Weekend Whining.....

The weekend is wrapping up, I am sitting here watching Role Model with my dearly beloved and wondering why these headaches won't just go away.....

We had a nice weekend. Truly all our time feels like weekends right now, with Daddy Piper home. We are in a great routine though and don't sit in our jammies until noon anymore (unless your talking about J who stayed in his PJ's until 4 yesterday!!). I sit here trying to recall little things, then I get distracted and check out other blogs and then come back and write more : -) But anyway - I am also easily distracted as I sit here hopped up on migraine meds. I can take them but only when I am not nursing. So no milk for J for 24 hours. I have a dr appt tomorrow to get these checked out again and try some new meds that will allow me to continue nursing and hopefully get rid of the headaches.

So enough rambling. Saturday we did some work around the house and did some coupon shopping at Target - always fun! L picked a hair clip over getting bubbles. It was a hard decision for her. She could only choose one thing (thank goodness for overage!!). In the afternoon, I put J down for a nap and took L & S to an art thing where they made Valentine's Cards for their homeschool group. They were entertained for about 10 minutes and then took off to play with toys. It was fun, for me anyway :- ) Daddy worked on the ceiling in the playroom to get it fixed. It is drying out before we hang new sheetrock. J slept for almost 4 hours. He was awake and ready to eat. Boy he woke up hungry!! We made yummy BBQ pizza from some crust I got for free (coupons!!) and chicken from the other night . A pizza for the family cost a total of 90 cents! I am so addicted to coupon shopping. It is such a wonderful blessing to feed our family and not have that to worry about right now - especially since we have so many other things to worry about. But the pizza was delicious. Dinnertime was filled with Daddy Piper teaching S how to day good in Spanish.

Today was supposed to be church but it didn't happen. I spent most of the day alternating between my head hurting and puking from the pain. Dinner time was the most I was up all day. After getting the kids to bed, I went back down. Now's it 11:45 and I am up again. We were able to eat the yummy sauce I made the other night tonight. It was sauce made from tomatoes in the garden, with garlic bread I got for 49 cents (go coupons!) and free pasta. Including the grapes (99 cents a pound), dinner was around 2 dollars for a family of 5 - WOOHOO! Tonight was the first time J had grapes. I am so afraid of choking. I quartered them and he ate a few dozen and loved them!! Then for dessert after baths we made ice cream shakes. Daddy Piper made some from some fresh strawberries and I made mine with Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and Malt chocolate. J ran from Daddy Piper back to me, getting a bite at each stop. He loved it :-) S chose the strawberry and L chose to have just chocolate. It is such fun doing things like that. Small little treats make such an impression and it's fun to boot :-)

Zoo

We went to a far away zoo today with our homeschool group. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!! We had invited our friends, the K family, to join us. The entire day was pure delightfulness, through and through. We started out running late (shocker!!) but had to turn back when the stroller I had put in the back was covered in cat pee and the entire van wreaked of that horrid smell. Thankfully the zoo rented strollers. Of course, they didn't have any storage on it but it worked out. All the kids were awesome. We even got to ride the log rode. Both L & S rode with me (J was too little). They haven't ridden anything like before so it was fun. I love rides of all kinds and to share it with them made it all that much better!! J is crying in the pic of all of us because the loud cockatoo next to us was scaring him. We have a cockatiel and it so not loud compared to the noise coming from that cockatoo.

Thursday Thoughts...

My headaches aren't away. In fact, I think they are worse. I am not taking the med though because I can't nurse J while taking the med. I am scheduled to see my PCP on 2/1 to go over the medicines and find one that will work, while still nursing.

I have spaghetti sauce on the stove - from scratch! I have never made sauce from tomatoes before. I peeled and chopped the tomatoes, added seasoning and other stuff and man this stuff is good. Then I had a chicken in the crockpot and had the bright idea to make homemade mac-n-cheese. Of course - I just fed it to L & S and neither of them liked it. They only want the orange stuff :-) J devoured it but he's just like S was at this age - he'll eat just about anything!!

Now tomorrow will be off to the zoo which is across creation from us. We'll have to leave at o dark hundred to get there on time.

Life

Today was a very productive day. Last night was a horrible sleeping night. S isn't sleeping well due to yucky allergies. I was up with him, then L needed me to sleep with her and THEN J needed some magical mama milk. It is so nice to be needed but not between the hours of 10-6 :-) Seriously kids GO TO SLEEP! But what's better than your baby needing you, not much really, so I try to remember that and not be crabby. I got some cuddle time with each of my babies throughout the dark hours. I am lucky though that Daddy Piper wasn't working today (HA!) so I got to go back to sleep from 8 till 9:30. His 3 day roofing project was completed yesterday and he was looking for some rest for his back. I was super thankful for the rest. I got up just in time to run L to her makeup dance class (side story - she thought it was a makeup class where she got to put up on makeup HAHAHA!!). I came back home and got my coupons ready for some major shopping. Kroger stores are having a mega sale and there was awesome deals!! I ran back to get L from dance, dragging S along with while J napped at home with Daddy. L's dance ran a bit over so S got to play in their toy/waiting room area for a bit. He was thrilled :-) Class was over and we hurried out. They noticed the some TE being done next door so we stopped and had a construction lesson. Gosh I forgot how much the construction industry and the work that goes with it. It was fun to walk them through an building being fitted out and talk about all the work going on! Anyway then it was off to the grocery store. It went soooo much longer than I had planned. About 2 hours total with 2 baskets of stuff = $184 saved and spent $67 WOOHOO!!!!!!!! The kids were quite unruly though,which is quite unusual for my children. I am amazing well behaved kids so this was not the ordinary for us. It was over and off we went home. When I got everyone loaded up, S inquired as to the schedule for the next few hours as in "Mama - we are going home now right? And I mean like right now, no more coupon shopping right, Mama??". We had to get gas but yes - we went right home!

Lunch, dishes, naps for L & S then more coupon organizing to hit Target. But before shopping, L wanted me to "lay with me for a minute". We laid in my bed, read our books (silently for me while listening to her read aloud) and rested for awhile. It was so wonderful to lay with her, quietly like that. Man, I LOVE that girl and that love just grows each second. I wonder daily what I did to be allowed to be her mama. She is amazing in so many ways. God blessed me abundantly when he gave her to me 5 1/2 years ago. Not that she can't drive me bonkers, like earlier while grocery shopping : -) But alas J woke up so my rest time was over and it was time for Target shopping. I spent $32 and saved $54 and got diapers, Lysol wipes, allergy medicine for S, migraine med for me, some natural laundry stuff for S's stuff, and baby wipes. I have gift cards to go back too!! J was so much fun shopping. He is so vocal so it's fun to walk and talk with him. He doesn't have a large vocab but sure tried to get his point across : -) I got to have a great conversation with one of my best girlfriends on the way home from Target - that's always nice.

S was still napping when we got home. L needed to finish her lessons from this morning. Daddy Piper took J outside to play while we did schoolwork. We are learning more about left and right and also lessons regarding Cinderella. I am loving this curriculum. Such fun stuff!

We made homemade pizza tonight. I used from free pizza crust from a sale a few months ago, free cheese, 19 cent Ragu sauce, $1 pepperoni. The pizza cost $1.19 and there's enough stuff in the fridge to make the whole thing again. So dinner tonight was like 60 cents. You can't get better than that baby and it was yummy to boot! L & S had such fun making the pizza with me. I LOVE having them in kitchen. I have really tried to relax and enjoy them lately. It has made such a difference in the mood around here!

J helping Mama clip the recipes and file them in our recipe book.

Painting time. Everyone loves to do crafts in our house!!

J loves his food!!!

J eating cauliflower from the garden. It only took 6 months to get it from the garden to our table :-)

Eating the yummy brownie dessert L helped make.
Everyone agreed this $3 was the best!!

S got in timeout for not listening. He was getting ready to get in the bath
so he had a naked time out.

My Babies and their Cars Cars Jammies

In Feb of 2008, L & S posed in their new Cars Cars jammies, so excited to have matching jams with their most favorite thing on them - Disney Cars! Now S and J are wearing the matching Jammies!!!! J is 8 months younger than S when he's wearing these jams. And S & L are exact same age here!!

Power!

I just had a horrible experience. Our power company came to shut our power off. I started freaking out. I have paid the bill. I ran inside and started pulling up accounts to prove payment. He called his dispatcher, who confirmed the bill was 3 months behind. I tried to show him the payments made and that I actually have a credit on my account, because we pay the same payment every month to help balance out the budget. I was crying, saying I had babies on the house couldn't be without power. Oh my gosh - he was insistent on shutting off the power. He handed me the notice and I read it over, questioning what I needed to do next. He was explaining I had to go in and pay the bill. Then I read the notice carefully - he had the WRONG HOUSE!!!!!! I showed it to him and told him our address, he confirmed our address and apologized and drove to the neighbor across the way. I feel horrible for that family but am glad it wasn't mine being shut off.

Such Fun....

I came home from art lessons with S and L to this:
Yep that's a 2x4 holding up the roof in the playroom. We had a storm wreak havoc on us last week and this is the result. Daddy Piper was fixing the roof and it started collapsing inside. Such fun when you own your own home. One good point - Daddy Piper has plenty of time to fix it : -)

Update - Hodge Podge - Miscellenaus - Whatever.....

So I have been diagnosed with migraines - UGH! It could have been so much worse but still, migraines - really?!? I am supposed to take a medicine that I cannot nurse while taking. I took the med Wed through Sat, with the last dose on Saturday morning. Sunday night I nursed my boy. Oh it was like giving drugs to a crack addict. He nursed all night long!!! I need to get another medicine to control these headaches.

Today has been a wonderful, awesome day. I have been in such a great mood. Things aren't any better, financially or work wise but still, things are good. I say this often - attitude is everything for me. Lessons were great this morning for L & S. We are now only doing things away from home 2 days a week so there is more time to devote to the homeschooling aspect of our lives. One of the fun things we are learning right now is about our world and the continents. It is fun to re-learn everyday with my kids.

But back to last week. I had gone into the ER on Tuesday, with the most excruciating headache. They weren't able to fix it but did do a CT scan to rule out blood on the brain. They gave me a migraine medicine but it didn't work. I went home with a prescription and the orders to see my PCP within a couple days. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the headache persisted. It was getting worse by the day. I made an appt with a new primary dr I hadn't met yet. My appt was at 11:30. Daddy Piper dropped me off, insisting he wanted to drive me, then he headed next door to a park to let our children play. I waited until 1:15 to be seen by this dr. He was an hour and forty five minutes late. He entered the room, then proceeded to take some calls from the ER, without apology or remorse for running so late. By this time, I was crying in pain. My head hurt so horribly. And I was vomiting from the pain. He checked me over, gave me a very hard time about not being on birth control (WTF?!) and prescribed a narcotic and said if I still had a headache in a week to come back. I left there in tears. Completely hysterical by this point. I had had a headache for 4 solid days at this point. I got in the van and told Daddy Piper to drive me home. Then vomited again and again and again. First he pulled over then I just kept puking in a bag I found in the van. I just wanted to go home and lay down. He overruled that idea and drove me back to the ER. I called my sister on the way and he called my mother. They both came to the hospital, my mom to get my babies and take them home and my sis had a much longer drive and made it just in time to go get my scrips, 2 hours later. Anyway, I got checked into the ER and they took over and man they were totally awesome. They couldn't fully treat me on Tuesday because I had driven myself. Wednesday, they gave me some migraine med to knock it out. The PA gave me a migraine cocktail shortly after I got undressed and the IV put in. I slept for an hour and woke up headache FREE!! They sent me home with some scrips and strict instructions not to nurse while taking these meds. This BROKE my heart in two. But the headache was beyond horrible, almost beyond the pain of child birth. My sis took the meds to be filled and I went home with my dear hubby, who was like a rock during the ordeal. The dr was concerned about bleeding on the brain and the next step was a lumbar test to draw out spinal fluid to check for meningitis. Thankfully the migraine med worked so we didn't have to do the lumbar thing. Anyway off home we went. I hugged the kids, reassured them I was okay and went to bed, for 16 hours straight. I haven't slept that long since before L was born, almost 6 years ago. My sister stayed the night to help with the kids. She woke me up Thursday morning about 9 and it felt like it had only been minutes since I laid down - not 16 hours. I am so grateful it is "just" migraines, even if that has it's own problems. I was so concerned about the headaches and how much worse the situation could have been.

Now we are off to walk to art lessons. I am supposed to be training for the 3 day this fall but haven't gotten to serious so we are trying to walk everywhere close - saves gas money too!

I just laid J down for his afternoon nap. We have this fun little game. I lean down and have his bink in my mouth backwards and he leans in through the bars and takes it out of my mouth with his mouth. It's pretty cute : -) I had to get him some new clothes today (from the garage - S's old clothes). He's now in a 2T!!!

My Health

I take our good health for granted. I have had a headache for 60+ hours now. I was in the ER this morning, getting it checked out. They did a cat scan (my first) and some blood work. It might be nothing - just tension or it might be more. Bleeding on the brain. My BP was good, maybe even a little low. Now I just have these pills to take this evening and hope I am better by morning. I have a worried husband who really took great care of our kids today. For all the grumbling and complaining I do about him (usually just to myself - I try REALLY hard not to complain to others about him, learned that from a book Proper Care and Feeding of a Husband). Now I am off to take another pill and back to bed.....

Disney!

We had a fun day. We went to see Disney on Ice!! I love all things Disney so this was extra fun for me. L was kinda upset that Daddy Piper didn't join us. He is not into things like this. It was a treat from my mother for my kids and I and my sister, her kids and my mother. So there was 9 of us total. It was raining so that started the day off kinda not so great. We met my sister, grabbed my niece and her boyfriend and off we went. The kids were extra phenomenal. They usually are at places like this. We had the talk last night of only getting one thing each and it must have sunk in. When it came time to get that one thing, they each picked it and were pleased. My sister went to get cotton candy and L said she couldn't have any because she had already picked her one thing. I was both proud of her and felt like she was so neglected - all in one split second. She got her cotton candy. I just meant I was only going to buy one thing each. Of course she could accept something from her auntie. Then it came time to eat the cotton candy and she said she couldn't because she hadn't had anything good to eat first, like any fruit or veggies. Guess they are listening when we tell them the rules over and over. S asked later for a snow cone and I reminded him of the rule and he he didn't fuss one bit. I was super proud of my babies! J did great. He was spellbound with the show. He kept talking, singing along to all the music and pointing at the ice. It was so heartwarming to watch the kids watch the show. They enjoyed every second of it. It had something for all of them; Cars cars for S, Tink for L and lots of music and lights for J. Fun Stuff!!

Horse Riding

We just took a horseback riding lesson from our neighbor. I have always wanted to learn to ride horses and the kids have been dying for a ride. Our wonderful neighbor let us borrow her horses for a bit and let us ride them!!!! She even offered to give me lessons to learn to ride properly. Everyone had a great time.

Super Saturday

Today was a wonderfully fun day. Now I sit and remember the fun little moments that make life what it is....

As I sit on my duff, eyeing the pico I made earlier, smelling the blueberry muffins I managed to burn, my boy runs out looking to have his back scratched. So I'll do that first and then write about our day!

Okay now that's done and it's back to our day...

We woke up, late for some reason. It was after 8 this morning. I got up and changed a stinky icky diaper. Can't wait till #3 is potty trained. Oh wait then he won't be a baby. Okay leave him a baby for a bit longer. Everyone was in great moods right away. It is such a nice way to start the day. I made coffee, milks and breakfast. All 3 get a milk within minutes of their feet hitting the floor. L and S switch cups each day. One day one gets a tractor cup and the other a Cars Car cup then the next day they switch. J isn't in the rotation yet since he can't holler about having the tractor cup :-) I showered quickly and dressed J and ran to the post office. My sis sent me a package and I had to sign for it. It was fun taking J along, or not. I took him the other day too when I got a new phone at Verizon. He can be such a little devil. Very vocal and doesn't listen too well. I think he might be more like his Mama than the other 2. YIKES! So we got the package and hurried back home to get ready for a birthday part this afternoon. J took a nap while Daddy Piper did some truck work with L & S. I rounded up L & S and got them dressed for the party. I had to wake up J. Oh boy - he wasn't too happy about that, not one little bit. He fussed and cried and howled in dispute of the waking up. He has a very strong personality - I think that is good description of him. Everyone got ready and I ran back to lock the garage door and threw out my back. It is the second time this has happened in the past 2 weeks. I am still in pain. I have no idea what to do about it!

Off to the party we go. It was loads of fun to hang out with friends for a few hours - even being in pain. Our friends just bought a new home. It is soo gorgeous! L & S ran in and made themselves at home. J had fun, running around and being pushed in a little red car thing with a handle. We had lunch, cake & ice cream and more than that - we had fun. Fellowship time with people we both enjoy being with. We did skip out a bit early due to my back. I wanted to get home and take a hot bath and some tylenol or something. L wasn't happy about leaving but she left without much fuss. We had a problem yesterday with the attitude when it was time to leave the park. Today I was proud of her. She was upset but left anyway. She was able to sell some more Girl Scout cookies while we there :-)

Home for naps and Mama to get some back relief. J fell asleep about a block after we left. When we got home, Daddy Piper got him settled back down, L & S went right down for naps, I got a hot bath and laid on the couch. We all fell asleep, all five of us, and slept until 5 o'clock, for about 3 hours!!! We woke up to the Cardinals losing their game - darn them!

The rest of the night went well. I am now sitting here listening to J talk from his room and L & S giggle and chat from their room. The next thing to is to move J into their room. They feel bad he's all alone. We had another conversation about #4 today. L thinks it is a done deal. She is already planning out how things will be. I had to warn her that it might not happen. Daddy Piper thinks he is done. I don't think I am. Financially it's a VERY bad time to even be thinking about it but who knows what next year will bring!!

Now I am shutting this computer off and hitting the sack. J will be up soon, looking for his nightly milk :-)

Mission Aborted

L did not complete her mission last night. She called about 11 to come home. We had some crazy thunderstorm/lightning weather and she is terrified of that stuff. She called for her Mama and her Mama came running!!!! I drove like mad to get to her. The weather was rainy and windy and stormy, my most unfavorite kind of weather yet if needed by one of my babies, I would walk over hot coals to be there (or drive through the thunder - which I am oh so afraid of!!). I got to JK's house and L was there with tears in her eyes, waiting for me by the door. She jumped in my arms and we got her stuff and off we drove home. She sat up front, squeezing her eyes closed to keep from seeing the lightning. I did feel so bad for her that her funnest ever sleepover was cut short but there will be plenty of these in her future. The weather settled down shortly after midnight. I think it was just God's way to get all my ducklings back home, where they belong :-)

Her brother was most happy to see her this morning. He woke up at 4 ready to go get her. I told him she was already home and you could see the relief in his eyes. He settled back down until 6 when she woke up. He ran over and gave her the biggest hug ever.

Now we are planning a fun pajama party for just the boys - should be tons o' fun!

Slacker

I am getting out of the habit of the daily posting, sometimes two or three times a day. Things have gotten busy around here. I am actually exercising and walking daily and reading the Bible (almost) daily. L's schooling has taken a priority again so that cuts into my computer time. Most of all, playing with the kids has been my top priority lately. We are having much more fun around here.

We met our homeschool group at the park today. We were late, by about 30 minutes. I couldn't believe I was that late! J slept in this morning so that means my alarm clock (which is J's crying) didn't wake me up like normal. It took me 2 hours to get breakfast, showered, lunches packed and 3 kids ready to go. It was fun! L hooked up with a little girl and played with her the whole time. Some of the boys were chasing her and she didn't like it and she was mean (tried to kick one of them!) so she got time out once. She did enjoy the company of that other little girl, with the same name no less! Unfortunately, the little girl is visiting from New York :-( L doesn't "click" with other little girls very often so that was fun for her. We are going to try to get together a few times while they are here visiting, her mom was fun to chat with! The time at the park went too quick. S had fun playing and running and sliding. I chased J for part of it then strapped him in the stroller for snacktime. He is a devil to chase - such a climber. We left about nap time. I couldn't get the jogger to fold down. I had to put it in the van upright. L said "If we had another kid, we couldn't have fit the stroller in the van.". Well okay then. I am petitioning hardcore for #4 and it's not going over well with Daddy Piper. I guess L had a point then.....

I am sitting on the bathroom with S right now. L is at her first sleepover, EVER! She was not the least bit nervous. I am not either, really. I just miss her. She drew me a beautiful heart picture to remind me she loves me while she is gone (her words!). She is sleeping over at SK's house, for SK's 5th birthday. I didn't even consider how S would react. He FREAKED out about sleeping alone. He wanted me to call JK and have her come get him to sleepover with L and SK and KK. We compromised by letting him sleep with J tonight.

I just talked with L and she said goodnight and love you. She sounds so different on the phone. I guess I haven't really talked with her on the phone before. Yikes - my girl is growing up so quick! S talked with her on the phone and he was laughing, telling her she was funny. I think it was the first time they have talked on the phone and they both thought it was hilarious!

Now it's time to get S out of the bath and off to bed. He is lost without L. It is funny/sad all at the same time. It is nice to have some one on one time though. That doesn't happen as often as it should.