9m Well Check Up

Tatum had her 9m well visit today...all is well she got a few shots as well as the synergy (SP)shot. That shot is the first in a series of 4 that are given over the next 4m.

Chris took Tatum this morning so I do not really have any details other then blood work has to be done (routine) and she is tipping the scales at 17.3...Maybe she'll hit 20 by her birthday so she can face forward in the car. I hope so that little task right there makes life so much easier.

My Mom and Brent are coming to watch the girls this weekend, Chris and I have a wedding to attend in NYC. This is the last of the crazy wedding burst we just had, thanks goodness. It should be pretty fun to get away and not think about anything. It is also going to be nice to get some uninterrupted sleep, LOL. It seem every time I leave the house these days it is way more trouble then it is worth...between packing for everyone and usually forgetting something. I do not have to pack for the girls this time but I do have to get everything in order for my Mom....

Well you all have a great weekend, hopefully I'll have some nice NY pics to post on Monday... There is nothing like the city all decorated for the Holidays

reality check

I read email last night before I went to bed, what I found certainly did not give me sweet dreams instead I wanted to throw up, I get that feeling still today when I think about it. A little boy from the WS email list went in two weeks ago for a cardio cath. The doctors wanted a better look at his aorta, it seems to have gotten smaller. Shortly after the start of the procedure his blood pressure dropped out, his heart stopped he was stabilized with the help of life support. The doctors decided to open him up and fix the aorta, although he breezed through that part, Gage's poor little heart stopped two more times. Sometime in the midst of everything he had a stroke, like all that other stuff was not enough. I cried when I replied back to Jessica ( Gage's Mom) via email. The weirdest thing was that I was telling Chris about Gage on Sat. night . . . We were watching some car show on the speed channel and Jay Leno was talking to a man named Gage . . .

I cannot imagine Gage or any one of these other babies I have gotten to know in this situation. When we left the hospital after Tatum was born I figured that was it no more hospitals. As I learned we would have more hospitals I figured it would never get that bad again. So far we have been lucky . . . those few tubes and wires used for the cath is nothing compared to what I have seen Tatum hooked up to, I know many other parents have been there too. It is something you just don't wish on anyone . . .

As we get ready for Tatum's eye surgery, I am sure I'll be very relaxed . . . as if we were not torn about it to begin with . . . yeah right . . . I am doing my best not to think about it. It is something that needs to be done and now is as good of time as any.

Tatum has some unique heart problems. Most of her vessels are smaller but the main issues seem to be the stenosis of her entire descending aorta . . . The stenosis in the branch pulmonary arteries are not so good either but they at least started growing. The cardiologist from CHOP pretty much agreed with the current care that Tatum is receiving. He phrased his input a bit differently so it would seem different but smoke and screens . . . I am onto it and over it. Bottom line is Tatum's aorta has to grow. Until then there is nothing they can do but monitor by echo and caths intervening when necessary.

I have decided that while we wait for growth I am taking this unique heart problem on the road . . . Dr. Mervis has helped put me in contact with Dr.Morris. I have shared with her Tatum’s heart records in hopes that she may have seen her heart problems before or know a doctor that has. Dr. Morris has been researching and working with WS for many many years.

Gosh I have been so busy I forgot how nice it is to just sit down and type...Kind of sorts everything out...Hope everyone has a good Wed.

On the Go...

I think between Chris and Emma I am ready to take Tatum and run for the hills...or at least work. I have washed a ton of clothes and watched Cinderella about 400 times and played with ever string of beads in our house with Tatum. You would think after a extra long weekend the return to work would be well rested, yeah right...those days are so over :)

Today I took the girls to Julies house so we could try and get family pictures...Of coarse Chris was sick so we were down one, I guess we can always say he was taking the picture. Molly and Tatum were so cute I think we go some good pictures of them together...I know that the photographer’s are way better then mine...To bad Emma would not participate...”I Tired” was her excuse, it was very frustrating...Can I interest anyone in a three year old....

Wow tomorrow is Monday back to the grind...Fun fun and this month we are going to throw Christmas gifts, cards and post-office into the mix with kids and work. Whoa, I bet it flies by...thank god for on-line shopping, I have actually gotten alot done so far. :)

36 Days Till Christmas

Last night Chris and I went to a wedding, the bride and groom were also Lisa and Chris, pretty crazy eh... Needless to say we had a very good time. Lisa was a beautiful bride and the wedding was very nice. It was a bit weird because I meet someone for the first time that reads my blog. It was funny, she told me how she enjoys reading it. I think it is a bit strange to have people know me that I do not know but lucky for me she was super nice. :) I am sure lots of people I do not know read it, that's fine it was just funny to meet someone:)

Today I went to Target with the girls and Autumn...I swear we were there two hours...I had to get a little Christmas tree for the family room. Ever since we got back from Disney World I have had the Christmas bug, they had so many beautiful decorations already up. Now with the help of Autumn I too have a ton of decorations up. All I have left to do is put up the big tree. We have to wait a bit longer for this since Chris insists that is real... What a pain!!!

Another thing I finally got for Tatum today was a bed tray. Tatums OT lady had suggested putting something in front of her Bumbo as a table for her to play on. It actually worked great she really seemed to like her toys up there. I should have gotten it for her sooner but she has just recently showed interest in being in that Bumbo for more then 2 seconds...

Another thing I did today was search Ebay for the Kid-Touch digital camera from fisher price. This thing is sold out everywhere....It is a must have as far as Emma is concerned...and believe me she needs her own camera, maybe then she'll lay off mine. Crazy girl :)

Oops forgot to mention Em only had a 12 hour bug she woke up fine Sat. morning but we kept her home from dance anyway...On thursday I took Tate to the eye doctor and they patched her. She is to be patched 1 hour a day on her right eye until her surgery 12-12...TO CUTE :)

Day Care Dinner

Ok... Sorry about the wordy poem in my last post....Kinda long but nice :)

Today we had Thanksgiving Dinner at the girls school... Chris meet me there so we could all have dinner. I made a plate for Emma and sat her down. After sitting only a second she said her tummy hurt, I passed Tatum to Yvonne and Erika and Em and I headed for the bathroom. Short trip only pee... Emma sat back down ate with her friends and then went to watch Nemo...

Chris and I were talking about leaving right after desert, I offered Emma cake and she said no...I thought wow maybe she is sick... Not two mins. later Emma came over to Chris and I to tell me again her tummy hurt...

She looked a little flush ( but she had been playing) Yvonne was saying she looks like she is going to hurl..the word hurl was out of Yvonne's mouth for a second, yep you guessed it
.... her dinner and red Capri Sun all over Chris...I am laughing now but at that time it really was not that funny...(but sorta, sorry Chris)

We wasted no time jumping into clean up mode. Kay took Tatum, Erika took Emma and Yvonne and I tried to help Chris...All this while rounding up gear and kids to get out of there...I think looking back now it was a day care dinner to go down history.

I am so glad we had two cars because Chris smelled terrible. OHHHH I have a feeling it is going to be a long night.... Miss D told me a few others have been sent home with this bug so beware... I sure hope the flu shot I got today kicks in fast. LOL

Being a Mom

A good friend passed this along to me today...It is really great and true.
Although many of us are not at this stage in life yet it is happening everyday. I fell like I woke up one morning and Emma was a big girl. She wants zero help...This someday is going to be Tatum too. I am not letting the WS put our life on hold as nothing should. I am sure our parents are going to really relate to this poem now just like we slowly are...I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Thanks for sharing Heather I thank God all the time our kids are going to grow up together, just think soon enough we are going to sharing cocktails on the beach watching the kids play wondering where our babies went...

On Being Mom
by Anna Quindlen

If not for the photographs, I might have a hard time believing they
ever existed. The pensive infant with the swipe of dark bangs and the
blackbutton eyes of a Raggedy Andy doll. The placid baby with the
yellow ringlets and the high piping voice. The sturdy toddler with the
lower lip that curled into an apostrophe above her chin. ALL MY BABIES
are gone now.

I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction
in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one
closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have
learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of
them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke
and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to
keep their doors closed more than I like.

Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move
food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I
bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is
buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the
unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once pored over is finished for me now.
Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling
rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education,
all grown obsolete.

Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are
battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the
pages dust would rise like memories.

What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the
playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they
taught me was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.
Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then
becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it
is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to
positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice
and a timeout. One boy is toilet trained at 3, his brother at 2.

When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on
his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit- up. By the time
my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of
research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this
ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing.

Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research
will follow.

I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful
books on child development, in which he describes three different
sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a
sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month-old who did not walk. Was there
something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong
with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically
challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he
goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk,too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes
were made. They have all been enshrined in the Remember-When-Mom-Did
Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language,
mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I
arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The
horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of
the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, What
did you get wrong? (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered
food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away
without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include
that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two
seasons.

What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while
doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly
clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There
is one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in
the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I
wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how
they sounded, andhow they looked when they slept that night. I wish I
had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner,
bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and
the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and
what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought
someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now
I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they
demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be.

The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and
I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound
up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more
than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books
never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts.

It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were...

YUCK!

So Who knows if you'll ever hear Chris' take on our trip, honestly it is probley better that way...LOL He has a laundry list of things that have to been done to his car before he is ever going to find thetime to post...

This morning is going to be just great, rain, car accident, traffic and all this before 7am, makes you really want to get out of bed. I have to still get the girls dressed and packed for Miss D's and "pre clean" for Elsa. Actually screw Elsa, she can clear around my clutter today it's not like she does a great job anyway.

You would think if you were paying someone to clean everyweek your house would be spotless. She has somehow missed the pacafire that has been under the living room couch for a month now ( I am moving it after this week) also our pet dust bunny is still living under the lounge in the living room. All this after I left a specific note for the furnature to be moved and the floor to be cleaned under...I guess my family is not the only one who blocks out my voice, or notes. I am in a tough spot I can not fire her I need her and it is not like she is my first cleaning lady they all suck after the third visit. I hate confortation but I think that I am going to have to have a conversation with her about it...any suggestions?

I have to take Tatum to the eye Dr. during my lunch today for measurements, her surgery is creeping up on us. I think it is going to be weird to see her eyes "fixed" there is nothing cutier then a crossed eye baby... except maybe a sleeping crossed eyed baby...lol

OK let me run and start my day...I have procrastinated long enough....Atleast tomorrow is Friday.

Oh yeah Dancing with the Stars anyone??? Way to go Emit!!!!!!

What 's so funny?

I just have to share this picture...Alex and Emma took it upon themself to get there photo's taken on the boat...As you can see they were a hit!!!

Not always a Breeze

Ok so I know I told you all I had a awesome time, and I did but traveling with two little kids and Chris is not always a dream come true. First of all I have to keep Emma and Chris feed at all times or the melt downs feed off each other...That was what happened ahhh most of the time, until we got on the boat that is. We did manage to have some fun but I had to put up with egg shell and egg shell jr while having it.

Chris has decided that we are not going anyplace else until we can travel formula free. I can not blame him it was not so easy, we actually had to have boiled water brought to our cabin on the ship to clean Tatums bottles...apparently the water is not better in the Bahamas...but back to my point... when that day comes I can promise you all that United/TED airlines well not be taking us there...That airline is full of wacks that have no clue what is going on, and I thought Southwest was bad. At least at SW you get what you pay for, you do not really expect more then a greyhound in the sky.

On the way home those dopes changed our flight leaving us on a late flight with not enough bottles...I could have had extra formula with me but HL security was not on my side.... Long story short Chris and Tatum got on a 2pm flight stand by and Emma and I came home on that 350 Flight. Funny our original flight booked in Feb was for 11:40am, I guess they cancelled it then changed there mind because it was there we just weren't on it. Anyway note to self, steer clear of TED...

I think the best melt down came from Emma while having Dinner at Cinderella's Round Table...She cried over not having her princess dress on, cheese, dinner, and everything else under the sun. This did wonders for Chris' already tired mood, lucky for me Tatum was being super cute. You should see the complimentary picture with Cinderella that came with our Dinner. Emma looks miserable and Tatum is looking at the floor. As we got ready to leave the restaurant my little Gemini's better half came out and stayed until she feel asleep. We were actually just going to bag the Magic Kingdom but lucky she pulled it together and we could hit a few rides...the Haunted Mansion ( still the same with the room that stretches LOL) Dumbo , Merry Go Round and yes we went through Small World. Tatum was funny during that one just looking all over the place. Chris and I always get a kick out of Small World, they still have the surfer dude in the Hawaii section.

After the last ride we headed toward Main Street for the firework show... If you have not seen fireworks at Disney I totally recommend it. They are fantastic best I have ever seen. I was worried about what Tatums reaction to the fire workes would be, not only because of the WS but Emma always hated them. Tatum surprised us all by just hanging out strapped to me and watching...she is a really good baby, I must say.

The boat was a great time but not so relaxing...We were go go go the entire time...Not so much the dream vacation for Chris...he says he wants a good three days of nothing but sleep before he is ready for vacation. When went to the beach BT (before Tate) he could get that but I hate to tell him that those days are over LOL. I was the one that got up and walked the boat with her every morning.

It is going to be interested to hear Chris' take on the vacation as a whole, I am sure we are due for post number 2 any time now...LOL

It's Better In The Bahamas

So I can sum the vacation up in one word AWESOME! We really had a good time, I am sure we are going back but once Tatum is a bit older…I am thinking 6 and 4. It is defiantly worth the money but as you all know Disney does nothing half assed. The hardest part was back to work on Monday…

Emma and Tatum were both Champs on the airplane, Tatum was actually better then Emma but we made it there and back with no problems, at least none from our kids. Homeland security is a totally different story; I think that they have gone off the deep end. One the way home we actually watched them trash some poor little girls Disney snow globe. Funny the tossed out my sun block but didn’t touch the lighter that was in my purse. I am starting to wonder if it is just as easy to drive.

The weather was great we meet all the Princesses and Mickey. Also got to swim shop and all got our hair braided…I think it is a moral sin to go to the Bahamas and not get braids LOL. While in Nassau we checked out the aquarium at the Atlantis and hung on the beach. Emma totally wanted to ride the wave runners. Chris shot that idea down real quick; I was not surprised.

Disney’s private Island, Cast Away Cay, was better the Nassau I could have stayed there the entire weekend it was a blast. Can you tell I am excited I guess I could just go on and on. It is nice to be home, I have some major catching up to do on the Blogs and work so I’ll have to tell you all more later. I have great stories and a ton more pictures.

Nervous excitement

I am so ready for a vacation...I think that I just need space and time away. I have to finish up packing tonight and get the house ready for Elsa ( cleaning lady) she is coming while we are gone. Atleast I get to come home to a clean house, always a nice thing.

I am a bit nervous about at forgetting something or having a sick kid. This is really our first big outing with two kids .Sure, we have been to the beach for a week but always rented a house. A few years ago we went to Disney for a few days but stayed with friends, this is our first extended stay together in a hotel/cabin. At least we only have one mini person that is moving, though she is as busy as three kids.

I can not wait to lay in the sun and play with he kids on the beach and in the pool. I also can not wait to send them to the "Oceaneers Club" for Emma and Nemo's nursery or whatever it was called for Tatum...Now that is vacation :)

The traffic report is looking bleak already so I better get moving I have a busy day. Work, kids, packing, cleaning and off to the airport crack ass of dawn...Look out Mickey here we come!!!

Bon Voyage

This has been a bit of a crazy week. I made a big decision this week to eliminate a huge work stress from my life. I have been working directly with this person for the last three years and on Wed I told my boss I could not longer do it. With all Tatum’s extra appointments and stress I just do not have it in me anymore for added stress and that was about all I was getting out of this work relationship.

I feel like I got divorced or something, we had been together a while. When the communication stops and one or both of you are not willing to take blame for any of the problems, it’s time to let go. It is kind a weird now part of me is sad and the rest is doing cartwheels. I must say I do have the most amazing boss because she knows me well enough to agree it was time and took action right away. I may actually be able to hold it together after all.

I am starting to really look forward to vacation, I would imagine that this is going to be the last one for a while…then again I always say that… LOL

We are going to go out with a bang. Dinner with Cinderella on Wed. Evening at her palace of Course then Thursday morning we are off to board the big boat. We are going to spend a day at the Atlantis in Nassau then a day in the sun on a private Disney Island. For the evenings we have Tate signed up for Nemo club or whatever it is that they call the nursery and Miss Emma is a new member of the castaway club. WE may never make it to the adult only pool but I have a feeling we’ll have a good time. Yvonne’s family is going with us too.

One of the best things in the worlds is seeing Emma (or any kid) at Disney World. I cannot wait this time because she is old enough to love it.

I’ll try and Post again before we leave Wed morning but not sure if I am going to get the chance I have a tin top do in order to prepare.