HERNIA EQUALS RITAS!

Pain is relative, it either hurts or it is manageable. Well I have had the hurting kind for about 3 months now and when I say hurt I mean PAIN. But when you are a mom you learn to suck it up quickly. Well I am a mom of soon to be four children with about a week left to go before I deliver, and this will be the first time I am venting about my pain.

Walking has now become the last thing on earth I want to do,along with sitting, standing, lying down and anything else that requires my hips to move. I am awaiting the moment I arrive at the hospital so I can get the spinal block and the pain will be done. I described this pain to my hubby as: let me hang two fish hooks with string from your each of your umm...........testicles and allow Phoenix to swing from it. I could have Payton but she might break the line.

That is the pain I have in my hip.

Now on to my hernia. This is a funny little guy that should have been repaired after Phe was born and I was done nursing. well as you know I got a little surprised by getting knocked up which meant I would have to wait...........AGAIN. Lucky me.

So the other night I get a phone call from my friend Dawn, who ask if I was still awake because wanted to drop something off. No problem I said come on by. Well she dropped off Rita's Italian Ice. I don't know if you have ever had this but it is good, I mean really good. She also brought one of my favorites Georgia Peach. I thought how sweet of her, she must really love me.

A few days later Dawn travels with me to pick up Liz from the airport and we are in the car talking. And says to me how do you do it? I am like do what? She said function in the amount of pain you are in. I thought this came out of nowhere. Well her husband Rob had explain to her in detail what an hernia is in detail he even drew pictures. So she understood that I was in CONSTANT pain all the time. Dawn is one of the few people who knew the extent of my hip pain. Dawn said I seemed so relaxed and happy on the surface. Then she said poor Mike, I must really be letting him have it. I told her he was okay, but I don't think he understands how much pain I am in either.

I told her pain is relative and I had pretty much learn to channel the pain to happy thoughts and the blessing I had received. I never asked for the pain to go away, I just asked to make it manageable and it is.

Anyway I am so happy I got Rita's. If that is all it takes, I hopes she remembers how much pain I will be in after I deliver. HINT! HINT!

Shut your Yap!

One of the things I absolutely love about Pay is her honesty, one of the things that drive me nuts about Pay is her honesty. I picked her up from school yesterday and it was followed the usually banter of, How was your day? Everything went well of course. As she was eating her snack before piano lessons, she begins to tell me the story about the little girl in her class who is EXTREMELY rude and has no manners. The little girl kept pushing her to move and and telling her she was in the way.

Pay said she was finally fed up and told the little girl to, "SHUT YOUR YAP". I will let you guess which one of Payton's parents uses this expression, (hint ain't mommy). I immediately told Payton she was being just as rude by saying such a mean thing. Pay said the girl was really getting on her nerves and had been for sometime and she just couldn't take it anymore. She also said, "besides mommy told me I should stand up for myself more", I did. Mainly because some of the things should was complaining about at school she could handle.

Well I proceeded to tell her if when people are "on your nerves" there is a proper way to let them know with out being rude. So once again I gave the kill them with kindness speech and informed her there is no way possible to say shut your yap nicely. She relented and asked for suggestions. So we came up with a few:

1. I will do what you ask when you ask nicely.
2. I can't be friends with people who don't have nice manners.

My all time favorite:

3. You are embarrassing your mother with that behavior (we learn that one this weekend, Thanks Tina).




She does not like this picture but mommy does!

Day of firsts

We have had the first day of school for Payton, followed by Phoenix's first haircut. One of these went extremely well the other did not. Can you guess which was which?

I felt bad because Payton entered first grade this year, Payton and school is now met with some trepidation. We chose not to move her grade wise so she could stay in the spanish program. Should she been in second possibly third yes. But she loves Spanish, but is bored to tears on the English side. So I am still supplementing her at home. Well she came home Monday excited that they were doing subtraction. "Finally", she yelled. I don't know who was happier me of her. Anyway this year seems to be starting off well, her current teachers are aware of her zest for learning, I just hope it goes as well as last years.




This pic is from my phone, camera is on hiatus until i get my lcd screen fixed.

Lil Miss Diva, aka Phoenix has needed a haircut for sometime now but I kept putting it off because I am pregnant and tired. Well I was with someone else who was getting a cut for school and one of the stylist said she would love to cut Phoenix's hair. I said go for it, if she will let you do it. Well Phoenix of course gave her the death stare, which basically meant touch me and you will die. It took a while to convience her it was okay. Not it did not who am I kidding she was never okay, I had to hold her down and sing Popcorn Popping the whole time. All is well now with my little curly hair diva, see for yourself:

Walter Payton Jersey

Mike Jr. AKA Payton is a little sensitive to the fact that Phoenix's name is everywhere, it is a city, a cleaning business, construction company, coffee shop and even the name of the movie theatre where we live. My heart goes out to her, because most of the time she takes it all in stride, but for those of you who know Princess Pay Pay, (please do not call her this unless your name is Tom Cavanaugh), she can be slightly dramatic at times.

Needless to say I have found a throwback jersey with Walter Payton's name on it, finally. I had been searching for a while and voila there it is. I call my dear hubby up to tell him I finally found one and we could have it by her birthday. Well lets just said he was not thrill to pay $80 bucks for a jersey. Then he calls back to say he is not sure about her wearing a Bears jersey and for me to look for Walter Payton's college jersey.



I think I will go with white!

Yes he (Michael) is still alive but I cannot say for how much longer. I don't think he realized he was talking to his very pregnant wife.

FOOTBALL SEASON IS BACK!

What a complete waste of time!

Baby Update #2

Okay, we are a few steps closer to being ready. We bought Payton a new bed with a trundle, move the room around to make the most of the space. We are still lacking closet space for now, but we will get it figured out. The missionaries were over and put together a bunch of furniture stuff and rearranged a bunch more.

I visited my midwife she said stay off my feet as much as possible)to help with swelling) and there are bets going on in the office if I actually make it until Monday, the 8th. We have three more storms approaching so we shall see. She also said there is a reason I don't have babies naturally because this one is pretty big. I am measuring three weeks ahead so we shall see, I am guessing 8 pounds. I won't tell you my guess on sex you will just have to wait and see. I think my midwife is more excited than we are to find out what it is. She said the surprises are the best deliveries for her. Since we have two girls already it will be fun to see what this baby is.

Other than that everything is going well. Mike is now in official dad mode (it takes him a while). He calls constantly to make sure I have not gone into labor. I keep telling him if I do he will be my first of second call for sure. Well that is all for now, I should be napping because Phoenix is but I am not, I will regret this later, I'm sure.

He's 18 and I feel REALLY old!

Today Marquis turns eighteen and I must admit I have never met a cooler kid in my life. Our last seven years with him have been quite enjoyable as parents; he has really turned out to be quite the young man. Michael and I are very appreciative to have him in our lives. I remember the day he came home from the hospital, he was a scrawny overdue little thing with peeling skin. I secretly thought to my self, "I hope he gets better looking". Needless to say he did, to our chagrin of course. I guess the turning point for me was when Marquis and I were donating blood and Marquis was being hit own by this lady who had to be at least forty. I kept thinking "ma'am he is seventeen and your eighty please leave him alone". Oh well not much I can do now.

I am proud that he has turned out to be a very caring, (a side most people don't get to see), intelligent, and hysterically funny young man, who finally finished his Eagle Scout. Although we are never sure what the future holds for ourselves let alone our children, I pray he will continue to grow and be the young man he was meant to be.

I often think about how my big sister would feel knowing that her firstborn is now legally an adult and I can't help but think she probably would feel old too, but I also think she would be very happy at the young man she created. I know she is somewhere laughing and crying all at the same time.

Marquis I love you more than words can ever express!

She is allergic to dairy~

Well it took us awhile to figure it out but we did. Phoenix is allergic to dairy, yes milk, ice cream, cheese, and anything else with a hint of dairy in it. How do I know this, because I am smart. Well, yes I am smart, but I stop listening to the doctor who kept saying it was a stomach virus. Well this stomach virus was lasting for ever, followed by the fungal issue she kept having. Once it may have been those problems but a month later I think not. So on a whim and suggest from a friend, I removed all dairy from her diet and low and behold it clear up in a matter of days. No diarrhea, no rash, no crying, no nothing she was fine. So needless to say Phoenix lives a no dairy life for now. I hope she grows out of it, do you know how hard it is to fine dairy free cheese. She is officially the so queen of the house and let me tell you not all of it taste good.

Baby Update!

Baby is doing great, I on the other hand can't wait for this to be over. Did I mention that this is really the last one. I can't do this again! My body has said "I am over it". Mainly it is my hips talking to me this way, they can be quite vocal at times.

Besides we have not done anything to prepare for the upcoming birth and I feel guilty, I am just too tired to bother. We are suppose to go this weekend and buy new bed for the kids room. We'll see. I have a little over three weeks (if all goes to plan) before the big day. My friend Liz will be here soon so I am excited about that. She will be followed by Taunie and the newlyweds. So I should be taken really good care of.

I must say I am really worried about Phoenix, she hugs my belly and give the baby big kisses, but I really wonder if she knows how her world is really gonna change. I tell my helpers it will be the new baby they are helping with because Phoenix is a MAMA'S Girl. I don't think they mind.

As for Payton, she just keeps asking if I will save her if there is an emergency and she needs help. I tell her "nothing but death will keep me from it" (I don't think she gets the Color Purple movie reference) but I tell her mommies hearts only get bigger with each baby the have and that seems to make her happy.

Marquis, he just keeps the fact the he is graduating soon on the forefront and if this one is a girl, Mike can't pay him enough to stay home.

Well that is all for now, I will explain in a later post why there is no pictures!

Atleast we are beating the ol' lady!

My current speed in slow, no really slow. I try but I can no longer keep up with Phoenix and she knows this. I can tell by the little smirk on her face when ever I ask her to come to me, she laughs tilts her head and takes off. Even when I try to corner her she knows it. I know she is secretly thinking, "the tubby one with the big belly can't move like she used to, a quick left then a right and I can shake her". She's right.

While we were on our wonderful vacation on Captiva Island, we took a cruise to Useppa Island, which is just off the coast of Captiva. It is a little island with A LOT of history. Well, the island require a lot of walking, something my hips don't like very much right now. So my dear hubby and I had the opportunity to to get a golf cart escort. Thank heavens one of the places we wanted to see was the museum on the island, which was a mile and half walk from the boat. Anyway I felt bad when I saw this lady who was probably about eighty making the trek. But then I thought good for her, but it is to hot and too long of a walk for me.

On the way back after lunch at this really cool inn on the island the golf cart came to pick up back up and our driver asked if we would mind if he added another passenger. We of course did not mind, to our amazement it was our little old lady from earlier who just not able to make it back down. It was cool she was a former teacher turned writer who had raised 7 kids of her own, she was a widow who was spending her days traveling.

As we got of the cart, we were heading back to the ship where everyone was waiting for us. Mike turned and said "Well at least we are beating the Old lady". Indeed we were! It felt great not to be the last person to get on the boat!