodging tomatoes**

I'm going to tag... YOU! (leave me a comment if you decide to accept, so that I can come read! )

War and Peace...

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:10:57 GMT

Current situations of the botzy blogger

At war: With the perfectionist in me that says no matter what, we MUST do school at least 5 days a week.

At peace: With the realization that the days we do have school, we usually carry out 2 lessons just for something to do, that character training is more important than handwriting, and that nobody will learn anything from a grumpy mother who can't see straight from a migraine. That the other days can be "in service" days.

At war: With my t-shirts, that are getting just a little snug around the middle

At peace: With test results that show that the baby (that is making those shirts snug) is just fine, and has the lowest chances possible of any chromosomal problems, and is kicking nice and strong.

At war: With the 3 year old that has now taken 2 hours to color in 3 of 6 small shapes.

At peace: Knowing (or at least hoping) that she won't still be coloring those 6 shapes her senior year of highschool and reminding myself that I do have her doing work for kids 2 years ahead of her, some of which she does 2 lessons of a day.

At war: With boys guessing at what words are, instead of sounding them out.

At peace: With boys who have now read 2 books on their own.

At war: With my mind, wondering what will happen in the next 4 years (and yes, I'd do this no matter who won LOL)

At peace: Knowing that God ordains who leads our country, and nothing will happen that He has not decided to allow.

At war: With making holiday decisions.

At peace: With the fact that we've managed to survive every year so far

At war: With the housework and laundry.

At peace: That we have a house to live in, clothes to wash, and food to eat.

At war: With my lack of energy lately.

At peace: With the fact that I've just had surgery, that I take care of 4 children, that I am hatching a 5th, and would probably manage better if I remembered to take my vitamins As well as with the fact that parking the kids in front of the boob tube, while I take a 45 minute nap is okay sometimes.

What are you at war and peace with?

And the color is...

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:03:45 GMT

yellow!

I went in for my ultrasound yesterday. Baby was uncooperative, and the radiologist kept saying "I really hope I can tell you what this one will be, but it looks like it may end up being the surprise baby!" After about 15-20 minutes, she had me go take a walk, and bend and stretch, to see if we could get baby to move a bit.

She also allowed the whole family to come in to see the rest of the ultrasound, instead of just Rob!

So back on the table I went, and while baby had moved, and she got some great shots, due to the baby's position things were still a bit iffy with identifying the gender! Since it's a bit uncertain, and since it's so much fun anyways... I'm not going to say here what we decided we think it might be She told me to be sure to ask, if I had any future ultrasounds, to have them check the gender.

We headed home for me to pack the ice-chest, then I took the kids to the private park and zoo for the day. We had a blast! I wish I'd brought the camera, but I hadn't. The park was getting ready for a halloween event later in the evening, so it was pretty much empty while we were there, since it was closing early. We left there and headed to the zoo just as all of the school field trip groups were leaving! So we had both places pretty much to ourselves!

After stopping in at the gift shop for some toys and new puzzles, we headed home for the kids to nap, before heading to Rob's parents for dinner.

I got a phone call shortly afterward from one of our hospitals genetic counselors. The radiologist spotted a choroid plexus cyst in the baby's brain. While they are usually benign, and before higher tech ultrasounds just went unnoticed, they can rarely be a symptom of a more serious problem. So after talking a bit, we decided to go ahead and get the AFP test (just a blood test on me), to see if there were any other markers for the more serious problem (although none showed up on the ultrasound), so that we and the doctors would be prepared if there was a problem and baby needed to be more closely monitored, or go into the NICU after being born. So we may be in for more ultrasounds after all The counselor kept commenting on how calm I sounded LOL I had to laugh!

#1. God is in control, no matter what. Whether the baby has problems or not (and while we always pray for the "not" part ), He has a plan for it.

#2. The cyst isn't too horribly uncommon, causes no problems in and of itself, and many adults are walking around with one or more right now, without knowing it.

#3. The chances of the more serious condition occurring are pretty slim.

#4. What good would worrying over it do?

And that's about it for our adventures of yesterday! I'll try to get ultrasound pictures up later!

School days...

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:02:23 GMT

school days...
Don't get slimed by the baby's drool days.
Reading, and writing, and 'rithmetic.
All of it's homework, even if you're sick...

No? That's not how it goes?

So, as my mom and sister have already said, things have been busy. It must be fall!

I'm completely recovered from my surgery. I can eat pretty much anything I want now (and have! ), and other than what look like a few deep scratches on my abdomen, I'm no worse for the wear! Amazingly enough my long lasting morning sickness went away too. I guess my gallbladder was causing the nausea as well!

Baby is kicking and moving around, so he/she is doing well. We go in for an ultrasound on Friday, and hopefully will find out the gender.

Dexter caused us some concern the past few weeks. He getting up several times a night to use the bathroom (he used it more during the day too, but it's not as noticeable then), and tanking tons of water. I emailed our pediatrician, and she ordered a glucose test for him, to make sure everything was alright. Thankfully it was! A few days later while I was talking to my mom, she brought up a very good question. She asked if I thought his water drinking could be a new OCD/tic type behavior. Hmmmmmm... So I decided to wait a bit to see if it continued, and if I could redirect it, before calling the doctor again.

Prince Charming, Little Miss Feisty, and Pixie Girl are doing well Pixie's cut a few more teeth, although only having 4 never stopped her before Little Miss Feisty is happy to be doing school with her brothers, and Prince Charming is enjoying school most days

This is our first year of being "official" homeschoolers. Prince Charming reached mandatory school age, so we filed our private school affidavit, and away we went! Both boys are in 1st grade this year, and after looking through the kindergarten math book I realized that it should be a piece of cake for Little Miss Feisty, so she's now in kindergarten Since math is the only subject we use a book with grades for, we're just using that to decide their grade levels Technically, if she keeps it up (although we aren't going to push, she's only 3), she could be in the 2nd grade math book by the time she's able to be enrolled.

Our schedule is a little odd, but it works for us. I'm not a morning person, but my children are (Rob and I are sure that they were all switched at birth). So it works out good for us if I can piddle around in the mornings, while they burn some energy off playing. We start school around 11-11:30. Pixie Girl eats her lunch, while the boys do math, and Little Miss Feisty does art. Then Little Miss Feisty does math, while the boys do art. Afterwards Pixie goes down for her nap, while the older 3 eat.

When they're done we read a couple of chapters from Little House (they're hooked!!!), then we head into the other room for phonics. Phonics. Ooooooooohhhh phonics... That's probably the highlight, and the most dreaded part, of the day! LOL I love it, because they already know their letters, and about half of the sounds, so they can sound the words out fairly easily. I dread it, because of the sloooooooooooooooooooooowness of it. "hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ttttttttttttttttt...." "hhhhhhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ttttttttttt..." "hhhhhh aaaaaaaaa tttttt..." "hhh aaaa ttt...." **keeps smiling on the outside, while running screaming from the room on the inside** "Okay guys, lets say it a liiiiiiittle bit faster, and quit stopping between sounds." "hhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaatttttttt..." Have I mentioned that I'm not the most patient person in the world? After that Little Miss Feisty heads off for her "little rest" (), while the boys work on handwriting (writing out the words that they're working on in phonics). I tried handwriting with Little Miss Feisty, but the fine motor skills just aren't there yet, and she's about ready for her "little rest" by then anyways.

That's pretty much it so far. I wanted to see how we did with those, before adding more. So far so good, and they come asking for more schoolwork about an hour after we're done! So I may add in some science in a week or so. Heck, maybe I'll throw in 2 math lessons a day

I think today we'll head out to the school supply store. It's time for cuisinaire rods, play money, and clocks

So that's about it for us! Be sure to play the baby game!

Goodbye thorn in my side!

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:17:39 GMT

Thank you all for praying!

My surgery was set for this afternoon, and I was called in around 2:15. The staff was GREAT, and everyone reminded everyone else, multiple times, that I was pregnant, so that every precaution was made to keep things safe for the baby. The anesthesiologists researched until they found something so safe that any negative effects on the baby would be caused by stress from the surgery, and not the drugs.

I was wheeled into the O.R. wide awake (being pregnant, I didn't get the fun little pre-anesthesia cocktail that everyone else gets from the anesthesiologists LOL), and passed out before I even knew that they'd started the drip!

Next thing I knew, someone was asking how my pain levels were. I asked what they meant, then realized that I was in the recovery room! I was allowed to sit up and drink some ice-water as soon as I could keep my eyes open. I did have one short-term pain injection, but as soon as I was able to sit up, I felt much better.

After a while an ob nurse came down to hear the baby's heart rate. We spent a nervous several minutes, when she couldn't find it. Pretty soon she smiled, then frowned, then smiled, then frowned... The baby was moving around so fast, that she was just getting bits and pieces of heartbeats, but not enough to measure the rate! The anesthesia had barely effected the baby at all! She finally got a good few seconds to measure and chart the heart rate.

I asked the recovery nurse about what they found during surgery. He didn't have much information, other than that there was a huge stone in there, and that my gallbladder was so irritated, that it was causing adhesions to form , which meant that when it would spasm, it would pull against whatever it was adhering to, and whatever it was adhering to was "pulling" (not really, but it wasn't giving in ) back, causing the neck of the gallbladder to stretch, while it was trying to contract. Nastiness! I'm so glad to get that vile thing out of there!

By 5:15 I was walking fine, and allowed to go home!

I've spend most of the rest of the evening in our recliner, sipping chicken broth and 7-up Other than feeling like I did about 800 sit-ups, I'm feeling pretty good!

Thank you all again for your prayers! I really appreciate them!