Again...

....I lag behind on my blog. I hate that because soooo much has been going on that I hope I can remember it all :)

I have been working part-time. I love it, even though the reason that I haven't had a job for 9 years is because we saw no reason for me to work when it'd just go toward a babysitter. Well, that's exactly what's happening. But...

I am in school full-time, so without my working, I wouldn't be able to do that. I am enjoying my classes, although I'm again in a place that I need another babysitter in order to do my internship.

I am taking Adolescent Psychology, Sociology Research, Applied Sociology, and Statistics.

• Adolescent Psychology is really interesting. I like it. We've talked about simple things up to now, such as sports, theories, and puberty. Right now, we are discussing the Piaget Theory. It's gonna get interesting.

• In Sociology Research, our main project is a research proposal, that when we are done with it, will be about 35 pages long. Uggg. Lol. The first part is a literature review about our research question. Mine is "Can martial arts help reduce ADHD symptoms in elementary school children diagnosed with ADHD?" So I have to look up the 2 different aspects: martial arts and ADHD and discuss what scholarly journals say about them. Then, I have to tell why this is an important research problem. Afterwards, we will have a survey, consent form (as if we were actually going to do it), and then our reference page. One girl who did hers a few semesters ago, did hers in 41 pages!! My whole class's jaws just dropped until she explained what all was going to be in it. LOL.

• In my Applied Sociology class, this is the class that we go do an internship. I am actually doing mine at where I work, that way, if Lewis comes home in time, I can go up there and spend an hour. It's near my house, so it doesn't take long to get there :)

• The class I was most worried about, Statistics, I am doing GREAT in. We just had our first test and I made a 90 :) It's pretty easy the way the teacher teaches it. Plus, he puts up PowerPoints so we can print them out at home. 

Lewis has him a job. While I'm happy, there's problems with it to. I'm glad he's got a job...but....he's worked for almost a month, he's had to go to to a town 1 and 1/2 hours away for a week and to a town that is about 1 hour and 15 minutes away for a week, has had to pay for his own gas, doesn't know if he has a job to work on tomorrow for this week (the customer hasn't confirmed that someone can come out to work), just got paid today for the job he finished last week...and it turns out he only gets 30% until the main company finishes their paperwork (which takes a couple of weeks)

Again...I am glad he's working....but we are paying out more than he's getting paid right now. Just don't like the little quirks about this job.

Ross is doing....ok in middle school. Having some problems with being responsible for his stuff and all. He's gotten used to having to go all over creation on his school's campus..lol.

Mark's doing good in 3rd. He's had a little trouble remembering things, but we know why. This summer, we had him tested to see how he learns. A "normal" point range is 90-110. He scored VERY well on everything....except memory. He forgets things really quickly. His score was a 77. Now I feel bad because I was always getting on to him for forgetting things so quickly. Now we know why and know we have to do things differently so that he has the skills to remember. 

Trevor is a VERY hyper child. I am soooo praying that we don't have to deal with ADHD with him. I don't want to put ANOTHER child on meds. I feel as though I'm doing something wrong sometimes. We are trying fish oil with him now. A doc at his pediatrics office believes that that can help with ADHD.

Dean is getting so big. He's a little behind, but I'm not complaining...lol. I want him to do things on his own time and then it just means I keep my baby longer :) He's the laid back child. He hasn't even started to crawl yet, but like I said, that just means I don't have to go after him so far...lol. He will be 7 months in just 5 days! Wow!! Time just keeps going, whether we want it to or not...lol

My mom's not doing well. She has fallen multiple times, has memory problems, such as, the other day she couldn't think of the word "book"...well, she could hear the word in her head, but couldn't get it out of her mouth. Dad is pooped because he is always having to be awake in case mom falls or does something she's not supposed to be doing...like laundry at 2am after only sleeping for an hour or so (that can cause her to fall due to being so tired)

They are trying to short-sell their house so that they can get up here. Hopefully it won't take too much longer. I haven't seen them for a couple of years and would REALLY love for them to see Dean. I have thought of even taking a train to go down and see them, but of course everything in this world takes $$$..lol.

So...I think that has us caught up for now :) I have GOT to get better at posting :)

Life is busy

Well, summer is a third over and I've not done anything I've wanted to do yet :( Hopefully this month I will get to do the things I've mentioned.

School will be over soon :) and I will have my Associates degree. So excited :)

Dean is teething, so he's not sleeping good. I'm NOT a morning person, but I've kinda turned into a person who can handle the morning now. Dean hasn't liked to sleep in lately, so I'm up early.

I've started working out. I got the Wii Fit from ebay and am serious about doing it. I spent an hour doing it today. I worked up a sweat too.

I've been going to the chiropractor last Fri, yesterday, and today. Two more days and he said he should have my back realigned. I don't know if he will or not. He said I would be feeling better the last few days...hasn't happened. I have headaches and backaches almost every evening...it's driving me nutz! I want to feel better so I can be better. Maybe one day.

Mark

Mark has been doing great. The doctor has gotten him on a medicine that he was on to begin with, but didn't help before. He has been a joy to be around now.

He has been doing worksheets almost everyday. I bought it from a school supply store and he actually likes doing them. I am also having him do a Map Game on kidsgeo.com for him to learn his states. He likes trying to beat his score from the day before. He actually asks to do these things. He'll be ahead of the curve when he gets into school because he is working in a 3rd grade level workbook.

Sometimes he tries too hard though. Although I know all he's trying to do is trying to help, if I tell Trevor to do something, Mark jumps right in. I'm trying to get it across to Mark that Trevor has to learn things too.

The other day he made my day. I had to fill out the yearly paperwork for his dentist appt. They marked out the area for employment. Mark asks "Why don't we have to fill that part out?" I said "Do you have a job?" He said "No, but YOU do." I said "Where do I work?" He looked at me (like I was crazy) and said "At home with us!" Thank you son for recognizing that being a mom is a job too :)

Adventures

Whenever we go somewhere special....it's always an adventure. 4 yrs ago~ went to a hunting show....broke down on the way there. Last yr~ Went to SpeedStreet and got a flat on the way back.... was stranded in Charlotte for 4 hours. Today~

We went to Chili’s to eat. Lewis has always wanted to go, so we went for Father’s Day. We’re waiting on our food, the music gets cut off, the restaurant goes quiet. There at the front of the restaurant a man who announces “I am the fire chief. There is a gas leak in the kitchen, but we don’t think it’s a problem. Some of the waitresses have complained of feeling weak and not feeling good. If you want to leave, you are free to, but we don’t believe it to be dangerous. HAZMAT and the fire department are here to check it out.” There were a few tables to leave, but we stayed and ate. They got our name and # as we left. I told Lewis “Can’t we do anything without something happening ?”

Busy Busy

Things have been busy. This week, I had an appointment with WIC, Mark had an appointment with his psychiatrist, I had a dermatology appointment. Then I had 4 tests to take for school, 2 discussion board posts, and a journal entry. VERY busy.

Mark's psychiatrist is hopeful for the new meds he's on. Me too. He has been a lot easier to get along with. No mood swings, just having some sitting down problems. He has periods of not being able to settle down. We've been able to deal with it because, although he can't stay still, it's a lot less than it has been before. The doctor has upped it to try and make the day smoother, instead of him crashing off the meds.

The dermatologist dug deeper into one of the areas where a mole has already been removed in order to get out all the cancer cells. He then also removed another mole. There are 4-5 on my back (by a quick glance) that he would like to remove. This morning I went to take off my pressure bandage......and the gauze was STUCK to the area. I had taken a shower and it didn't loosen it. I soaked it with water by squeezing a washcloth over it. Still didn't loosen. I VERY slowly pulled on the gauze. It finally came off, but it was VERY painful. A few spots started to bleed, too. I had to let L put a bandage on it because I was so queasy from the pain and actually seeing the wound.

I did very good on my Sociology test. I made a 24 on one, a 25 on another and 21 on the last. I was preoccupied on the last one because I had a friend call me while I was taking it, I had a time limit, but was trying to be there for my friend. I still think I did good on them :) (those scores are on a 25 point maximum) I think I did well on my Literature test too. I've been making 90's on them (I keep missing just 1 question everytime), but I think this time I actually made a 100. Just gotta pass my Literature class and a College Skills class (which I've been acing also) to graduate.

Schools out......

.....for summer!

I'm actually looking forward to this summer. Although I know it's going to be a challenge, what with Mark being home and always wanting to do something ALL the time.

I'm going to work with Mark and some school stuff. I'm going to make it fun, but there are things I think he needs to work on. Such as~the difference between a continent, country, state, and capital. Right now if you asked him to name a state, he might say France. Or maybe ask him to name a country, he might say Pennsylvania. So I want to work with him on that. Then we are also going to work with math. He's good at math, but he has a time of guessing the answer instead of actually figuring it out. With reading, there is a website that he likes called Book Adventures. It's for K-8 grade where they read books and take quizzes to earn prizes. (I wanted to put all this on here, not only to tell you, but to try and keep myself accountable (:)

Then there are some places I'd like to go. Lake Norman has a Lake Norman Monster Sight Seeing Tour. Kinda a take from the Loch Ness Monster. It's called Normie the Lake Norman Monster. I've wanted to do this for a few years now, so maybe I can do it with the kids this year. Then I thought about going to the Historic Latta Plantation. Ross is big on history, so I think he will enjoy it the most (although Mark has started to show an interest)

There's other places I would like to take the kids, but we'll have to see what we can do. We have only one vehicle and that vehicle has no air conditioning, so we will have to time some things where the kids don't get too hot. Hopefully my plans will work out better than my plans last year. I'm hoping :)

Respect

Does anybody have any nowadays? It seems as though people's feelings and thoughts don't matter anymore. It's like we all live in our own little bubble with no care about other people, who unfortunately are probably are in their own bubble, too.

I might have hurt someone without knowing, but when I figure it out, I apologize. I definitely never try to step on others toes on purpose. People seem to do it more and more on purpose lately. I feel sorry for these people. They lose connection with friends and family because they don't care for those people, so the friends and family begin to give up. Why even try when they don't care? Probably the wrong way to look at it, but it's hard to feel any other way.

Trevor's b-day party

It was a blast. We had it at Dan Nicholas like we always do. We walked around and saw all the animals. Trevor got to see a bear in the water. It was so funny. He would try and get the bear to look at him, but it kept moving his head. Trevor then looked at us and said "He won't gook at me!" (That's how he says look (:)



We then went gem mining. Ross was kinda moody this day, so he got upset when he thought he had to share a bucket with Mark. He was afraid that Mark would take the gems he should get. So he ended up sharing with Emily. The lady at the gem mining register asked if all 5 kids were mine. I said "Well, technically, there's another at the picnic table (Dean), so there's actually 6." She was like "Six kids and you're still sane?" LOL.



Then afterwards we went and ate then did the birthday thing~ opening presents and eating cake :) Trevor got: a pool and swimming trunks, a little truck with tools, a playground ball. He was so excited.





Then it was time to go home. We got home and wanted to take his truck to bed :) (He'd rather have went in the pool, but he was told he'd have to wait (:)

We had a good day of good weather, good times, and good friends and family :)

Noise, Crying, and homework

Well, one thing I can say about our household.....there's never a dull moment here. There's always noise around :) That's not always a bad thing, but other times...yep.

Took 3 tests today for my sociology class. I made a 23, 24, 24. That's out of 25 possible points. Then I've also been working on 2 papers for that class too (due by next Wed.). Uggg. I don't technically need this class, but I hate to fail at anything (as we all hate to do). I do need my Literature class and I'm doing good in there. I've made a 90 on the first test :)

Trevor is getting very active. I worry somedays that he might end up having ADHD. It makes me wonder what I could've done to prevent it. I've read that they think it might be hereditary, but of course they're not sure. I'm just hoping and praying he won't.

Mark's on a new medicine. It seems to be working out good for him so far. He went from getting 60's and 50's on test, to getting nothing lower than a 90! He just wasn't able to focus in school. Now is a different story. Just hate that it took so long to find the right meds. School will be out on the 10th.

Dean hasn't been sleeping well. I'm beginning to wonder if he is starting to teeth. He's always been a restless sleeper (he twitches and makes noises in his sleep), but now he's not sleeping very well when he does nap. Today he slept for maybe 2 hours this afternoon. The good thing is that he sleeps through the night :)

Going to have a birthday party for Trevor tomorrow at Dan Nicholas. We have had his party there every year. Tomorrow is supposed to be 95 (the hottest this weekend) and there's a chance for rain (only one this weekend), so I'm hoping for the best :)

Call from doctor's office

Well, last week I had 2 suspicious moles removed. The doctor said they would call me this week, no matter the results. Today was a week and a day, so I called them. The results came back. They both had cancerous cells in them. One, they have gotten it all out; the other, they are having me come back in do some more "carving" (my words, not theirs) They need to remove some more of the area to get rid of the caner cells. I'm also going to go ahead and have them check another mole.

I'm glad they found these in time. It just makes me nervous. I have a ton of moles and have never had them all checked. Now in one scoop, they found 2 moles with cancer in them. I'm try to not let it bother me, but in the back of my mind I'm wondering how many more might be worrisome. I have a lot of moles on my back, so it's hard for me to look. Maybe I need to just have them look for me. I just hate it because we don't have insurance right now (although I'm going to check into some) so that last visit, for just 2 moles, was $678. I'm having to make payments, because there isn't any money coming in right now, so there was nooooo way I could pay fully.

So, if you suspect a mole, get it checked out. I've seemed to have caught these fairly early, but no telling how far it could've gotten if I hadn't have noticed them, then showed my doc.

I'm BAACCCKKK!!!!

Well, I've been away from the blogging for 2 years! But I'm back. I went through my blog last night and this morning, reading all that I had posted before. All I can say is~~~WOW! All the things that happened, the up and downs.....It was nice to read. Now I'm sad that I've been away for 2 years. All the stuff I didn't keep up with. But I'm not going to stop again. I would love to be able to look back years from now and say "Look at how great my life was! Look at all we've been through." Just bear with me as I update my blog and get things new :)

Things that have happened since I last blogged~
*L got laid off
*We had another baby boy (Dean Austin)
*My mom's health has been up and down (more down than up)
*I took a break from school, but am back in (graduate with an Associates degree the end of the summer)

I'm sure a lot more~ which is why I wish I hadn't stopped blogging~ but now is a new journey for.......My Hour upon the Stage :)

Wow

Didn't realize it had been sooo long. Seems as tho I'm always apologizing, but I'll quit apologizing after this one~ I'm sorry. Just remember that when I'm late again :)


Well, mom's back home. She came home that Sun. She had a UTI that she ignored and it became poisonous to her body.


Me, Trevor, Mark, and my BF went down to see her that week. She's doing ok, but not as good as she wants you to believe. We spent Wed.-Sun. in Ga. She got to see Trevor for the first time. So sweet. I talked to my dad last week, and he said that they(her therapist and in home nurse) want to get mom to get a motorized wheelchair and a "porta-potty" by her bed so that she won't have to go into the bathroom. Gonna be hard to convince her, but we'll see.

We don't know how much longer she's gonna be around. Just pray.

My mom and Trevor when we first got there

Poor baby was so tired

Trev mesmerized by his grandpa

Me and my parents

Nana and Grandpa with two of their boys

On the way down, we stopped at a McDonalds and they had these on the wall. I was so surprised, but happy.

Parking spot at an Ingle's in Ga.

Please Pray Without Ceasing

Please be in prayer for my parents. My mother is in the hospital right now. They aren't too sure what's wrong. I won't go into too many boring details :), but just a few.

My mom had a seizure this week, then became unresponsive. They took her to the ER and her blood pressure was 190/90 (her normal is 90/70). Her temp. was sky high. I think the doc actually thought she wasn't going to make it. I don't think my dad did either. They have her on very strong antibiotics right now. Yesterday, she was babbling the whole time. Couldn't make out a word. Today, my dad said you can hold a little bit of a conversation. Her blood pressure is now 145/90 and she's running a low grade fever. They want to do a MRI, but she can't handle it....VERY claustrophobic, so they want to try a CAT to get their answers. They took 4-5 vials of blood, but the results won't be back for another day or two.

My dad's request (and of course mine too) is to pray without ceasing. He is in rough shape too (both my parents have had back problems since I was little, so this is taking a toll on his back too). It's tough on me being 300+ miles away, not being able to do anything.
Luv in Christ
Gretchen

Sometimes...

...I forget why I fell in love you, but something always brings me back:



~to that first glance...and I saw you.

~to that first smile....that melted my heart (you know how I love your dimples)

~to those first words....that captivated my ears.

~to that first staring contest...when I saw into your soul.

~to that first kiss....that sent chills.

~to the songs we heard that made you tear up.....making you wish for a future together.

~to the first I Love You....even tho I said it first :)

~to that time we went to Blowing Rock...and I "proposed" to you

~to that night you proposed to me...tho it was wasn't the day you had in mind.

~to that day going to the courthouse....to become husband and wife.

~to those tears of happiness.....that we both cried.

~to those smiles of glee.....which neither of us could get off our faces.



To the many years to come...as we grow old together.

Happy 6th Anniversary!!
I LOVE YOU LEWIS!!!

Did it backwards

I did all my posts of pics backwards, so you'll have to scroll down and come back up. Sorry.

Climbing on daddy



Cheez!!! Well, he started to fuss when I clicked the camera

All smiles

Happy New Year

Making confetti

Our annual Cheerwine toast.

Happy New Year

7 months

Seven month smiley

Looking at daddy

Wanting to go to daddy. Didn't want to do pics hehe

Trying to talk to me

Wanting the camera

After caroling

Saying "Ho, Ho, Ho"

Wasn't interested in opening presents

Right into the mouth hehe

Our mantle

Keychain Christmas gifts



Waiting on brother to get home from school

Ross' bowling trophy

Mark's bowling trophy

Wow

Been away a long time. Sorry.

Well, Christmas went well. I had a good time.

Trevor turned 7 months.

Had our annual New Years Uno game.

Made confetti.

Cleaned up confetti :)

Trevor had check-up. Got 2 shots.

Kids started back to school.

I cleaned the fridge.

I went and got my school books.

My school starts next Tuesday (and it's supposed to rain :( )

Been busy!! hehe

Well....

Here I go again. Waiting so long in between posts. So sorry.

Well, Like I said, Emily is with us now. It's great having her here.

Mark has had his medicine changed. The teacher has been having a real tough time with him. Hopefully this new medicine will help.

Christmas is almost here!! So happy.

I have a ton of pics I need to post. Not gonna happen tonight tho. Just wanted to let ya know I was still here hehe

I'll get better someday at keeping this up to date (I hope hehe)

Whoooo wheee

Well....things are getting interesting around here. And stressful.

We have gotten Emily. She decided that she wanted to come live with us. Things got heated yesterday, but we knew they would. Please keep us in your prayers. It's gonna be a tough road. Especially on Emily.

Easily amused

I am very easily amused. I get tickled at the simplest things. Lewis thinks it's funny. Here's a couple of examples:

**A joke I read the other day that cracks me up every time I say it:
A pirate walks into a bar with a paper towel on his head. The bartender asks "Why do you have the paper towel on your head?" The pirate replies "Arggg. I have a Bounty on my head" (I'm even cracking up as I write this hehe)

**We were watching Dirty Jobs the other day. He was at an egg farm. They had so much technology there. It was amazing. They had conveyor belts that ran under the chickens to catch the eggs and another to catch poop. Then they had a conveyor that ran over a light source so they could see if the eggs were good or not. And other things too, but these are the main ones I can think of

Then they had a place in the farm where they bagged up the broken eggs (ones they couldn't sell in a dozen, but were still good) and would send to bakeries and such. After they bagged them, they put them in a box and ran them under a machine that taped the box shut.

I said "Oooo cool" Lewis looks at me...pauses the program and looks back at me. He then says "All this technology that the whole farm has and you think that the machine that tapes the box shut is cool" I started laughing like crazy.

Traffic feed

So interesting to see where people come from to your blog. At few people have gotten here thru a goggle search. Every goggle search has taken them here. I just wonder what they are searching for hehe

Getting around

He's learning how to pull up on things now

"See mommy? I can do it!" :) (p.s.....you don't realize how much dust is somewhere until you take a picture hehe)

Push.....

"It opened"

"I'll go in a little"

At his point, I had to go rescue him. He didn't want to go in farther and he couldn't get out (everytime he tried to turn around, his leg hit the door) So mommy put down the camera and got him hehe

6 Months

My baby's 6 months now

He loves to smile......

.....and laugh

He wears 6 month clothes, tho this outfit was 9 months

He loves to pose

He's in love with music. If he's cranky, put on music. He goes to choir practice with me and even sometimes "sings" with us. When the music stops, he lets the director know that he's ready for it to come back on

He crinkles his nose at ya now

He loves to sit on the vent. It's so funny (he has a little hernia~ that's why his belly button sticks out like that. It looks so wierd, but the doc says it should go away by 18 months)

Crinkle nose while on the vent hehe

He still only has one tooth

He is getting better at crawling

He has started pulling up on things

He hasn't really gotten into baby food~ put that on hold for a bit

He will make you laugh at him "talking" to you

He's my babydoll

Christmas shopping

I went shopping a little today. I was surprised that I didn't have too much trouble with crowds.

For our Christmas, we do the 3 gift rule. We did it two years ago, but last year I got in the wrong frame of mind and went too over board. I got competitive with the girls mom and wanted to "out do her." I know....bad me. Well, this year we are back to the 3 gifts. The three gifts are to remind us of the wise men's gifts.

I went to WalMart and got a full length mirror for Ashley. That's what she wanted. I also got Trevor some of the cutest shoes. I was planning on getting his pics done, but there was a lot of people there. Maybe later this week.

Then to Hobby Lobby. Another gift Ashley wanted was some masks to paint. She also wanted a bear that you stuffed yourself that had a John Deere outfit, but I didn't get that. It was 35 bucks. Sorry....don't see paying 35 for a bear.

I also got my best friend her present, but just in case she reads this still, I'm not telling what it is :)

I have Trevor's gifts, have 1 more to get for Ross, Mark, and Ashley. So I only have 6 more gifts to get cuz I haven't gotten Emily hers yet.

I don't think we'll get to have a Christmas tree this year. We don't have the room :( Oh well, one less thing to worry about Trevor trying to pull up on hehe

Crafts for Christmas

The boys are making key chains for Christmas. It's so easy and they love it.

They make a ball of clay. Then smoosh it flat. Then use a stamp to make an impression in it. Add a hole in the top for the ring. Cook for 15 minutes. Add ring and keyring. Walla. Key chain Christmas present.

I'll take some pics of them. They did really good. I haven't finished putting in the rings or key rings, but the clay they did turned out great. I'm so proud of them. I'm actually wanting to make some things with clay. I've seen some cool things that can be done and I'm reading up on it.

Movies

We have been to the 2 Dollar Theatre twice this month.

First we saw Wall e. It was cute. I think I was expecting too much, cuz it kinda let me down, but it was good.

We saw Dark Knight tonight. It was good. Very action packed. Lewis was expecting to take Mark, but I said no. Halfway thru the movie, I looked at Lewis and said "And you thought we could've brought Mark?" And he laughed. It is defiantly not a kids movie. Heath did a great job being a very bad Joker. He was so talented. So sad.

Oh..and we have also went and saw Kung Fu Panda. I liked it. Mark had a nightmare that night about snakes~ which in the movie, was a good snake. Which is one reason why I said no to Dark Knight.

Jamie photo game

Jamie posted a photo game. Go to your fourth folder, 4th pic and post it. This is Trevor the first time he sat by himself. I actually forgot to post it :)

He can actually climb out of his Bumbo



Sitting in a highchair for the first time

Reaching for a glass

"I think I've seen them do something like this" hehe

Gonna get you!

Trevor and his juice

Mark ready for the parade

Notice a resemblance? hehe

"Helping" with the laundry