Good Day :)

I had a great day today. We went to Sea World for my birthday. It has been about 3 years since we had been, and the kids were at a much better age to really enjoy it this time. I made Madi ride the Kraken with me (roller coaster). She cried all the way through the line (I know some of you think I am mean). And honestly, I don't think she enjoyed it too much, she was pretty scared. BUT I don't think it was as bad as she thought either. The thing is when she was about 6 years old she used to ride another upside down roller coaster with me all the time. Go figure. Then we all rode a small roller coaster at the end of the day. Tyler LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED it!! He actually rode it twice in a row. I was kinda worried about his heart, but I checked it when he got off and it was fine. I'm glad he liked it. Matt and I both love rollercoasters, so the kids better learn to like them too - ;) Lauren did NOT like even the small one, but she is definately our most reserved kid when it comes to things like that.

Well, I am off to get ready for bed. I am so glad I got to spend the day with my family!! It really was a great day! And Pam and Brit... we are still gonna try to come down your way sometime soon too.

And a prayer request please. I talked to my grandfather today, my grandmother is not doing too good. She is a WONDERFUL lady that I look up to a lot. She introduced me to Jesus by her life example. When the time comes for her to go home ahead of my, I will be sad because I will miss her; but I know she will be waiting for me when I get there :) Still, my prayer is thatI can have as much time with her as possible.

Shauna

sick family

Matt came home sick today. He NEVER comes home sick, so I know he is not feeling good. Lauren and "R" (my foster daughter) also have a runny nose, but no other symptoms. Ari (my foster baby) is doing much better today, but you can still hear her chest rattle from across the room.

It's funny how things work out sometimes. I was SO upset that our cruise got cancelled, now I'm glad we're not scheduled to go b/c I don't think I could go with everyone sick. Let me tell you about Tyler too.

We had his cardiology appt. yesterday and I was really hoping we could put off his surgery until he got a little bigger. But the doctor said "we need to get this done and over with so he can live a normal, happy life". So, his surgery will be sometime in the near future. Then I came home last night and read a bunch of info on the internet. One of my questions became, how much should I limit him now. We have been letting him do pretty much whatever he wanted (as far as playing, etc). Today, he went to a friends house and went swimming, then he had ball practice tonight. When we got in the car after practice he told me he felt funny. I checked his heart rate - 180. SO... for the next 45 min. or so his heart rate would go way too fast for a few min. then back to normal, then too fast again. Finally, it has been normal for about an hour now. I got him a pillow and blanket and told him to lay down on the couch. He turned the t.v. on to basketball, and I laid down by him so he could play with my hair for a few minutes, and he is sound asleep with a heart rate of 76. Ahhhhh. I guess that is my answer that he doesn't need to do too much right now, and also we do need to go ahead and have his surgery sooner rather than later.

Oh, and please pray for me because I am supposed to have my anual health inspection of my house for foster care next week. On top of my hubby and kids being sick, we were supposed to do something for my birthday on Fri. and Sat. Sunday is always busy with church. And my living room floor is covered with homeschool stuff because I am trying to get it organized and put away (we are finished for the year). Last year when I had my health inspection, I had laundry in MY bathroom floor, and the guy told me "I know your husband is usually here for the inspection, and he makes sure the house is clean, but you don't need to have laundry in the floor." My tongue was about to be bit in half from me trying not to say anything. ARGHH!! So, I am stressed about it all to say the least.

By the way, can I tell you all something. OF course I can, because its MY blog :) My life gets hectic sometimes, and I like to vent on here, and everywhere else too ;) BUT I have learned one thing. It doesn't matter how I feel, what I think, what is going on, whether I'm happy or stressed; God is God, and He knows the plans He has for me. I am who I am, and I don't pretend to be someone I'm not. And... it's all good. :)

"find" of the morning

while cleaning out my purse, I found that the lollipops I keep in my purse for when my blood sugar drops, OR for rewards for the kids.... were gone - BUT ... I did find an old french fry.

just so you know, it is more like a carry bag than a purse; I have too many kids and too much stuff to carry a regular purse.

quote for the morning

While complaining about a bump on her head, Lauren says:

"While we were playing bowling, and I was the bowling pin..."


LOL, too funny. At least they were using a rubber ball to bowl with.

My day...Again ;)

This morning was the first morning getting up VERY early to go bike riding, have I told you before that I am NOOOOT a morning person?! But, I have to say, I did enjoy it, and I will definately be happy if I lose weight.
I am going to give you the short version of the story, because I was just told that Lauren is doing karate on her brother and sister...
Our foster baby is sick, and I was running very low on oxygen tanks after her needing it all weekend long. While trying to get everyone out the door, in the car, and buckled up, Lauren comes walking out of the house with a towel on her hand saying, "Mommy, I can't get this stuff off my hand." I look and her had is COVERED in something white. I have NOOOOOO idea what she got into, and she either is choosing not to tell me, or doesn't know what it is. I can't even think of anything it COULD be. So, in the mean time, I have absolutely lost my cool with her, and I am saying in a loud voice (nice way of telling you that I was screaming at my kid - lol) TELL ME WHAT YOU HAVE GOTTEN INTO AND WHERE IT IS NOW!!! I eventually go ask Madison who tells me that (sorry Paige) it is Paige's nail polish that got left here a few weekends ago. WHEW, at least it isn't gonna kill her.
SO... with that over, we get into the car and head to the post office where I was needing a quick trip in and out, and got stuck having to re-do something 3 times, until I lost my cool again and the nice lady helped me :)
Then I go to the medical supply place to pick up the new oxygen tanks (running very low now) and there was no one there, door locked, etc. ARGHHH!! Luckily our pediatrician is right next door and I already have given them a heads up that I am headed there with her. SO... I go there. They get me back very quickly, I undress her, and lay her on the table, and her oxygen levels immediately resume normal limits. First, I AM glad that she was ok at that moment, BUT I know that it is only temporary (as in, while we are in the dr. office). So we leave there with no diagnosis. I then go BACK to the medical supply place and get the oxygen that has by this point run out, but that's ok, since she seemed to be ok at the moment anyway. On my way home I stopped to get gas, as I only had 12 miles left to go till empty. It was then that I realized that I could not find my cell phone. And I still have not found it. Retraced my steps, everything, no cell phone.
And that really is the short version of the story.

And tomorrow is another day.

Thank you Jesus for my wonderful family, even if I have bad days; I am having bad days WITH them and there are fun moments in between and way more good days than bad. Thank you for children after years of praying for them. Thank you for a husband who loves me even when I have bad days! And thank you for loving me even though I don't deserve it!

Shauna

My Day

Matt woke me up this morning (I have a hard time waking up in the mornings, and he usually has to wake me up several times before I can actually wake up enough to get out of bed) but before I could even get out of bed to get ready to go to Tyler's tee ball game, Matt told me that our foster daughter "R"s g-tube had leaked and there was formula ALL in her bed. So... I was not able to go to Ty's game because it would take so long to clean it all up. I hate missing his games. I want to be there for him, to support him, you know... because I love him. So, I didn't get to go. I decided to clean "R" up before I ate breakfast. To give her a bath, and change the sheets on her bed, re-dress her, put lotion on her, all the stuff we usually do. So I get started, and while I was getting her undressed, our other foster daughter "A" started having a difficult time with all of the congestion in her nose, throat, and chest; and had to be suctioned so her oxygen levels would go up. So I put a hold on "R"s stuff, and take care of "A". When I get back to "R", and get her in the tub, "A"s oxygen alarm is STILL going off... SO (Thankfully Madi and Lauren were helping me) I quickly get "R" out of the tub, dried off, and a diaper on; then ask Madi to finish dressing her so I can take care of "A". Keep in mind, "R" weighs 57 pounds, not easy to bathe, dress, etc. So I get the nasal canula on "A" and go to get her medicine for a breathing treatment. When I get back to her bed (10 seconds later) I find she has removed the nasal canula and has it in her hand. I FINALLY get them both taken care of and fix myself a bowl of cereal, by this point I am light-headed and feel like I'm gonna pass out b/c I have low blood sugar. I sit down to eat, and Matt and Ty walk in from the game. (I always hate when I have had a HARD morning or day, work constantly, FINALLY sit down, and Matt will walk in. I know he must think I make this stuff up - lol.

I asked for 2 things for my birthday - to get a pedicure, and to go on a daycruise with Matt. We have lined up babysitters for all 5 kids (NOT an easy thing to do). Schedules were very hard to work out. I started packing today, and getting a few things ready. (I'll cont. this story in a min.)

We had a PILE of laundry so we have all been working on it all day long. And to be honest, I was just in a crappy mood. I have had some medical issues lately, seeing 3 different specialists, all trying to find the right combination of meds for me. Every time there is a switch, it messes me up for a while. Then I do it to myself too. I was having some unwanted side effects, so I changed my own meds around a little :) Yeah, that didn't work so well. I feel HORRIBLE! I am screaming at the kids, and I don't even like myself.

I took Madi and La with me, we were gonna go get our nails done, but I just couldn't make myself spend that much $$ on something so temporary and trivial. So... we went to WalMart instead and bought the stuff to do our own manicure and pedicures. When I got to the checkout line (right on time, I might add - I had to be home in time for Matt to take Ty to his thing). The lady in front of me had 2 identical cakes. One of them rang up $3.00 and the other rang up $75.00 - obviously she was not o.k. with that, don't blame her. BUT long story short, I was in line for 30 minutes!!!ARGH!!!!! Then she paid with a check, and they had to call a manager for some reason b/c it didn't want to take it - double ARGH!!!!!!!!!

I raced home and got there 15 minutes late, and had to tell Matt quickly about the phone call I received as I was walking into WalMart - the engine on the ship we are supposed to take this Thursday for my birthday cruise, our only time in a LOOOOOOOOONG time together alone, the engine on this ship BLEW UP and they are not able to cruise at all for 2 weeks!!!!!!!!! Matt took a day off work, 3 different families changed their schedules to watch our 5 kids for us, I was all excited, and now this!!!

And for those of you who know about my birthday last year, I know this still isn't as bad, but this was supposed to be a great birthday to make up for last year. :(

I am very sad.

Lauren has been singing all afternoon (she sings constantly) "it's all about God" i don't know why she is singing that, but it must be for me.

cheap fun

The kids are always buggin us to go to Chuck E Cheese, but it can get expensive, so we have not taken them much. I had them decorate an old coffee can and turned it into a piggy bank, and told them they all could choose how much $$ of their allowance they wanted to contribute to the Chuck E Cheese fund. They had to raise $20 and then we would pay the rest. They LOVED it!!! I reward them with quarters when they help me with the house, or the foster kids, etc.; that is on top of their allowance for the chores they are supposed to do every day.

We went to Chuck E Cheese last week and had a BLAST!!!! I think they really liked it more, knowing they earned part of the $$. So here's my question. I need more ideas for places they can earn $$ towards. Right now they are saying they want to go bowling, but I don't think they are very excited about it because they aren't putting much $$ in or talking about it much. Also, I don't think they would really be able to bowl (physically) - at least not well, because the twins are so small.

We have lots of BIG places to go around here. They really want to go back to Sea World, but they would have to save a LOT of $$ for that - lol.

Any ideas?? What do you like to do with your kids??