Pictures...finally!!

It's been a while hasn't it?!

Yikes! Where does the time go? I keep meaning to get on and update everyone and than something would come up and distract me (big surprise, huh? with 5 kids running around!) We are all hanging in there though. Let's see if I can get everyone up to speed here...

Doogie is doing well, it's so much fun to watch him grow up right in front of our eyes. It's cool to have him read to us now and watch him sound out the words. I just look at him and wonder "where did my baby go?" I still can't believe he is 7 now! He's lost a few more teeth just in this past month, I just have to remember to go in after he's gone to sleep to leave his money from the tooth fairy. I forgot one day and didn't get in there until morning and luckily though he just thought the tooth fairy was late! He is very much into DRAGONS! He was even a dragon for halloween! I think I'm learning everything there is to know about dragons! But besides dragons he loves dinosaurs, lizards, frogs and all that good stuff that boys like! Last I checked his favorite color was blue...but I could be wrong now since it seems to change frequently! He is getting over a cold at the moment...he hardly ever gets sick and luckily when he does he recovers pretty quickly. Wish I could do that!

Jayde is doing great! She is having a blast in Kindergarten. She goes to speech 4 times a week, and according to her speech teacher (and also from what we have seen) she is doing really well. Her speech teacher thinks that Jayde is right on the edge of learning how to read. She is very print aware and we think that this is what is going to help us to get Jayde where she is supposed to be with her speech. So needless to say we are very happy to hear that! Jayde is such a fun child, she loves going to school and being with all of her friends...all the kids know her and she's is always giving everyone hugs (in fact she even has kids asking her for one!) She turned the big 6 last month, hard to believe 6 years have already gone by. She loves everything princess (she was even sleeping beauty for halloween) and girly and loves the color purple. She is also pretty excited at the moment because she has her very first loose tooth!


Ryann is doing good. She is also getting over a cold, she has an upper respitory infection and is now on antibiotics. I think we are starting to get a handle on her diabetes, though lately we've been fighting the highs with her and are working on adjusting her insulin doses to get her blood sugars back down where they are supposed to be. She is enjoying preschool and I love the fact that it is a co-op and I get to come and help out in her class atleast once a month usually more! And than of course you are always welcome to stay and hang out on days that aren't your helping days as well. She also has her first boyfriend in her class! LOL! Ryann's best buddy at school is a little boy named Dylan and if she doesn't get to sit next to him during circle, reading or snack time she gets a little bit upset! Ryann is also into everything princess and girly (she was malicefent, not sure if I got that spelled right, for halloween!) And she loves the color pink!

Jaxon is growing like a weed! He'll be turning the big 2 at the end of the month! He is such a big guy, in fact he's only around 5lbs less than Ryann! He's also been sick, he had croup and was on antibiotics for that and still ended up getting an ear infection (he also has tubes!) So now he's on some different medicine and is starting to feel more like his old self. He is such a little smartie pants! He is a big talker and is also starting to make 2-3 word sentences. And he is a huge Blue's Clues junkie (in fact he was Blue for Halloween)! He's a busy, fun loving little guy who loves to snuggle and loves soft cuddly teddy bears and all of those other things that little boys like to do!

Calvin is getting sooo big, can't believe he is already 5 months old! Poor little guy has caught the same crud that his sister had. So he is also on antibiotics and will hopefully start getting back to his happy self! He weighed in at a whopping 14lbs 10 oz at his appointment yesterday. So when he is feeling well he is usually a pretty happy and easygoing baby, he's always got a big smile for you and he squeals and gets so excited whenever he see's his brothers and sisters. Especially Jaxon, those two already have such a special bond! He is now rolling everywhere! I put him down on the floor to do some floor time and the next thing I know he is all the way over to the other side of the room! I think he is also trying to get some teeth, he's been drooling like crazy for the past few weeks...we jokingly tell Doogie that C.J. is going to take his title as the king of drool!

We are all very happy to have Doug back with us for good! He got back in town right before Halloween, which made the kids very happy...I know how much they wanted Daddy there for that! He is enjoying his new job and it's reaaly nice that he doesn't have to drive a half hour or so to get to work anymore!

So anyways, that's what's been happening with us lately! I really need to get some new pictures up on the blog, and I will try to do that soon! So it has definitely been a crazy and eventful year with moving, having C.J., getting Ryann's diagnoses of Type 1 Diabetes and then Doug finally getting a job here! I wonder what next year will bring?!

Go away sickies!!!

What a week this has been! Doug won't be back until Saturday (tomorrow), think they got a bit of a late start on Tuesday and didn't get as far as they would of liked. So he should be hopefully rolling in around late morning /early afternoon. It will be sooo nice to have him back home with us. It's been a tough 6 months or so without him here. Though it has helped a lot to be back home with all of our family.

Well lets see, we are still battling off this nasty bug...but I'm hoping that the end is in sight. Jayde right now seems to be on the mend. Ryann, Jaxon and C.J. have still been having a bit of diarhea. And poor Doogie caught this bug too. I had sent him over to my in-laws hoping that if I kept him away from everyone he might miss getting this. No such luck! He started throwing up later that night, and has been having some diarhea as well. We went ahead and kept him over there though. I figured that that way he would get some one on one and hopefully get over it quicker. And I think he has been feeling a bit neglected since we found out about Ryann's diabetes and hasn't been getting as much attention as I would like to be giving him (and all of them!) So I knew he would get that over there, and I could work on getting all the rest of them healthy as well! My mom ended up getting a little of this bug too, though she just got a bit of an upset stomach and by the next day felt alot better. So far I have lucked out in not catching this, but I am exhausted! I haven't been getting much sleep with being up with the baby and having to check Ryann's blood sugar in the middle of the night to make sure it is up where it is supposed to be. So keep your fingers crossed that I don't catch this and that everyone is really on the mend this time!

So nothing super exciting going on. Ryann's blood sugar levels have been looking pretty good this week, she's had a few lows but nothing like she had that one night! The big challenge is finding the right kind of foods and getting her to eat enough to get what she needs. Right now it's been kind of just giving her whatever she will eat and it hasn't always been super healthy. So we need to get on a routine again and work on that. I know that in her case a carb is a carb, but I want her to atleast be eating some more healthier carbs! She is getting alot better at letting me check her blood and getting her insulin shots. I let her clean her fingers with an alcohol wipe and pick which one she wants me to do and than she also likes to help load the test strip and get her blood sample (with some help). Her insulin shots are still a bit more tricky, though she does do alot better staying still for me now. I find she does better if I put one of the cats next to her to hold. I think she is starting to realize that this isn't going to be stopping any time soon! She now goes around and pretends that she is poking her fingers and all of ours, her toys, the pets, etc... with this little toy (I think it used to be the top part of a spinning top). It has a button you push and a little plastic knob pops out. I don't think it will be much longer before she is testing her own blood sugar (with some supervision!)

So anyways, we are hanging in here, and just trying to get everyone healthy and get back on a routine again. We have to make some adjustments since Ryann needs to not only get her three meals a day in but also 3 snacks to keep her levels where they are supposed to be at. But I wanted to thank everyone for all their thoughts and prayers they have really meant alot to us. And I promise one of these days I will upload some more pictures!! :)

Lots has been happening....

Wow! Where to begin... Hmmmm... let's start with the good stuff first! So first of all Doug is on his way home!! He should hopefully be here by Friday and then start work on Monday. We are all very excited and happy to have him back, the kids keep asking me if Daddy is going to stay for good this time. Now if we can get that house sold we will be doing really good, but atleast we have family to stay with until that time and than we can find ourselves a place of our own.

Other news....Well on Thursday (the 18th) I took Ryann in to the doctor. I thought that she might be having a bladder infection since she had been drinking fluids like crazy and just soaking herself constantly...I knew something was going on. When I took her in I got the news that no, she didn't have an infection, what she has is Type 1 Diabetes. Her blood sugar was so high that it didn't even read on their meter (so we are thinking over 500) and the ketones in her urine were very large. So they told me that I needed to be in Spokane with her at the children's hospital by 4 1/2 hours. Which meant I had to do a lot scrambling! Not to mention I was still in shock about the whole thing. I am so glad that we moved back home otherwise I don't know what we would of done. I was lucky enough that my mother-in-law and father-in-law were able to drive up there with me (we went up on Thursday and they let us go home Saturday afternoon). I also had C.J. with me since I couldn't leave him behind! Once we got there we got a whole bunch of information thrown at us. I think the first day I hardly took any of it in. But after they tell you the same thing numerous times the information starts to seep in.

It was nice to get back home on Saturday...originally they said we should stay until Sunday, but since Ryann was doing better and I seemed to be soaking up the information okay, they let us leave early. On Sunday morning however (our first full day home) Ryann started throwing up! I don't know if she picked up a bug at the hospital (since our roomie had the same symptoms) or if she got it somewhere else. But it wasn't fun! I was on the phone most of the day with both the doctor's up in Spokane (who I can call 24 hrs a day) and our family doctor here (who is also type 1 Diabetes). And they have been walking me through things over the phone. By Sunday afternoon I thought that she was doing better since she had stopped throwing up, but then on Monday night she started having diarhea. Her blood sugar started dropping, I couldn't get her to take anything for me (drink or food wise) to get it back up. I got some karo syrup and started rubbing it into her gums and tongue (which she didn't really enjoy!) But even that wasn't getting it to go back up again and she was really out of it and it was getting hard to wake her up and get any type of response out of her (very, very scary!) So I was back on the phone with the doctors and since I wasn't able to get her to take anything orally and I was afraid if I tried she would choke. We had to do the Glucagen shot (which puts a bunch of glucose into her system and is supposed to raise up her blood sugar level by 50-75). That was not fun to do, the needle was so much bigger and thicker than her tiny insulin shots. But it did work in about 10-15 minutes she started waking up and I was then able to force feed her with a syringe some orange juice to get her level up a bit higher. And then I was up every couple of hours or so checking her levels.

Wednesday morning she seemed to be feeling alot better, but I wanted to take her to see the doctor just to have her looked at and ask questions and what not. While we were gone at the doctor's Jaxon started throwing up. He threw up most of the morning (just like Ryann did) and than by the afternoon he acted like he was feeling better too. Then that afternoon, Ryann started up again with the diarhea. So we had to really watch her blood sugar levels and keep fluids down her.

This morning everyone woke up acting like they felt okay. Jaxon so far (knock on wood) seems to be over this. Ryann a little off on her game still and still has been having a bit of an upset tummy. But now Jayde is throwing up and having diarhea and feeling pretty crummy. And the little guy (C.J.) has been throwing up too! Poor little guy is having a very rough time. We took him into the doctor's to have him looked at just because he is only 3 months old and we don't want him to get dehydrated. The doc said that even though you can tell he really doesn't feel good, he didn't look like he was dehydrated. So we have been trying to give him a little fluid a bit at a time and keep it down. The doctor said if he does get worse though to give him a call (luckily he is on call tonight) and then we would have to take him into the ER to get some fluids. Hopefully it won't come to that though. I really don't want to have to go back to the hospital again!

So...right now the only ones who haven't gotten sick yet is Doogie and us adults (knock on wood that we don't get sick too!) My mother-in-law picked up Doogie from school today for me (which was a huge help) and than she just took him back to her house. I figure the longer he is away from us sickies over here the better chance he has of not catching this. So he is going to spend the night over there and she'll take him to school and than pick him up tomorrow and we'll go from there and see how everyone is feeling.

So anyways, we have been hit with a bunch of things all at once and if you could keep us all in your thoughts and prayers we would really appreciate it! And I will try to add some pictures later!! :)

Pictures as promised!!

Whew! Okay here are a bunch of pictures for your viewing pleasure! :)

There are pictures from Hawaii...that's Doug jumping off a huge rock in case you were wondering! Also some pictures of Jaxon's first haircut. Doesn't he look so sweet sitting there! What a big boy he is becoming! Then some pictures of our stage debut at the Fair...what a blast the kids had! Then we have our first day of school pictures, the kids looked so cute in their new clothes! Then just a few random pictures of the kids that I really liked and a cute one of C.J. showing off that smile of his!

Otherwise nothing too new to report...though it looks like we have come to an agreement in the job negotiating! So it looks like Doug will be home soon!! YEAH!!! So I'll leave you with that bit of news and a ton of pictures to look at! :)

What a month it has been....

I have been a very bad blogger...it's been over a month since I've updated! Between Hawaii, first haircuts, the fair and school starting up again...it has just been crazy! So let me see if I can get everyone caught up on what has been happening over here.

Okay, Hawaii...it was great! It is sooo beautiful over there and we enjoyed our little vacation. Calvin and I spent most of the days just walking around and doing some shopping and then when Doug would get back from his class we would head over to the beach or do some walking. On the last full day we were there we went snorkeling! It was sooo cool, the fish would pretty much come right up to you...absolutely amazing all the beautiful and bright colors! And everyone is just so nice and friendly over there!

Jaxon got his very first haircut! His hair was getting pretty long and would keep getting in his eyes...and I had been meaning to do it for a while, but time just kept getting away from me. He was soo cute sitting there on the chair getting his haircut. He sat really still for her and kept giving me these little shy looks...too cute! I of course got pictures of the whole thing and we also video taped him, it's amazing how much older he looks now.

Afterwards we headed to the Fair. The kids had soo much fun, we went over to the kids section and they had a stage set up where the kids in the audience got to participate too, so my kids not being very shy got right up there and put costumes on. And of course Doogie and Jayde just had to be the "germ cops" and pretty soon one of the "hosts" came towards me with a microphone and I got to be part of the show too, as the "germinator". My stage debut came at the end where I burst through the curtain in my germinator costume and my two little germ cops chased me around the bleachers with bubble guns and "killed" me! LOL! I'm sure it was quite the site and I have to say for that reason I'm glad we didn't have the video camera with us! Though my mom did get some pictures! But Ryann I think was really the one who stole the show as the "chicken princess". Boy did she look cute in her chicken costume and crown. Supposedly she lay a whole bunch of eggs in a certain amount of time and broke a record...and when asked how she felt about that, her reply way " I say OW!" I don't think there was anyone in the audience or on the stage who wasn't busting a gut!

School is back in session, and I feel like I'm never sitting still with either taking someone to school or picking up another! Doogie is now a first grader and goes all day, Jayde is now in Kindergarten and she goes in the afternoon and Ryann is in pre-school and goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. So I feel like a ping pong ball at times! But they are all really enjoying school and I do like the little breathers I get (in between taking or picking someone up) with only having to deal with a few children instead of 5! :)

I took Doogie and Calvin in yesterday for their check-ups (Doogie's 7 and Calvin's 2 month). They are both growing great and on track for everything. Doogie weighed in at 69lbs and was 51 inches tall (he's my big guy!) And Calvin weighed in at a whopping 13lbs and 24 inches! So he has grown quite a bit in just two months! He is such a good natured baby that even getting 4 shots didn't get him down for long... in fact I thought Doogie was going to start crying just from watching C.J. get his shots, he felt so bad for him!

Hmmm...lets see what else is happening??? Well Doug got a job offer...now we are just doing some negotiating and seeing if we can come up with an offer that both sides agree on. So keep your fingers crossed for us....we really want Doug back home for good!!!

So anyways, that's all I can think of at the moment. The computer that I have all my pictures on is currently unavailable (Jaxon is sleeping in that room) so I will try to upload some pictures later so that everyone can see how the kids are growing! :)

Hawaii!!!!

Yep, that's right I am headed to Hawaii! Doug is taking some classes over there and I told him that I would be really upset with him if he went to Hawaii without me...so he bought me a ticket too! So I will take Calvin with me and leave the other kids with the grandparents. Hopefully they won't freak out about me leaving, since they are still sad about Daddy leaving at the end of July. But I will only be gone for a week, so that should help! And I'm sure the Grandparents will help distract them! So I'm pretty excited about getting to go to Hawaii and being able to see Doug, and it will be nice for him to see the baby again. I'm a little nervous about flying by myself with the baby, but I know we'll be fine. I only have to switch planes once and I have a two hour or so layover, so that will give me plenty of time to get to where I need to go! So now I just need to figure out what to pack!

So let's see, what else has been happening... I took Jayde back in for a recheck on her ear. She weighed in at 56lbs. Doc said the ear was looking good, the tubes are still in place and look great! He said that usually when they are around 5 you start thinking about taking the tubes out, since their body is getting bigger. But he said it would probabaly be a good idea to keep the tubes in through this coming cold/flu season and then seeing about taking them out after that and see how she does.

What else... The kids are all growing like weeds! I can't believe that my baby is going to be 7 tomorrow!! Where does the time go. We already did his birthday party while Doug was still in town, but I'm sure we'll still do something special for him tomorrow. All of the pool pictures are from Doogie's party along with the ones of him with his dinosaur cake! He loved it, the dinosaur was motioned sensored so if you walked in front of it it would jump out of the volcano roaring with it's eye's flashing! In the pictures you'll also see Jayde without any floaties on! She is working hard and learning how to swim and is starting to do really well without them on, though you do need to stay right by her.

Calvin took his very first "real" bath a couple days ago and loved it! I wish I had gotten pictures of him, but kind of hard to take pictures and bathe him at the same time! LOL! He was fussing a bit before I put him in because I had stripped him down, but as soon as I put him in the water he stopped crying and just took it all in! Jaxon and Ryann were watching me and they of course wanted to get in too! So after Calvin was done I let Jaxon get in. It was hillarious, he filled up the whole sink. But he loved it and was having a blast splashing water all over the kitchen! I of course got the camera out for that as you can see by some of the pictures! Had to pass on Ryann with getting in the sink though, we figured if Jaxon barely fit than she definitely wouldn't!

So anyways, that's pretty much all that has been happening with us. I uploaded a bunch of pictures for you all to enjoy! :) And I will post again after I get back from Hawaii to let you all know how it went. Hopefully the plane ride will go smoothly and we won't have any problems or delays! And now I better get going because my little guy wants to eat!

Oh and a BIG early HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my first born!! Can't belive it's been 7 years already!!

Sad little people...

Well Doug headed back to NJ last night and got there bright and early this morning. So I've got a bunch of sad little ones on my hands. I think this time was a lot harder than the last time Doug left. But hopefully we'll be hearing something really soon about a job (keep your fingers crossed for us!) We are hoping that Doug will be back here for good by September/October. So basically we are just waiting around for jobs to get posted so that he can apply for them. He met with a couple people while he was here and it sounded really promising. I know that we all are going to miss him alot while he's gone. Poor Ryann was pretty sad last night at bed time after he had gone and this morning I think she expected Doug to walk through the door. But luckily with kids it goes in spurts since they do get distracted doing other things for a while.

Otherwise, we are all doing well. We celebrated Doogie's birthday this past weekend since Doug wouldn't be here for his actual birthday next week. The kids had bunch of fun swimming at Papa's pool and playing with Doug. Then yesterday before Doug left we took the kids to Chuckee Cheese for the afternoon. They had a blast! So anyways, just keep us in your thoughts and prayers that Doug will be getting a job here soon and we'll have him back with us.

Here are some pictures I took of the kids this past weekend...sometimes it is still hard to believe that I have 5 kids! LOL! It helps that CJ is a very good baby and hardly ever cries. The kids all adore him, and I love watching them all interact with eachother!