I took her to the doctor on Monday and that virus had turned the corner into an ear infection.  She got some amoxicilan and by Tuesday she was acting more herself.  Today she seems so much better.  Every time she gets sick, and I take her in, and they say it’s just a virus, I know in a few days it’s going to be an ear infection.  This time we just had a bout of dehydration in the middle of waiting.  Don’t want to do that again anytime soon.

Has your doctor ever prescribed your kids Augmentin?  That’s what they gave Katiana for her ear infection last Monday.  I swear she’s had it before, but this time it’s horrible.  She hates the taste of it.  (Next time I’ll know to have it flavored.)  I have to literally hold her across my lap, grab her hands with one of my hands, hold them above her head so she can’t cover her mouth with her arms, and pin her head between my body and my upper arm to get it down her.  I try to have Pato give it to her before he leaves, but this morning it didn’t work that way, and I was stuck fighting her.  You can’t reason with a 4 year old.  I try.  You have to take it no matter what, so why not just take it and get it over with rather than fighting me.  I don’t want to hold you down.  Nope, had to hold her down.

Ok, started this post at oh - 9 this morning.  It’s now 3:55.  Time flies when you’re having fun.  The kids needed me, then we started playing, then it was nap time, (late breakfast) and I fell asleep with the girls.  Then I made grilled cheese sandwiches, while Jordan instructed me.  He said it’s so much easier just to put the bread in the toaster mom.  Yes, but it doesn’t taste as good son.  And here I am while they are playing.

So, on that note, probably time to sign off.  LOL  It’s actually close to getting supper ready.  I can’t decide if I want to grill chicken or make chicken and rice casserole.  Maybe the casserole because morning sickness has been kicking me in the butt all day.  It’s hot outside.  And I don’t think I’m up to standing outside and cooking for an hour.  All I know is I have chicken out of the freezer.  I’ll just get creative I think.

Have a great day!

I told you guys when we took Alyce to the doctor last Monday that she just had a virus - ya di da, same old same old.  Watch and wait.  The rest of the week she was the same.  Runny nose, cranky, fever off and on, but she was wetting her diapers, ALOT.  She was drinking a lot, but not eating great. 

Friday night I changed her super soaked diaper at 7, before bed.  In the morning, I ran to get a treadmill off that someone gave me off of ReUseIt.  (I figured that would help with the weight gain in the middle of December when I can’t take the girls out in the stroller.)  When I left Pato, Jordan, and Alyce were all still asleep.  I took Kat with me.  Got home, she was up.  We had to run down and pick up Pato’s car that was finally done.  YAY for that.  I asked him on the way out the door if he changed her when he got up with her.  He said she wasn’t wet.  Well, that’s not unusual for Alyce, she will be dry when she gets up, then go a lot right afterwards.  So we go get his car.  Come home, I check her she’s still not wet.  I called her doctor’s office because at this point I was starting to get concerned.  The doctor’s office had just closed and I asked to be put through to the nurses line.  Told her the symptoms and she agreed that I should take her down to the ER.  By the time we got to the ER it was 3:30.  Still no wet diaper.  They poked and prodded her.  The doctor said she had decreased bowel sounds.  That she looked dry.  By the time they started her IV under her eyes it looked like she hadn’t slept in a week.  They have Pato and the kids leave the room for the IV, I was up by her head, the nurse was putting it in and 2 paramedics were helping to hold her down.  I just about died.  I just kept my forehead pressed against hers telling her mama was there.  Mama loves you.  Mama’s here.  Get the IV in, she draws blood from it.  Then starts the IV, something wasn’t dripping right.  So, out comes that IV.  She said, do you think she’ll drink some pedialyte?  I said, I don’t know.  She brought me a bottle, I tried to get it down her.  She shoved it away.  Didn’t want anything to do with it.  So back out goes Pato and the kids and back in comes the nurse and the 2 paramedics to do her other hand.  Oh lord that was hard.

They gave her fluids for 2 hours.  Then the doctor came in and we were both amazed at the difference in her.  Her eyes were no longer dark under them at all.  She was up giggling, laughing, yelling at the kids.  He said these little ones just turn so fast.  When we start getting dehydrated our bodies can compensate as adults.  The little ones just can’t.  He thinks that she had turned the corner on the virus, but her body couldn’t catch up on fluids.  So, he sent us home to check in with our doctor today.  I decided to call yesterday, just in case her doctor was on.  He wasn’t.  But I left a message.

Alyce seemed fine all day yesterday.  Lots of wet diapers, drinking like normal.  Running around with the kids.  Then last night.  Ay cabron.  She was up all night screaming and digging in her ears.  At 4 a.m. I gave her some ibuprofin, then got out the tea tree oil (which I use when my ears hurt - it numbs it), put one drop in each of hers, cotton balls, and she promptly went to sleep. 

This morning the doctor’s nurse called and we both agree she needs to be seen.  Her doctor is out of the office today.  I’m going to take her in to the walk in as soon as Pato gets up to help me get all the kids showered - and myself.   Once again this morning she is up running around happy as can be.  I gave her some tylenol in the meantime just to make sure she doesn’t have pain for it.

Poor baby has been through so much this weekend.  Hopefully she’ll get a round of antibiotics for the ear and start feeling much better.

So, that was our weekend.  How was yours???

Oh, at the hospital I did find a new pregnancy concoction and I was in heaven eating it.  It started out as a nice normal turkey and cheese sub with miracle whip.  But it needed something.  So, I hopped over to the vending machine.  Chili Cheese fritos?  YUM!  Smooshed them up, put them on the sandwich.  So yummy.  Pato thought I was revolting.  ROFL 

I think after all this I should look into one of those European cruises.  Ok, possibly in my dreams.  I wish.  LOL 

I have a new kit in the store - I couldn’t wait for July 1.  :o)

All Gave Some and Some Gave All.

So true.  And I thank each and everyone of you!  I have made a new kit to celebrate our men and women of the armed forces and their families behind them.

For the month of July, you will be able to get the add on to this free on the Purple Paper Flowers Blog.  And starting July 1st, we’ll be giving the alpha away as part of the challenge my creative team is throwing for July!  Watch for those starting July 1.
You can buy the kit without the alpha and add on here.
If you don’t plan on participating in the challenge, you can get the kit with the alpha and add-on here.
(and you can see the previews for both alpha and add-on in the extra images of both kits.)

I’ll leave you with a layout I made on Friday.  I wanted so badly to lift this absolutely stunning page here.  I tried.  Started, then ended up going off on my own.  LOL  Came out with the final -

All products by Vera Lim except the photo effect - which is my own Soft Wash PSP Script.  Full credits are here.

Have a beautiful day!

I should know better than to read something like the book I am reading before I go to bed at night.

Yesterday, Pato was off during the morning.  I’ve read all the books I have here at home, multiple times, and I’ve been waiting for him to have some time off so I could go to the Half Price Book Store.  I picked up a good size stack for me and a book for each of the kids.  Everyone was happy. 

I started reading a book that I got off the clearance section that looked interesting.  It’s called The Cases That Haunt Us.  The cover says -

From Jack the Ripper to JonBenet Ramsy, the FBI’s legendary Mindhunter sheds light on the mysteries that won’t go away.

It starts off with Jack the Ripper.  Not the type of light reading to do before bed if you are known to have nightmares.  I’ll spare you the details, but it was bad enough that at 4:40 a.m. I got up.  Alyce joined me.  Changed her.  Asked Pato to put her back to sleep.  And here I am blurry eyed, still tired, with the remnants of that dream still hanging on.  I’m waiting til I pass out from exhaustion to go back to bed.  And I’ll finish this book.  It’s really interesting.  I just can’t read it before I go to bed. 

I got the results of my blood test.  I took it on Wednesday.  My OB wanted to check my levels, see where I was.  I can’t remember what the exact number was - I remember it was around 4000.  The nurse said that put me around 3-5 weeks.  Which is what I thought.  I think 4 is most likely, if it happened right when he got home.  So, my ticker says 6 weeks because it goes by the first day of your last period.  I’ll keep that unless my OB changes my due date with an ultrasound or something. 

Kat’s feeling better finally.  Poor thing and her ear infection.  Her doctor prescribed Augmentin this time, and she would like to have it on record that she doesn’t appreciate it.  She wants the pink bubble gum kind.  (Amoxicilan)  She doesn’t like the white bubble gum kind.  That’s an understatement.  Getting her dose down her twice a day is quite the battle.

Pato took Alyce the same day he took Kat, and Dr K said that Alyce just had a cold but to follow up in 4-5 days if it doesn’t get better.  She’s still running a fever off and on.  And last night she started itching at her ear.  I’m going to watch her today and if she’s not better I’ll go ahead and take her in to get her ears checked again. 

Can I say that I am mighty proud of Jordan lately?  Pato got home one night.  And the living room was a mess.  I had been after Katiana pretty much all evening because she made the mess.  He told the kids, ok - Kat’s now old enough.  Jordan, you’re job is to keep the kitchen floor picked up and the dishwasher emptied.  Katiana, your job is to keep the living room up.  Now, seeing as Katiana is 4, there are quite a few reminders throughout the day.  But Jordan, he’s doing awesome!  He’s kept his room cleaned, he’s been keeping the kitchen picked up - and it seems like as soon as I get a load of dishes done, he’s in there emptying it for me.  It’s a nice change.  I don’t know what caused the change.  If it’s knowing that Katiana has a chore to do all her own now and he doesn’t feel like he is responsible for so much, or if he has finally seen that if he keeps it done, it’s easier to do, AND he gets to spend a lot more time riding his bike, playing with his friends, and not having his electronics taken away. 

Speaking of electronics.  This was so cute.  I had rehooked up my router yesterday. (I had unhooked it to see if it was my router’s issue or my phone company’s issue that downloads and uploads were so slow - it was the phone company.  My mom was here on her laptop.  I was working here on the desk top.  Jordan asked me to come fix the network settings on his laptop, and while in there, I set up my laptop on his desk.  So, he and Katiana sat beside each other for quite awhile playing their webkinz.  Jordan was helping her a lot.  They played so good together for so long, until Katiana decided she needed Jordan’s mouse.  And Jordan didn’t want to give it up.  I was not about to hook up my bamboo fun tablet so she could use that.  My tablets are my babies.  They worked it out though.  She somehow whined enough to get Jordan to hook the mouse up to the laptop she was using and they played for quite awhile.  It was nice.  Alyce sat on my lap for most of the time, until she started getting tired and cranky.  Then I just held her and walked her to sleep.  She just wasn’t feeling good.

Got my kit finished last night that I’ve been working on.  I’ll release that July 1st with the fun CT challenge that they have planned, and there will be a free add on at PPF for the month of July. 

Everything in all of my stores is on sale for 25% off through Saturday.  You can check out my personal store here - http://digiscrapping.net/shoppe.

I need to get a new tutorial up.  Any requests?  I had one a request for text on a path, which I am dreading doing.  LOL  But, yes, it’s possible in PSP.

I think I’m good to go back to bed now.  I think I’ll go jump in the shower and go back to sleep.  Thanks for listening to my ramble!

Have a wonderful day!

Hallelujah!  Pato’s car is finally at the mechanic!    He’s been working so much that he hasn’t had much time for more than calling around for a new motor.  But, he found the one he wants.  The motor and the car have been picked up and taken to the mechanic and his car will be fixed.  Which means, I will have my van back.  Yippie!  No more having to drive him up to work when I need to go somewhere, his car will be home soon.  Plus, his car, being a Honda, gets sooo much better mileage than my windstar does. 

We’ve got to come to a decision soon.  Or, I have to come to a decision soon.  His uncle has been calling every day to see when we are coming up because he wants to give Pato that part in the new restaurant.  Plus his other aunt and uncle are almost done with their new house, which means the house is almost ready for us to buy.  I know, I know, I’ve wrestled with this for awhile now.  It seems like such an easy decision to make doesn’t it?  Nice big 5 bedroom house with everything we could ever need in a gorgeous area of town.  Wonderful school dictrict - actually, Jordan goes to a wonderful school distract now, so that’s not a huge toss up.  Pato is drooling because he can’t wait to have the 2 car attached garage.  LOL  We have a garage now, but obviously, it’s not attached.  And his aunt has the flower gardens I have always wanted.  She is so talented.  Her gardens take my breath away every time I see them.

Our apartment fits 6 people.  It’s really not that small.  But, obviously, the house would be much better.  We’re back to saving up for our down payment on a house, but this would eliminate that step.  Pato’s dream of owning his own restaurant comes true - and if I know his family, more restaurants to come.  They open them all the time.  Really, it’s a no brainer.

But, I so don’t want to move away from my family.  Jordan loves his school, Katiana is signed up for preschool this fall in a great preschool that had a waiting list to get into.  Both of them are signed up for soccer.  My kids adore my family.  We are at grandma’s all the time.  I love them having that relationship with her. 

*sigh*  Someone kick me in the butt and tell me that I know the answer.  And to stop fighting the inevitable. 

I actually have the whole restaurant thing figured in my head.  Because I know he’ll want me up there helping when I can.  We’ve talked and we both agree that the office needs to be  a big room where we can put games, toys, etc.  Then I can have the kids up there with me.  I am planning on hiring a high schooler to be there during the evenings to watch them in the play area, and I can be back there with them when we are not busy.  Pato has said he’d love for Jordan to be out front when we are not to busy.  He could take people their menus, etc.  All of his families’ restaurants are very family oriented like that.  He said he’d have a computer set up in the back for me too to do what I need to do with my own business right there.  Just take my external back and forth.  Seriously, I just need to kick my butt into where it needs to be.  We have it all planned out really.

I kept waiting for a sign that we needed to move, then all this was dropped down on our laps at the same time.  And here I am saying, no, I need more of a sign.  LOL 

Don’t tell Pato that I know we need to go to Ohio.   LOL  I’m holding to my arguments until I’m ready to make the decision finally.  LOL

Alrighty, my mom is here working on her computer.  I’m going to sign off and chat!  TTYL!

I cannot believe the outpouring of support I have had regarding why I password protected my blog. And I want to thank you all for it.

After much thought I have decided to unprotect it. I have decided that a few people who feel the need to take bits and pieces of my life and turn it into what it’s not, well, they aren’t going to stop me from what I normally do, which is live my life. I made that decision last time they tried to tear me and my family apart, ripping bits and pieces from my blog to come to their own twisted conclusions about my life - I second guessed myself this time. I won’t make that mistake again. I know who I am, I know what I stand for, and I will say that being mean for the sake of being mean is something I will never understand. Twisting people’s lives and trying to start hurtful rumors that aren’t true, I will never see that as being something that is fun to do.

I’m excited about this baby. I was nervous, and I am still am about having 4 kids. But I feel as if God wouldn’t give me another child if he didn’t think I could handle it. So, I’m laying it all in his hands.

I am not perfect, and I have never claimed to be. I make my fair share of mistakes in life. But, I will continue to hold my head up high and be proud of my family.

Thank you again for the support you guys have given me. It meant so much to me.

You know supper isn’t good when you catch your son on the phone calling dad to bring home something else, PLEASE??? LOL

I usually make chicken and rice soup with lots of veggies, but chicken didn’t sound good last night. So, I cut up a steak and threw it in instead. Added rice, carrots, corn, peas, and lima beans. Through in some garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano - sounded good at the time. LOL Let it cook for an hour because I never known how long meat has to cook in soup.

I wasn’t hungry yet, so I dish all the kids out some. No one will eat it. They are all asking for something else. I’m on a rampage, eat your soup. I made it, that’s what you’ll have. You like chicken and rice soup, it’s the same thing, just beef.

Finally Jordan says, mom. It tastes like hot water. Just hot water. Ok, I didn’t add any bullion to it because I only had chicken, and I thought that would taste funny with the beef. I went over to the stove and tried a bite and just about spit it back out. Jordan was right. LOL

Next thing I know he’s on the phone with Pato, “Dad, will you please bring us Arby’s home? Mom made supper and it’s not exactly perfect.” ROFL I was like, add salt, you’ll be fine. ROFL Pato brought them home Arby’s and went over to check the soup.

He took a bite, grimaced and said, “DISGUSTING!” Thanks a lot dude. So, he took it all out of the pan, got out some chicken, some bullion, added some water, put in this and that. Added it all back to the pot. 40 minutes later I’m still sulking and he’s like, “gorda, try some, it’s good now.” Now? Bite me. ROFL No, I don’t want any thank you.

Actually, you know how it is when you’re pregnant right? You take a bite of something that is gross, even if it’s been made better, you still really don’t want to try it. The thought of it turned my stomach. So, I had a beef and cheddar sandwich from arby’s. ROFL

There’s a lot left today, so I suppose I’ll give it a go for lunch today.

Vicki asked how far along I am. It’s funny. The doctors will call it 5 weeks because they go by the first day of your last period. But, technically, I’m probably about 3 weeks or so. My last period started on May 16. Pato got home on May 26th. Had to have been that day or the next couple. I was sitting here drinking an amerreto (sp?) and cream on the 17th when all of sudden it popped into my head, I think I’m a whole one day late for my period. So, the 18th when it didn’t come, I had an extra test from the last time, I thought, I’ll just take it, it’ll be negative, I’ll get my period this afternoon and all will be good.

Imagine my surprise when the test started turning AS I was taking it. I started shaking, having issues with breathing. Thought I was going to have a panic attack. I looked at it, yep, 2 dark lines. I went in to Pato, holding up the test and was like, um, look what you did to me! ROFL He’s like what? Look!! He said, mmm hmmmm, then promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. LOL He said later on, Otro nino, ya viene, que tiene. Which doesn’t translate so nicely - another child, it comes, so what? LOL More or less, what is - is. He’s actually completely fine with it. Y’all knew he would be. He’s been pushing for another one off and on for awhile. LOL Got his way didn’t he? LOL

So, that’s that. Wish me mental stability. ROFL No, I’ll be fine. Just have to get used to the idea a little more. LOL

Have a beautiful day!

Since I cut it out due to people on a blog AGAIN.

Actually, he let me stew in my own nausea. LOL

See my new thingy on the sidebar? Below the Amazon widget? Yep. Homecomings are great. That’s how we had Katiana. We went to Mexico. I came back before he did. He came back and the next month we were expecting Katiana. He comes back from Mexico this time, what do you know? #4 is on the way. LOL And we used something every time. Cuz I didn’t think I was quite ready for #4. But, as one of my beautiful friends told me, that’s why God gives us 9 months to prepare, right?

Financially, I’m not too worried. We’re not rich, but we do ok. We have what we need and the kids have a lot of what they want. And if I could get it through my head that we need to take his uncles up on their offers and move to Ohio, we really wouldn’t have to worry at all about finances.

What I need to wrap my head around is having 4 kids. LOL Now that he’s home, the kids are actually much better behaved. Life normally isn’t as stressful as it was during those 3 months that he was gone. We all were dealing with missing daddy. I’ve just been spending a lot of time calculating the age differences. ROFL Kat and Alyce are 2 years and 10 months apart. And that was hard when Alyce was first born. Alyce and this one will be 2 years and almost 3 months apart. Think it will be about the same sanity wise? ROFL

The thing that I’m actually most worried about at present is preeclampsia. With each pregnancy, my blood pressure has gotten worse. Culminating with Alyce. Actually, each pregnancy has gotten worse period. I’ve always been on bedrest for some period of time with each of the kids. In and Out of the ER with dehydration, IVs marks all over my poor arms. But with Alyce, it was the worst. Bedrest for 17 weeks. I was induced 3 weeks early. They said she’d be fine. 37 weeks is considered term, then she spent time in the NicU because she would stop breathing. If you go back to the very beginning of my blog, you can go through my saga with Miss Alyce. I started blogging I think in August when I was pregnant with her, and had her in December.

The good news is, no throwing up yet. Just nausea. And mine is worse at night when I lay down. It always has been. Though it hit me yesterday morning and this morning too.

So, that’s our news.

I had this whole post yesterday, and it started with ————

I’ve been busting tail to get some products made by July 1. I’m getting there, I’m getting there. ROFL

Pato just took both of the girls to the doctor. Kat has been complaining about her ear since the night before last and Alyce woke up this morning and was burning up. :o( He let me have some quiet time and took them before he had to go to work.

and it ended with the sentance below- but the middle has been removed due to needing to password my blog anymore.  If you know me well enough to need the password, just ask!  :o)

Think I should start looking into life insurance? LOL

I’ve got to get to work this morning and turn on the air conditioning! Having hot flashes.

5 layouts in one day has got to be some kind of new record for me.  LOL  The first 4 layouts all use my new collab with Robyn Gough called Strawberry Mint Chip and my new Doodly Do Cutie Birds.

Ok, this one doesn’t use the doodly birds.  LOL

The gardening pictures were all taken at my mom’s on father’s day.  The kids were pulling the weeds out of mom’s garden.

This one was for Vera Lim’s blog challenge using the words ‘happy being’

I used my Soft Wash PSP Script on it.  The rest of the credits can be found here.

I also found a way to fix all of these pictures I took at my sister’s wedding that didn’t come out great.  They were bad enough that they weren’t usable, but I didn’t want to chuck them.  I mean, they were from my sister’s wedding.  So, I made a script that makes those bad bad pictures usable again.  Especially good for pics your going to blend with.

I never could have thrown that picture of my sister and my dad away.  Isn’t it beautiful?

Fix It PSP Script

Ok, I must now go and break up 2 children and find my cell phone that I think Katiana turned off before the littlest one lost.  :o(  Don’t anyone call me til I find it.  LOL

Stephanie Ogren is an awesome designer and a wonderful writer!  She wrote an article on the flood here in Des Moines for the Nonpareil, the paper in Council Bluffs.  And she wrote some about me and used a picture that I had taken from the flood here in Des Moines on Thursday.  You can read it here.  Or, if you’re one of my many family members in C.B. you could just pick up the paper and read it.  LOL  Thanks Stephanie!

In other news, I’m sure you heard that Tim Russert passed away.  :o(  Jordan noticed before I did on the news.  He said, mom!  There’s that guy I took a picture with.  I looked and saw he’d passed away.  so sad.  Here’s the picture of Jordan and Tim in January at a John McCain rally.

May he rest in peace.

On to the flooding. We’re still doing ok.  Yesterday on the news it said for those of us where I live to be ready to evacuate.  But we haven’t been yet.  My sister was evacuated yesterday.  A levee broke over night.  There is a stunning picture of it here on the front page of the Des Moines register.  I think it hit an area that has already been hit hard.  This is sad.

I was thinking, and I’ve mentioned this to a few people.  If Iowa is the #1 producer of corn in the world, and we’re already in a world wide food crisis, what is the trickle down effect going to be?  Governor Culver was comparing this to ‘93.  He said that the value of the crops lost in ‘93 with today’s dollar would be $1 billion.  And he is expecting it be worse this time.  Our ag sector is going to take a huge hit.  And though I’m not a farmer, Iowa is known for being a farm state, and we’ve just lost almost our whole crop.  A crop that we export to the world more or less.  What happens now?

Has our president or any of our federal officials noticed what is going on here?  I haven’t heard any thoughts from any of them on the crisis here.  I just see our local and state officials taking care of business.  Speculating Iowa’s future.  and our National Guard, those wonderful men and women have been working day and night to help in this crisis.  83 of our counties have been declared disaster areas, 9 of our rivers are at historic flood levels.  It is a mess here.

I’m going to sign off.  I hope you have a wonderful day.  Keep Iowans and others affected by these huge floods in your thoughts and prayers.