Christmas 2019!

We had a GREAT month of December, celebrating Christmas and time with family and friends :)

We decorated our christmas tree. We got a live one this year. 

Rachels school had tacky christmas sweater day so we went and got her one to wear. It lasted one wash after that and all the bells and glitter came off, haha. 

One of my thoughtful baby's parents got the infant teachers these necklaces for christmas! so sweet. all the parents were very thoughtful and spoiled us with snacks and gifts all week before christmas break. 

Every year on the weekend or so before christmas, my BFF and I go out to eat and exchange gifts, to celebrate christmas and her birthday, which is on christmas eve! This year we went to lunch at El Paso. Then she made me go shopping in crowds and wait on her in a mile long starbucks line! lol just picking.. I had a lot of fun. 

The monday before Christmas we took the kids to the movies to see the new Jumanji film. It was really good! pretty funny. Inappropriate in a few places but nothing drastic. 

Arnold got to play with the worship team at our church at the candlelight service! I was so proud of him. He has practiced that music for months. They played some hard music, including Trans-Siberian Orchestra! I was really proud of him. Apparently so was Brooke.. she took lots of pics and videos of him..haha. She says shes his biggest fan ;) A lot of our family came out to support Arnold too, which was really sweet. 

We took this family pic that night! Yes I planned us all wearing red! Yes I am a dork! Yes my whole family is used to it by now! ;) 

The candlelight service was beautiful! I hate Arnie didn't get to sit with us! 

They were actually sweet to each other on Christmas Eve at their grandparents house! They gave the kids money to go spend and they had a blast. Ive never seen someone spend money as fast as Rachel did! haha! 

My brother and his new wife came in from Charleston for a few days! We all went to candlelight service at my parents church, the same church Arnold and I got married in! Then we came back home and ate dinner and played a game as a family! It was so much fun-- I hope we didn't scare Christina off,haha! 

Arnold and I got new furniture for the living room recently, so that was basically our christmas gift to each other, but i bought a few little things for him to open. Had to include a flannel shirt in there and a guitar calendar for his work desk! 

Caleb got an iphone this year! He said it was about time lol. Thank goodness for a deal through verizon because we now have 5 people on the phone plan and its expppeeensive!! And yes hes wearing a hooded blanket. He asked for it for christmas :p

Brooke and I got semi-matching pj pants to wear on Christmas. And Rachel got new pjs with christmas elves on them. Probably the last year shell let me dress her in cutesy stuff! :P

I ordered my mom this pillow online personalized with all her grandkids names and birthdays! I think she really loved it. Her and dad got us some awesome gifts including new sheets, cookware, a family game, some giftcards, etc. 

Mom got a Christmas cake at Publix and we put candles on it and sang happy birthday Jesus on Christmas eve. Alex's new wife had this tradition with her family so mom wanted her to feel special and welcome at their house this year. I loved the idea! 

Brooke begged us to let her take a photoshoot downtown with the cute decorations. this is just one of the pics. She let her little sis join in on some of the pics ;) 

Poor Arnold was passed out on the evening after Christmas! We really did have a busy and fun time this year. Arnold had  alot of PTO time left at work and he got to take off over 2 weeks for Christmas! My new job gave us a week off and I was SO THANKFUL! I've never really had much time off with family in previous jobs. My break FLEW by of course but I had a great time with my family :) 

Brooke's 13-Year Interview!

Going into Grade: 8th

Shoe Size- Women's 9 

Bday Gifts this year: Checkered VANS 

Favorites

Color- Turquoise 

Animal- Sloth 

Food- Ribs 

Drink: Raspberry Fanta 

Snack: Pretzel Goldfish Mix 

Dessert- Cheesecake 

Season- Fall

Holiday- Christmas

Restaurant: Ruby Tuesdays 

Tv Show- The Flash 

Movie- The Sandlot 

Book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid 

Thing to do: Play on computer 

Thing to do outside: Play with the neighbor kids 

Video Game- Animal Jam 

Class in School- Social Studies 

Thing to wear- Athletic pants and shirts

candy: Strawberry Laffy Taffy

Music/Band: Khalid

Song: "Better"'

Flower: Cactus or Succulents

Best Friend- Destiny 

What do you want to be when you grow up?  IT Tech 

What do you want for Christmas this year? Room Decor and Clothes

What are you Afraid of: Elevators 

What are you most proud of the past year? Making the AB Honor Roll 

The weekend before Brooke's birthday, I told her I wanted to do a photoshoot since it was her becoming a teenager, and I needed all the memories, and all that ;) Thankfully shes in a stage where she loves pictures of herself, so she agreed. We went downtown and found some cool spots to take pics. I used my Iphone 8 and I think they turned out pretty good! 

This was probably my favorite. I had it printed and framed. 

I added a black and white filter on my phone and love how it turned out! 

She's walking down the street like she's all that ;) Thankfully the street was not at all busy ;) 

In a field near our house 

Holding her newborn baby picture..awwwww! ;)

We got her an icecream cake and it was delicious!! 

Caleb's 12-Year Interview!

Going into Grade: 7th

Shoe Size- Men's 8

Bday Gifts this year: New XBOX game and giftcard

Favorites

Color- Orange

Animal- Eagle

Food- Cheeseburgers

Drink: Sweet tea

Snack: Mango applesauce 

Dessert- Icecream sandwiches

Season- Fall

Holiday- Christmas

Restaurant: Five Guys

Tv Show- Stranger Things

Movie- The new Men In Black

Book: Hero 2

Thing to do: Play on XBOX

Video Game- Mortal Combat

Class in School- Social Studies

Thing to wear- Athletic pants and shirts

Best Friend- Damien

What do you want to be when you grow up? An Engineer

What do you want for Christmas this year? An airsoft gun 

What are you Afraid of: Jellyfish

What are you most proud of the past year? My EOG reading scores 

Life Lately: July 2019!!

My birthday was on July 1st. and we celebrated like we do every year-- with Mom making me her famous homemade lasanga! It never gets old. She's the best cook ever. And she made me a chocolate cake this year, too. She says I am spoiled, but I don't think so ;) 

I made the kids go to the movies to see Toy Story 4 with me. I said it was my birthday so I got to choose! ;) I really loved the movie! I especially loved FORKY! He was hilarious! And I was totally tearing up at the end! Arnold was mad at the ending. But I told him things always have to change! 

Then Arnold and the kids took me to one of my fave restaurants for dinner-- Dos Amigos! It's mexican food and caleb usually ends up getting a hamburger there, haha. But I seriously love their food! Arnold always argues with me and says El Paso is better, but I don't agree! 

Arnold's work had a company night at the local Crawdads baseball game! They do the nicest things for famlies every once in awhile, and I am very grateful for them being so family-oriented. We all got into the game free, then they had hotdogs, hamburgers and BBQ for dinner! The kids talked me into some Dippin Dots also of course! It was 90 degrees that night, so we were all sweating, and didn't stay until the end of the game. But we had fun!!

The girls had to pose with Conrad the Crawdad! ;) 

We love to go to this big park near our house, and one day when Brooke was at a friend's house I took the other two to the park. They played for awhile and I read a little of my new book ;) We also took Watermelon freeze drinks from Taco Bell with us! yum! Rachel had a blast rolling down the grassy hill-- that girl is always dirty!! We played until a big storm came rolling in, then we ran to the car and went home! 

My parents are members of a country club and they get to go swimming, so my Dad is super sweet and takes the kids often this summer. The girls have even sweet talked their Pop Pop into his member number so they can go get treats like icecream bars and soft pretzels! They have his member number memorized.. just like I did when I was a kid!! haha!! ;) Pop Pop and Grandma sure do love their grandkids. I couldn't get through anything in life without their help. 

Miss Rachel has been into chewing gum a lot lately. She has a little gumball machine she keeps in her bedroom. One night she decided to get gum stuck in her hair when she rolled onto it in her bed. Arnold was so frustrated the next day and spent an hour combing through her hair. He got frustrated and started cutting her hair. I know now theres many ways to get gum out of hair, but oh well! He took Rachel to his moms house where she was able to give her a cute haircut and saved the day!!! Now we say no more gum for miss Rachel! At least not for awhile! :D

Arnold and I downloaded the BEST app for Rachel. It's called Bible for Kids. It is like a little map that takes her to daily bible stories, then it asks a question for her to answer, and has little activities to do, and she earns stars and moves along the board. The stories are colorful and animated and I LOVE it! I would recommend this app to any of my friends with school-age kids. Makes it so easy and fun to learn Bible stories.. even I enjoy listening with Rachel sometimes ;) 

The girls went to a birthday party at a friends' aunts house.. it was on a farm, and there was a creek, and lots of mud, and they got to go "tubing" and YES we are pretty county, especially Rachel with her cute little accent, but we love the little town we live in! ;)

On the same day the girls went to that bday party, Arnold and I took Caleb out for a day just with him. we went to see the LION KING movie. I had been wanting to see it for awhile. It was pretty good I guess, but didn't really live up to my expectations. I thought it was a little dark and a little boring in parts. But I did love the music! I used to run around singing "I Just Cant Wait to be King" from the cassette tape soundtrack when I was little! :D

Anyway, after we did that we went to shop to get Caleb's new school shoes. Where we find out he's now a MENS SIZE 8!!! Wow where did the time go?! He picked Under Armour again this year. I don't really mind spending the money on Caleb because he actually takes good care of his shoes!!! The girls are SO ROUGH on shoes!!!!!! 

Brooke ended out the month by going to Band camp. It was Mon-Friday at a highschool in our county, but it was FAR away from us, so I did SO MUCH driving that week! Oh well, it was worth it. I am happy she got some practice in this summer and will be ready to go on the first day of school. She said only 2 of east burke students were there this year other than her, but she ended up making some friends from other schools! Of course! She's my social butterfly ;) 

My Health Scare--10 Years Later

Rachel was born via c-section on June 18, 2019. I had to have a c-section because she was breech, and they couldn't flip her. Birth went well, recovery went well, everything seemed fine.

Two weeks later I started feeling some pain in my left calf. I thought I had just overdone it that day, so I rested. But the pain continued to worsen over the next few days, so I made an appt. with my OBGYN. She took a look at my leg, said it was just a sprain, and i'd be fine. I continued on for weeks in that pain, taking the 800mg of ibprofen she had told me to take. I thought it was very strange how my leg hurt so badly, although mostly all I had done those past few weeks were rest, try to recover, and breastfeed Rachel. 

On July 22, Arnold and I dropped off all 3 kids with his parents to go to dinner and do a little shopping for Caleb's upcoming birthday. While we were sitting in the parking lot, I noticed I had some chest pains. I told Arnold and he said it was probably just heartburn from the Wendy's we just ate. I said ok and went onto shopping, but still felt strange. We went to pick up the kids and I was sitting on the couch feeding Rachel a bottle before we went home. All of a sudden the chest pains came on strong, I felt sweaty, tingly, and not at all "right." I told Arnold to call 911. He hesitated, but did it. The paramedics came out to my inlaw's house checked me all over and said I looked fine. They said I was probably having a panic attack. 

Something inside me was STILL bothering me, telling me to check this pain out. So I insisted Arnold take me to the ER himself. His mom watched the kids, and his dad, my mom, and brother all met us at the hospital. The drs. did test upon test on me, EKG, bloodwork, Xray, all kind of things. They also said I just fine. Right before leaving though, the dr said he wanted to run just one more test to check something. They took me back to get a CT scan and then we waited. I was getting dressed and fully ready to walk out the door when a dr rushed back in and said get in this gown! Get into bed! We need to get you admitted! Arnold and I were both shocked, we were trying to process what was going on. The dr said the CT scan showed that my lungs were covered with bloodclots. It turned out the pain in my left leg had been a bloodclot, and going weeks without treating it had caused it to break apart, and little bloodclots spread through my body to my lungs. The dr said I was incredibly lucky none had gone to my heart, brain, or blocked off my airway. He said most people die from pulmonary embolisms (technical term.) And he said that age must have been on my side (I was in my early 20s still.) 

So there was a whirwind of the dr getting my hooked up to an IV, giving me morphine for the chest pains and to calm me down, and they pushed me on a stretcher to the elevator, and we went up to the CCU. On the ride up the elevator the dr was asking me all sorts of questions like if I had a living will and what should they do if my heart stopped? The ONLY thing keeping me from panic at that moment was the morphine. I'll be honest, I felt pretty "high" at that moment. They got me admitted into a room in the CCU, with open doors, facing the nurses desk so they could keep an eye on me throughout the night. They said STRICT bed rest, so the bloodclots couldn't move around. I had to use a bedpan because I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom. They hooked me up to an IV of Heparin (blood thinners) to protect me, and said I would be there for quite a while.

I ended up spending 8 days total at Frye Hospital, in the heart tower. The doctors took great care of me and I am grateful. I spent most of the week pretty sedated and didn't do much, but I do remember a few things. I remember not being able to shower for that entire week, I was given sponge baths. By a MALE nurse! I would have been so humiliated, but again, I was on some very good drugs ;) I remember children and babies weren't allowed in the ICU, but they made an exception for Arnold to bring Rachel in to see me, for a few minutes, since she was only 4 weeks old at the time and I missed her so much. I remember my mom standing by my bedside holding my hand, and begging me not to die. I remember my dad coming to visit me and brought me a M&M mcflurry. He's a man of little words, but that gesture meant the world to me. He used to bring me those when I was in highschool and he picked me up from football games. And most of all I remember how great Arnold was-- he used up all his vacation time trying to take care of our 3 kids-- who were only 4 weeks, almost 2 and almost 3 at the time. The rest of the time my parents watched the kids so Arnold could work. He'd do a full day with the kids, and a full night of work, just so we could make it financially. I owe him so much for how amazing he was during that time. It was so incredibly hard. 

ANYWAY! Eventually they let me out of the hospital, 8 days later. They said I seemed healthy enough to go home, and the clots seemed to have disolved quite a bit. They said Arnold had to continue giving me heparin shots in my hip every night, for a few weeks. Then I had to take coumadin (an oral blood thinner) for a year after that. I ended up getting bloodwork done soon after that, to see if I had the gene that made me more likely to get bloodclots, but the test came back negative. Turns out the bloodclot in my leg was a freak thing. Well not really, since bloodclots are common after surgery, and I did spend a lot of time sitting feeding Rachel. But I know lots of people who had multiple c-sections with NO complications at all, and I was very young and pretty healthy.. so I guess I was just lucky ;) 



So my reason for writing this, 10 years later is to say thank you to so many people. Thank you to the drs and nurses who took good care of me. And to my husband who worked so hard to make sure everything was ok. To our parents for helping watch our kids. For everyone who prayed for me. I could have so easily died from those clots, and the fact that I didn't has shown me that God wasn't ready for me to go yet! I am meant to be here for my hubby and kids, and I don't know what all I'm meant to do in this life but I'm trying to figure it out!!

I also want to tell all my girl friends to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! I knew all along something didn't seem right at all, but I let everyone convince me I was fine. I found out later that my OBGYN should have given me a leg ultrasound that day! And if she'd caught the clot, it could have saved me the 8-day hospital stay, thousands of dollars, and a near-death experience. For the longest time I was so, so bitter about that dr not caring about my health. I have since changed OBGYNs and urge all my friends to be proactive in your health and make sure your dr truly cares!

This was the day the nurses "snuck" Rachel in my CCU room to see me, and let me give her a bottle. I am forever grateful for their kindness. Looks like a typical after birth photo, but no, it was me in a tiny CCU room, weak, pale, and pretty much out of it. 

This is what my hip looked like while Arnold was giving me bloodthinner shots every night after I came home. He said he HATED having to stick me (poor thing) but he really did a good job ;) 

Thankful Thursday

1. Im thankful for the time i've been getting to spend at home with the kids this summer. We have done a lot of fun things, and I can tell Rachel enjoys the time with me especially-- she likes to ride with me to do simple errands even.

2. I'm thankful for how well this Early Ed class is going! We only have 19 days left! I have a wonderful grade in there so far, and I hope it stays that way. I turned in a big project last night and that hasn't been graded yet.

3. I'm thankful my mom is doing a lot better lately! She had surgery back in March, and has had a hard time getting around for awhile, but things are improving! She and my Dad went out of town for a few days this week, and I hope they have a great time!

4. I'm so thankful for mine and Arnold's spiritual life going SO much better lately! We of course found a new church we love and became members. We both downloaded the YouVersion Bible app and it's awesome. Every night we do a couple devotional together and pray. I also do a mom devotional every morning. We have been Christians for a long time now, but we weren't doing all the things we should have been doing lately, and i'm happy to be back :)\

5. I'm thankful for Walmart grocery pickup!!!!!! Best thing ever invented. I just bought almost 2 weeks worth of groceries online today, didn't have to set foot in the store once, and tomorrow we get to drive up and have it all loaded into our car. Amazing :)

6. I'm thankful for good friends. My friends have really been here for me lately. They have listened to me whine and vent and cry when things didn't go so well. They celebrated my birthday with me and made sure I felt special. And the other day Joanne and I went to the movies to see the Yesterday movie! It is a Beatles-based movie and it was so good! I'm just so happy I have such a great support system in a few amazing girls.. and I hope I can be the same for them!!

7. I am thankful for such a good air conditioning system since it's been in the 90s for days now!! Our new system was installed a few years ago by the company 72 degrees, and while not cheap at ALL.. it has been amazing!! Brooke complains its TOO COLD all the time!!!! haha.

8. I'm thankful that I have a new job opportunity... I have to wait and see if it all works out, but I am hopeful!! I wasn't really looking for a new job yet, I'm enjoying my time with the kids... but something perfect for me showed up the other day and I had to look further into it! I have an interview later this week, and so wish me luck! I would LOVE the job... but trusting that God knows what's best for me..so we will see what happens!! Will update more later!!! :)

Our Summer Bucket List 2019

1. Go swimming  The kids have done this a lot already! Thanks to family and friends.

2. Visit the science center

3. Skating at Skateland

4. Outdoor concert(s)  We already saw one, hope to see more

5. Have a bonfire

6. Make smores

7. Visit Kool Park  The girls visited with a neighbor 

8. Jump at Defy Hickory  We went to celebrate Rachel's birthday

9. Go see Toy Story 4  We went on my birthday! I wanted to see it most, lol!

10. Visit a splash pad

11. Day trip to the mountains 

12. Go to a Crawdads game  Arnold's company night, so we went then

13. Buy and eat a watermelon

14. Go see the new Lion King 

15. Go see fireworks  We saw them in Valdese, missed the ones on the 4th!

16. Back to school shopping

17. Sidewalk chalk art

18. Summer photo shoot with the kids

19. Celebrate all 3 kids' birthdays- Rach's done, Brooke & Caleb's left!

20. Visit Emerald Pointe Water Park! 

21. Visit the library

22. Write in a summer journal

23. Hike at South Mountain Park 

24. Picnic at the park

25. Have friends over for a sleepover

26. Go bowling

27. Binge watch Stranger Things Season 3  It was good! But sad! 

28. Arts & Crafts Day 

29. Make and eat ice cream sundaes  We did this on the 4th!!

30. Visit the Blackberry Festival 

Life Lately:June!!