HOOOOOOOOOT

I cannot believe how hot it is getting outside!
To make it worse my A/C doesn't wanna work either. It "halfway" cools the house. I am so happy that my desk is in the basement. At least I get to cool off there. Gotta figure out a fun way to cool the boys oof too. Anyone know of a good idea? You can only run through the sprinklers so many times.

RUN Forest RUN!!!!

You ever wonder what drives a child?

Jackson has been one that has an impulse to run. The kid could be standing next to you one minute and within a blink of an eye he is gone. And not only does he run but he runs FAST. We have succumbed to the idea of a leash. We have them but only for occasions like the Iowa State fair. But have now decided it may be a permanent fixture on Jackson after losing him in the Altoona Walmart today. Scared the crap out of us. I am so glad he came back to where he started his run. (Which is where I stayed while John frantically ran through Walmart looking for Speedy Gonzalez)

I am not sure what else to do. He has "behavioral" issues at school, which he is getting evaluated for. I feel there is something "not right" about him. He is so smart but has certain quirks about him. I have been told he is NOT ADHD by parents of kids with ADHD. But what else could he be? He goes 110mph all the time. One minute he is the sweetest thing and the next you wanna throw him out because he so nasty. I love him dearly and see the sweet baby he was/is but wish there was more I could do for him. You ask him why he does these things and all he can say is "cause I had to" or " I don't know" with welting tears and a look of confusion and dis pare. My Poor baby.

SPRING!!!

It's that time of year again. Seems as though Spring has passed us up. The weather has been beautiful out here in Iowa.

The boys are enjoying swim classes and Soccer this Spring. Soom Summer classes for Swim and T-Ball will start.

I got a nice 10x9ft lot cleared for a small garden. I cannot wait for my plants to grow. I am like a little kid the night before Disneyland, except I have to wait over 2months for my veggies.

I am starting to be more concious of things I can make on my own this year.
-I have made my own laundry soap. Compliments of The Duggar family. http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html
-I am more aware of things we can do without buying cleaning products and such. Vinegar is my new best friend. http://www.wisebread.com/30-household-products-vinegar-can-replace

I am so excited for what this year will bring me and my family.

I am a busy woman I sure hope I can keep up with this Blog. So sorry for disappointing all my "fans"....he he

Fire

Sorry this is so delayed but I have been unbelievable busy.

On Sunday 1/17/10 at around 10pm a fire broke out in Jake's room.

I had just got done checking on the boys and having the usual let's get out of bedtime arguments we normally do. I made my self a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a snack and went back down to my computer at the bottom of the basement stairs. I maybe got 3 bites out of my sandwich when I here the loud footsteps upstairs. I thought for sure I'd have to go have some more "arguments" upstairs.

I turn around and both boys look terrified at me flailing their arms around screaming fire. I jump up run upstairs and ask where. The scream in Jake's rooms. I ran to Jake's room thinking it was something small. As I get to his door there is a fire as tall as his entertainment center at the far North East corner of the room.

I quickly ran to the kitchen and noticed our kitchen extinguisher is not on the wall. I then remember the big red one down in the laundry. I told the boys to go outside as I ran to get that one. Jake, Jackson and Cash (our lab) were right outside the back door. I went into the hallway and noticed the door was shut and shuttering trying to open. I pulled the pin out of the extinguisher and stepped back behind the wall as I pushed open the door. All I saw was smoke and I could feel the heat and a small glow where the fire had been. The smoke and heat were too much for me and I dropped the extinguisher. The door continued to shutter As I ran to the phone in the kitchen and ran outside to call 911.

At that moment I realized my shih-tzu, Jingle, was still in the house. I ran through my thoughts trying to remember when I last saw him. I was sure he was in the kitchen. I hoped he was not stuck in Jake's room. I opened the door to the back of the house and saw pitch black smoke a foot from the floor. I knew I couldn't go in after him. I called for his name but nothing. I saw one of our cats run to the basement at this point. As I was hollering for Jingle, Cash took off in the house keeping his head low in search of Jingle. I hollered at him to come back. He quickly returned. We remained outside as we waited for the fireman. The boys were in a panic and screaming and crying fire. My lab was running in circles around the house with his tail between his legs. I then realized we were all half dressed in our jammies and no shoes. I told the boys and Cash to get in the van. I then realized my purse was in the kitchen. I had no way to get to it and I knew I wasn't going to risk it to go get it. I had no way to reach John. About this time the Police showed up and escorted us off the premises. I kept telling them my dog was in there. I was so worried for Jingle.

We stayed at our neighbors house and I tried every way possible to try and get a hold of John. My cell phone was in my purse, which was obviously not gonna help me at that point. At that point they wanted me to get Cash out of the Van in case the fire got worse. It took Cash a lot of convincing he was safe with "Mommy". Once out of the van Cash was his cheery self and wanted to greet all the firemen. I was so in a daze I didn't even realize that our friend Gary, who also works as maintenance in our building, was photographer for the fire department. He appeared out of no where and asked if he needed to go get John. I was never happier to see him.

They put out the fire and made sure nothing would catch back up. They also cleared out the smoke. At this time I could see John. He looked so terrified. I was just so happy to see him. Shortly there after I could see the fireman were carrying Jingle's kennel. I was 2 houses away so I couldn't see exactly what they were doing but they had him by the ambulance. John met the fireman as he carried the kennel over. Jingle was in there and okay but so terrified he wouldn't come out for John. He eventually got him out, but my white shih-tzu was all grey and black. Eventually Jingle ended up with me and he was so scared he was shaking.

A lot after that was blur. I remember looking at the aftermath and thinking about what the Fire Marshal had said, "it is really minor damages". My house was all black. Jake's room looked like a black hole. John and I grabbed what we could for clothes and toiletries. We got to Grandma Nichols and I remember looking at all of us and we looked like we'd come from the streets. We had suet all over our faces. I had to shower, I stunk and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep like that. Jackson didn't want me out of his sight. He just wanted em to hold him. I ended up with Jake in the shower with me and Jackson laying on a pile of smelly smoked blankets as I shower. Once I was done I had to hold him immediately. We eventually fell asleep around 2am and we didn't sleep well.

The weeks to follow we had a lot of friends help where they could with donations for Jake, Muscle to move furniture, laundry anything they could do they did.

The house is now about 60% done. We have insulation up in Jake's room. then drywall, new ceiling fans (that would make 5 of them) and all new lights (3 of those), then paint and trim and then I get my floors sanded, treated and sealed. It will all look A LOT better then it did before. Unfortunately all my hard work from over a year ago with painting will now be all white, darn insurance won't cover it. O well I get to have fun painting again. Jake has almost all his furniture replaced thanks to donations. ALL of his clothes have been replaced again thanks to donations.

This fire has shined a new light on me. GOD has a bigger plan then what you see in front of you, trust in him and he will light that path for you. I am TRULY blessed with good friends and family. I am soooo happy Jake was awake that night and everyone got out safe. My life crumbled in 2weeks but I was brought back on my feet withing days. I am stronger now then I was before and know that God has his arms wrapped tightly around me and my family.

Bittersweet

The past few days have been an emotional roller coaster for me. I lost a little one I dearly wanted. Then I was told that I could get Cancer from this. If this pregnancy were a Molar pregnancy it could give me "treatable" cancer. Treatable is a good word to put before a word like Cancer. But still, it's CANCER. That would be a tough journey to fore go if I had too. I have prayed every night for God to give me the strength, courage and hope needed for all of this.

I got a call from my OB's Nurse today. She informed me that the pregnancy was not a Molar Pregnancy. This is bittersweet news. I have been so worried about all these health issues that could be caused by a Molar Pregnancy. This means that chance of Cancer has dropped significantly. It was good to get one chip off the shoulder.

We have overcome one hurtle in many to come from this. Please continue to pray for us as we go through this Journey. I will try to post as often as I can. I go back to work On Wednesday so my life will get back into routine soon. I hope this routine will help with our healing process.

So Blessed

A lot has happened in just a few weeks. I am feeling much better now. Enough to share my story with you all.


On my first ultrasound on 12/24/09 my OB noticed that I had what he called a vanishing twin. The 2nd fetus was only measuring 6weeks. I was supposed to be @12weeks. The doctor sent me to radiology in 2weeks on 1/7/10(making me supposedly about 13 or so weeks). I knew then that it just didn't seem right. I did the math over and over in my head. And could not come up with me being only 6weeks for the other little one. Those 2weeks were an awful wait.


That ultrasound was the most nerve wracking ultrasound I have ever done. The ultrasound tech would not show me the screen but she took a TON of pictures. She then had to go get the radiologists opinion. I did glance over at the ultrasound screen to see CHECK FOR VIABILITY AND DUE DATE. That took forever. She then later came in and said I needed to go see my OB right away for the results. I just knew something wasn't right, but I didn't want to freak out, I was trying to be optimistic. Once in the OB office, in the same building as radiology, it took forever again to get the OB in to talk to me. I was already fighting back tears. He sat and explained everything. Here is a summary of what I caught. I was bawling towards the end so I wasn't exactly paying attention then.

The fetus is not developing the way it should. No heartbeat anymore. According to the radiologist there are clusters of cysts on the placenta that look harmful to my body. The OB called it a Mole. But he said normally they don't have a fetus in there. He said, If I don't remove it it can cause a lot of harm to me (maybe even cancer) and I will lose the baby eventually around 12-18weeks. So the next day I went in for a D&C. Here are a few helpful links that explain what exactly was going on. http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/complications/molar-pregnancy.aspx and this second link will show why we needed to do a D&C right away. http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-health/complications/choriocarcinoma.aspx

January 8th 2010 will always be a day I don't want to forget but never want to relive again. I have been so blessed to have family and friends to help me through this journey. I appreciate everyone of them. John and I both thank you during this hard time. In the mean time we will need more prayers our way that I have NOT gotten any form of cancer from this experience. Thank You once again. LOVE YOU ALL

Snow Storm

Had a lovely winter storm go through beginning of this week. It was SOOOOOOO pretty outside. Definitely not something fun to drive around in. But I had to do it. While others were enjoying their Snow Day at work. I had to be at work. WHY? Because some people feel they need to have 24hour technical support for their Internet and have NO sympathy for the people that fought to get there to help them with their Internet troubles.


The boys and I did enjoy some snow time while we could, before it got too bad. The snow was so light and fluffy so we couldn't even make a snow ball. Jackson was so wore out he passed out on the chair in some awkward upside down position. Right when we got inside. Unfortunately I had to wake him because it was only 5:00pm.



Shortly after these pictures it slowly got worse. When awoke the next morning my van was burried in a snow drift. I am lucky and was able to take John's 4x4 Truck in to work. She handled those snow drifts like a pro. I had no issues at all getting into work. Makes this Mama want to get her own 4x4 vehicle. SHHHH don't tell John that.