Emotional!

Picture me watching sappy movies without ever shedding a tear or even getting misty-eyed. Those that know me now cannot possibly imagine this. But it was true. Enter newborn Jay and my emotions changed forever. So much so that I can get all teary-eyed at a damn kleenex commercial!

When Jay went to school for the first time for pre-k, I was pregnant with Justin. Of course, I cried uncontrollably after I watched him get on that big yellow bus. When Jay had his Kindergarten "graduation," I was pregnant with Korinne. Again with the emotional crying.

Of course, I cried with the birth of each of my children. I cried uncontrollably for weeks after the loss of my girls. Then when I learned of Jackson's medical problems while still pregnant with him, I cried. When he was born and taken away before I could even hold him, I cried. When he had surgery at 2 weeks, I cried. When I was finally able to hold him at 3 weeks, I cried. When I learned his soft spots closed too early and would need surgery, I cried. When he finally came home a week before he turned 2 months, I cried. When he had surgery on his skull, I cried. All of this is understandable.

Right now, I'm quite emotional. For one, Aunt Flo came today. But mostly, Justin has his kindaergarten "graduation" tomorrow. I went out today and bought him a nice suit (at Ross for $5.99) to wear tomorrow. After his bath, I had him try it on to make sure it fit and got all teary eyed! I can't believe he's going into 1st grade! I'm all teary eyed now. Wait until I post tomorrow after his ceremony. LOL

Then Jay has his ceremony on Tuesday. He'll be going into middle school! A few days after that, my in-laws will be here and will be taking Jay and maybe Korinne back to TN with them for a month. Justin was going to go at first, but I knew he'd change his mind. He's never been one to want to be away from Jimmy and me. So Korinne is all excited about having the chance to go.

I don't like my kids spending one night away from me. I'm going to be a wreck the month they're gone. Ok not really, but it will be difficult.

Ok excuse me while I go have a quick cry. LOL

7 Random Things

So my friend Ami tagged me to post seven random things. Here they are...

1. I am a southerner but I cannot stand iced tea, ketchup or BBQ sauce.
2. I truly enjoy being a stay at home mom, even though my kids grate on my last nerve sometimes. LOL
3. I wish I could have another baby.
4. I may seem outgoing online, but I'm really quite shy in person. Takes me a good 20-30 minutes before I feel comfortable around people enough to start a conversation on my own, even ones I regularly talk to online.
5. I would love to win the lottery so I would know all of Jackson's medical bills could be paid for easily. And of course, to buy a home for our kids to have roots.
6. I miss my body piercings. LOL
7. I'm excited about trying out my new camera...waiting on the lens. Got a Canon Rebel XS for Mother's Day, minus the lens. Can't wait to take pics of the kids with it. Hopefully, I will be better with that camera than my digicam. LOL

So now I'm to tag three others for this randomness. I have no idea who regularly reads my blog, other than the one that originally tagged me. LOL But for now, I'll tag Heather, Mike, and Sonia. Get busy, Y'all. And anyone else that reads my blog and does this, comment me and let me know so I can see yours. :)

Haircut

I took Jackson for a much needed haircaut today. I didn't want to. I happen to love his hair! He's the only one I've had that even had this much hair before age 2 1/2. LOL So here's a pic Jimmy took yesterday...before any cutting.

This is after I broke down and trimmed the front so he could see. And this is him today after his haircut this morning. SIGH! He looks so grown!

Folly Beach

Justin's class has a field trip tomorrow to Folly Beach. He'd asked me weeks ago to chaperone. I do NOT like going to the beach. I know! I'm a southerner, I should love the beach! But, I don't. I cannot stand getting sand all over me and in uncomfortable places. However, I did try to find a sitter so I could go. To no avail. Until last night.

I was chatting with a friend on IM. This friend, Bree, lives in the same apartment complex and we usually see each other at the bus stop in the mornings. She walks her niece, I walk my boys. We also hang out some during the week. This week, her boss changed her hours so she works 7-4. Sierra's mom works night so isn't home in the mornings to take her to the bus. So Bree asked if she could drop Sierra off here at 6:30 in the morning. I'm up anyway, so I'm fine with it.

Anyway, I was chatting with Bree last night and mentioned Justin's field trip. She said she has Fridays off and offered to babysit Jackson and Korinne since I've helped them with Sierra. Of course, I'm all over that. LOL NOT that I really want to go to the beach. But because Justin really wants me to go with him. So I sent his teacher an email. When I didn't hear back from her before lunch, like I usually do, I called and left a message for one of his teachers to call me. When his teacher called me back she said they had chaperones but I was welcome to chaperone also. She didn't want me to go out of my way paying a sitter. I assured her I wasn't paying a sitter. And told her that my van seats 8 so I can cart 7 of the chaperones to save on the parking fee. I told her I was also bringing my cooler so we can store drinks and whatnot. I said, "But if you don't want me to come..." LOL She laughed and said "No, it'll be perfect!"

So tomorrow morning, I'm heading to the beach. I even broke down and shaved. Even though I do not plan on going in the water, I thought I'd better be prepared. LOL Justin is extremely excited. And it makes me happy that he's excited. I plan on taking the camcorder, just to take pics. So I'm sure I'll have some pics to share soon. LOL

Bed wetting...

Justin has a bed wetting problem. He sleeps SO hard that he wets the bed. We took him in for tests for diabetes, etc a couple of years ago and learned he has reflux in his kidneys. (When he pees, some of it goes into his kideys.) I've been waking him up on my way to bed to take him to the bathroom. Sometimes, even if it's 2 hours since he's fallen asleep, he's already had an accident. I don't mind buying pull-ups for him. But Jimmy is insistant that it's all in Justin's head. I don't think so. I know that when I wake him to go to the bathroom, he's so asleep he doesn't even realize he's standing up to pee.

Has anyone else had a bed wetting child that's 6 years old, or older? What did you do? What helped? I'm at my wits end defending Justin to Jimmy so Jimmy will quit making Justin feel as if he's done something wrong. Please help! Anyone!

Dejected

That's me. Jackson and I made our way downtown early this morning. They tried doing the scans without sedation, but like most other small children, Jackson absolutely hates being held down. So we went back into the waiting room while the anesthesiologists were paged. Jackson was very cranky because he was starving. So we sat in the waiting room for about 45 minutes with Jackson crying off and on. A patient liaison, I think that's what he was, came out with some nifty toys to help keep Jackson entertained. That was a blessing. They left the IV in his hand in case one of the other doctors he was seeing today needed to draw blood.

After the scan, we had about 45 minutes until his appointment with the ENT. So we wandered to the cafeteria, where I hoped there would still be some breakfast. Nope, they were clearing out for the lunch food. So we strolled around towards Rutledge Towers for the ENT. We were taken back almost immediately and only had to wait about 10 minutes for the ENT to show up. I'm told Jackson has fluid behind his ear drum so he's scheduled next month to have tubes put in. Seems to be an easy enough procedure.

So we leave there and go back to the cafeteria. I bought a sub for me and a box of Fruit Loops for Jackson. We sat outside in the beautiful weather and ate. His next appointment wasn't until 2, so we had a few hours. After we ate, I donated blood. (Maybe now they'll stop sending me reminders to donate. LOL) They were a little concerned for me because I wouldn't take a soda (I don't drink sodas) or eat some crackers (I'd just finished eating a sub, so was full. I was fine though.

I got bored walking around, Jackson was tired so I knew he'd be asleep soon. So we made our way to the neurosurgeon's office. We signed in at 12:30. Yeah I know waaaaaay early. Surprisingly, we were called back within a half hour or so. The neurosurgeon came and and said he was pleased with the shape of Jackson's head. However, he's concerned that his skull hasn't grown back as quick as it should have. So, he said Jackson may need surgery again next year. He mentioned grafting some of his skull from elsewhere or using other materials. My heart dropped.

It's bad enough he'll be having tubes put in. Now he might need surgery to close his skull?! Hasn't he been through enough? Can't it be over now? No more surgeries! No more scans! No more damn doctor's appointments that last less than 5 minutes yet charge too much damn money! I'm tired of them. Ok I know he needs them but I'm just sad.

Looooooooong Day tomorrow!

I took Korinne to my sister's to spend the night tonight. I miss her terribly! But I would rather her be at my sister's and able to play than stuck with me tomorrow. Why you ask?

Because tomorrow, Jackson and I will be spending the day at MUSC. We have to be there at 7:50am for CT scans. A scan for his skull. A scan for his frontal lobes. The scan for his skull is to make sure all is well with the skull growing back. The scan for his frontal lobes is to see if there's anything blocking his drums. He's failed his hearing tests and no doctor has ever been able to see his ear drums. He passes the tests when they transmit the sound directly to them. But he fails the tests where he's supposed to turn his head towards the sounds. I personally think he can hear just fine because he hears me when I'm behind him and whispering. I think he's just tired of being poked and prodded and doesn't want to "play" the sound game. LOL

Anyway, he then has an appointment at 10:30 with the ENT to go over the results from that scan. No telling how long that will take. Then, he has an appointment with the pediatric neurosurgeon at 2:00. Yeah I live 15 minutes away, but I just don't want to be driving back and forth. So I've planned on spending the day downtown. Knowing this, I pawned Korinne off on my sister so she wouldn't be miserable.

I'm going to be exhausted I'm sure. As soon as we leave his last appointment, I have to drive to Moncks Corner to pick up my girl. Cause I've only been away from her for 4 hours and I miss her like crazy! LOL

Anyway, wish me luck that I still have a shred of sanity left after my day is done. LOL

5 Places I want to visit.

So there's been a challenge issued from Sonia. Here are my 5 places I want to visit.

1. Ireland....my absolute dream vacation, sitting in a pub listening to the people talk.
2. New York....not so much for the major sites, but to meet a bunch of my online friends.
3. Tennessee...we want to move there, so we really need to visit to check out the job situation for Jimmy.
4. Hawaii....would love to meet Dog the Bounty Hunter and his hottie sons! LOL
5. Virginia...to see my Dad.

So there are my 5 places I want to visit. Next?

A few annoyances...

My birthday was Monday. Jimmy didn't get me anything. I didn't expect him to. The fact that he (and our children) walked 5 miles with me the Saturday before was enough for me. So I keep getting annoyed when he keeps apologizing for not "getting you anything." I don't NEED anything. Seriously, him and the kids doing the walk with me was enough of a bday present for me.

My new friend I recently posted about is constantly asking me if she's done something wrong because she thinks I've been avoiding her. I haven't taken Jackson outside lately because I've been sick. My sinuses are so bothersome right now that I feel my head will explode at any minute. It has nothing to do with her. It's ALL ME! If I don't feel good, I'm not going outside to endure more problems with allergies/sinuses! STOP ASKING IF YOU'VE DONE SOMETHING!

And finally, Jay has been ditching the Homework Club a lot lately making one excuse after another. Ok fine. What annoys me is as soon as he walks in the door, he's picking on his sister. Even if she's off doing her own thing. Within 5 minutes, I have both coming to me tattling. It really is all I can do not to just smack them both. And they're 7 years apart! Lord give me patience! That's all I ask right now.

On top of all that, we're actively looking for a home. Something with at least 4 bedrooms, due to our brood, on at least half an acre of land. Not as easy as one might think since our pre-approval covers modular homes but not manufactured homes. And here I thought they were the same. I was wrong. Wish us luck! Wich me luck that I keep what little patience and/or sanity I have. LOL

Korinne in soccer attire

As promised, here are some soccer pics of Korinne. My mom took these Monday.

Before the game

After the game