My Little Insanities

Christmas was weird.

2012-01-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

It was really quiet with just 11 of us here. My parents van has developed major problems. They can not afford to fix it now, and we can not afford to help them, so they stayed at their house in NY for Christmas. We did see everyone except for 1 brother at my parent's 50th anniversary party in September, but it would have been nice to see them again. Maybe next year? Spring or summer is a much better time to travel between NY and VA. The roads can be interesting on I 81 in PA during the winter.

We ate too much, spent too much money and enjoyed spending time with the kids on our days off. #5's assessment by the psychologist was surprising. She does not think he has aspergers. She thinks he has severe anxiety, brought on by years of teasing/bullying at school. She suggests we home school him or have him study for the GED and go to college next fall. He is almost 14. I think he is too young. The school wants to do a complete child study, or so they told me at the meeting in late December, yet they had cancelled it when I talked to the truancy officer on Wednesday. I am trying to plan our next action. I think the school wants me to pull him out and home school or have him go to another school. Then they don't have to deal with him or us.

Thanksgiving, how I love thee.

2011-11-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

My stove died tuesday, the repair part that came wednesday was only part of the solution. I still need the temperature sensor from the oven replaced, as just the control panel/clock did not solve the problem, I still get the same error code from the stove, but the clock is not making crackling noises now.

So wednesday evening, I am trying to figure out how we will get everything cooked by thanksgiving afternoon. I could have taken everything to a friends house to cook, then carted it back to our house to eat. However, I remembered that Shelli, AKA Pyxiwulf on live journal, told me on facebook tuesday night, that she had an older electric stove in her basement I could have. They had not carted it away yet after replacing all the kitchen appliances. No problem, a call to her and 90 minutes later, we were at her house to pick it up. The stove works well, I'm still getting used to the flat top, as my old electric stove has the coil shaped exposed burners. After 7 hours of cooking Thanksgiving day, we were ready to sit down for dinner with a few friends and our 9 still at home. I did not make enough pies, though I made 10, as they were all gone by Friday afternoon, BOO! Of course, lunch Thanksgiving day was pies, rolls, whatever was already done or forage for leftovers. LOL

2011-11-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy month. #4 we diagnosed with depression and spent some time in the hospital. Also, the repairs, renovations and painting on the house are taking too much time and money. The dishwasher died again and we need to find the receipt so the extended Costco warrantee will cover it. ARGH! At least my house and life are never boring. :)

Our high school

2011-09-13T18:07:00.001-07:00

I was surprises when I talked to the guidance counselor this am. She will start a child study and would like me to track down his previous diagnosis, if possible. Otherwise, we may have to take him to the child development center and pay out of pocket, if neither insurance will cover it. But she took me seriously. YAY!

Boys

2011-09-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

#5 (13) is driving me crazy.
He does not want to go to school. Eigth grade is in the high school, which is very loud, big and confusing. He was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome a few years ago and does not get along well with other people. He does not pick up facial expressions or body language, which does not help. It says something about last school year that the only day he enjoyed at school was the day he had in school suspension for hitting a kid who had been bothering him all year. He thought it was great to be in a room with only a few other kids and 1 teacher, where he could work on classwork/homework and no one bothered him.

I think a meeting with the school is in order. The middle school last year said that unless the aspergers was affecting his grades, they would not do anything to accomodate him. I have a feeling they will not accept a counselors diagnosis and will insist we take him to be diagnosesd at our own expense. I do not know if our insurance will pay for it. Hubby's company insurance did pay for #2's assessment for autism at Childrens National medical center in DC when she was 4, but we had different insurance then and a DR who knew what to say to the insurance company to get results.

This was an exciting week!

2011-08-28T13:26:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, we had a small earthquake. The people who worked in this building on 9-11 when the plane hit we distraught, as the building shook the same way then as it did during the quake. They all self evacuated to the parking lots like we train for. About half of us stayed in the building. Once security determined the building looked safe, we were given the option to go back to the building or leave. Some people left for the day. Hubby said it was gridlock most of the way home. I stayed until my normal time to go home. Why be on the roads unless I have to be?

Hubby was so exhausted I made him call the cardiologist last wednesday (the 24th). We got to her office on the 25th to find out she had sent him a letter asking him to schedule an appointment. According to the 24 hour heart monitor he was on the medicines were not working. He spent the last 3 days in the hospital, as the new medicine she has him on needs to be monitored closely. Too much of the medicine could cause his heart to stop. He is feeling much better today and has some energy. Maybe he will be able to do something when he gets home at night?

The hurrican missed us, we got around an inch of rain and some wind, but nothing like they had near DC. One of my co-workers parked his car a few blocks from his condo, as the parking lot there floods whenever there is a heavy rain. He was soaked when he got home. He was glad he parked where he did, as there was 14 inches of water in the condo parking lot this am.

School starts tomorrow. What exciting things will happen then?

Little boys.

2011-08-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Silly #9! He wants to go to school, now that he sees all the other kids getting their stuff ready. I was going to keep him home another year, as he will not be 5 for another 2 weeks. Usually boys do better as one of the oldest, rather than one of the youngest, children in class. I guess I could talk to the school and see if they have room in the pre K class? Or maybe we should check on local pre-k type programs?

School starts soon.

2011-08-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost over and we got nothing done I wanted to finish... Most of the lumber (not all) is on racks I built under the porch crawl space, some clothes are sorted, kids rooms are almost clean. Someday I would like to finish just one thing, just to know it can be done. :)

The summer of the missing or destroyed shoes.

2011-07-25T18:01:00.001-07:00

Poor #10! So far this summer , in the lst 6 weeks, I have bought her 5 pairs of shoes. Daddy did not see her first pair of shoes she threw in the tall grass and ran over them with the lawn mower. Her sandals and flip flops the dog chewed up, her second pair of sneakers disappeard for over a week, so I bought her cheap sandals. When I asked her where her sneakers were, she stated the dog ate them. Thankfully, that was not the case. One shoe was in the grass by the sandbox. The other one was in the crawlspace under the kitchen. Both were filthy, but not chewed on. Yay, she still has 1 pair of shoes to wear and sandals!

Summer fun

2011-07-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

The heat is not fun, but going out yesterday after the thunder and lightening was over, but it was still sprinkling, was fun. #10 and I went to the garden and I showed her how to pick the peas and eat them raw. We discovered she does not like sweet peas, but thought shelling them was fun. So mommy ate raw peas. What is the point of cooking them, when the kids don't eat them and I like them raw?

Then on to the playground, as it was 82 degrees after the storm, down from 102 before it. The big kids stayed home, wasting time on the pc's or watching tv. I was so surprised to see my friend Kristin there, as they moved to Tennessee several years ago. She said they were visiting in between dropping a child off at camp in PA and going back to get him. It was nice to catch up, as we don't chat as often as we should online. And my godson, her 3rd child, has really grown since I saw him 5 years ago. He must be almost 5 ft tall now and he is 11.

See, going to the playground is a good idea. :)

Husbands!

2011-06-25T13:42:00.001-07:00

Why is it that the husband who reminds the kids to pick up the lawn before they mow does not do so himself? He ran over Rosalie's new nikes that she took off while she was playing on the swings and threw in the tall grass... Oh well, at least they were on sale from shoe show, so only $20 down the drain. :P

It's been 6 weeks since I posted?

2011-06-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Wow! Same old stuff, different day. At least the kids get out of school on the 15th. Then I can sleep late every moring, or at least later than 5:30 or 6 am. Maybe I will be really decadent and sleep until 8 am some non work morning.

I'm hoping on de-cluttering the house this summer. We have way too much stuff for our 3 bedroom house. I think I will give away or throw away anything too small for the youngest 2 children and possibly eliminate some toys. Or at least get them all in their proper bins so the kids can find the parts when they want to play with something. It's kind of hard to play with mr potato head when you can only find one body, 3 arms and 2 ears.

2 is such a fun age.

2011-04-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

Is it bad that this song is Rosalie's favorite? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC_hF31z130 She sings the "I'm a gummy bear" part and dances. It is amusing to watch her.

#10 is 2?

2011-04-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

How did that happen? It's really weird to not have another baby by now, but maybe she will be the last? Ms Rosalie is now 26 pounds, from a birhtweight of 6 pounds, 10 ounces at 6 weeks early. She is a very happy active little girl and thinks she is a big kid. Maybe she will potty train this summer? That would be weird, not changing diapers after 21+ years. :)

2011-03-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

Has it really been almost 2 months since I posted? Wow! Live is crazy, as usual. Huuby is having fun driving in for his new job. Previously he took a vanpool. At least his niece lives fairly close to work. If he is too tired to drive home, he can crash on her couch for the night. He tries to get home on time Tuesdays and Thursdays, as I work those nights and we need to get the kids to bed on time. Most of them are night owls, like their mom and dad.

I am so happy spring is here. I hate the dark, depressing days of winter. We have daffodils blooming now, and everything is starting to grow. Which also means our allergies are starting to bother us. I guess I can't have the nice weather without the blooming stuff, so I'll be taking my allergy and asthma medicines and trying not to spend a lot of time outside.

DC snow problems

2011-01-27T17:01:00.000-08:00

Hubby left work at 4:30 last night. He got to Vienna VA at 9:30, 15 miles in 5 hours. At least he made it home by 12:45, the last 58 miles were in under 3 hours, yay?

Stress, what stress?

2011-01-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hubby went in for a physical 10 days ago. On that day his heart rate, pulse, everything were within normal limits. He got sick last weekend with one of the stomach bugs the kids like to bring home from school and share. Wednesday, he was still having problems eating anything, so he went to the doctor. His blood pressure was 180 over 90 (I think I have the bottom number correct, I know he said the top was 180.). The doctor has no idea why the top of his heart is beating twice as fast as it should, he could hear it with the stethescope during the exam. So Hubby is now on blood thinners, with a 2 day stress test scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, and a visit to the Cardiologist the week after. The doctor must have been worried, as he immediately arranged for the tests and cardiologist visit, making other patients wait. Of course, he also said that sometimes, if they stop the heart, when they restart it the beat goes back to normal? Does not sound like fun...

Happy 21st Birthday to my oldest daughter

2011-01-09T11:05:00.000-08:00

See my other blog for pictures.

http://mommeeof9.livejournal.com/64811.html

Noisy

2011-01-04T16:17:00.000-08:00

For some reason, there are workmen in the conference room across the hall, using saws and other noisy tools. At least it is in the evening. Usually it is so quiet in here I am falling asleep at night.

Barbie and friends

2010-12-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

As I was helping my girls clean their room this week, I found barbie's friend Ken, dressed in Barbie's pink bath robe. I did not see any ken clothes in their box of dolls. I guess they need some for Christmas?

Little brother's creations

2010-12-05T15:04:00.000-08:00

Too bad I have no money. http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/kinshar/?start=0

Thanksgiving Week

2010-11-29T17:27:00.000-08:00

It was a long week! Hubby got a call from his brother Saturday mid day that his mom had taken a turn for the worse and if he wanted to see her and say good bye, he better get up to NY fast. I went home from work early, the kids were being very slow, so when his brother called back again, Rich left with the 2 kids who said they had all their clothes packed and drove to NY in my car. He was able to spend a few hours with his mom before she died. I did not get out of the house for 3 hours after he left, as we had to pack clothes for the rest of the kids and since no one bothered to sort the laundry, it took a long time to find them warm clothes to pack. I got to NY at 1:30 am, without enough time to get to the nursing home and visit with MIL. She died around 2 am. So we are all in NY, exhausted, when his brother gets there on Monday after driving straight through from Florida. He lets us know the funeral will be on Friday at 2. Do we drive back to Virginia, and spend the next 2 days sorting clothes and getting out the winter stuff, or stay in NY for Thanksgiving and buy each one of us a nice looking outfit for the funeral and various items for the kids who forgot some items of clothing? I voted for staying in NY, as Rosalie is a terrible traveler and I did not want to spend any extra time in the car with her. We stayed with my parents for a few days, had a nice Thanksgiving dinner, then headed back to the Binghamton area Thursday evening, as the weather forecast was for freezing rain Friday morning in Herkimer. The boys were terrible during the viewing and funeral. I think they were bored, we had been inside or in the cars for several days, the weather was terrible, either rainy or very windy and cold. I was so glad to get home, early Saturday morning, so I could go to work. :)

Ouch!

2010-11-10T18:35:00.000-08:00

They changed the combination to the pump room and the new one is not working for me... I think I'll survive until I get home, but I will be waking up Rosalie to nurse when I walk through the door.

Who gave her permission to grow up?

2010-10-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

My oldest wants to move out to stay with my brother and his wife in the Seattle area and take care of her very premature, still immune compromised cousin, so my brother and his wife can both go back to work full time. She is almost 21, she can make her own choices. I'm going to miss her, as she is the only one of my big kids who has a drivers license. It's going to be a pain to drive #2 to class every day next semester.

New fridge

2010-10-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

We have a master protection plan with Sears on our washer, dryer and refrigerator. The cabinet of the fridge has started to deform along the bottom and the fridge door does not stay shut. Sears decided to pay for the new fridge, up to $1620, as the old one could not be repaired. I threw in an extra $200 to get the one I wanted. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_04680063000P?prdNo=3&blockNo=3&blockType=L3 It will be here Friday. Until then, the fridge is not getting cold, so we have bags of ice in it to keep stuff cold. The freezer is fine, almost too cold on the middle setting...

Miscarriage

2010-09-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

The one I had last weekend (9 days ago) really wore me out. I'm hesitant to even tell my parents, as dad has a seriously negative attitude about the number of children I have. Which ones does he want me to get rid of?

On the other hand, maybe I should finally get my hernia repaired, as there will not be a nunber 11? It's been bothering me more than usual recently...

The same old stuff, different day

2010-09-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

Why do I think any day I am not at work I will get stuff done around the house? I should know better after almost 5 years of working outside the home. I will get some laundry clean, some dishes done and make a real meal, home made everything, no boxes, but that will be all I get done. For once, I would like to get all the laundry clean and folded in the same week. My little fantasy never gets fulfilled. At least I got to cuddle and nurse my Rosalie today. She is growing up too fast. Sam is 4 now. With the older kids in school, I need to watch them both. They are very good at making messes. :)

School starts Tuesday

2010-09-04T14:16:00.001-07:00

I think the kids are ready to go back. They have been bored the last few weeks. The summer schedule is so rigorous around here. Sleep until you wake up, eat, use the rest room, play pc games or watch tv all day, then go to bed. It's such a hard life...
It will be really weird with only 2 at home during the school day.

I passed the annoying test!

2010-07-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

Comptia Security +, I fear you no more. Yay, no more studying for me for a while. Last night I scrubbed the kitchen floor. It was really gross. With both of us studying for tests and the big kids trying to keep the little ones alive, not a lot of house work got done in the past 3 weeks. I'll bet when I get home from work it will need to be washed again...

Comptia Security +

2010-07-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

My head is spinning like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. Diffeee Hillman, Encapsulated Secure Payload, AES, RJ 45, Argh! I hope I pass the test on Friday so I can #1 forget all this stuff or #2 start studying for the Network + exam. I vote for #2. LOL

Nephew.

2010-06-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

He is over 2 pounds now, and only on some oxygen, feeding by mouth, and no more Iv's. Yeah!

2 down, 8 to go.

2010-06-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

My second child graduated yesterday. It was very hot in the bleachers at 9 am and even hotter at 11:30 when they were done. I did not know she was 51 in her class of 249. So much for the doctors at Childrens hospital in DC who did her assessment for autism when she was 4. They thought she was of average intelligence...

Nephew

2010-05-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

He is starting to gain weight, but still fragile. He will probably be in the hospital for a few months, as he was 16 weeks early.

Heaven has a new Angel

2010-05-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

My niece, Leslie Cordelia, was born last week, 16 weeks early. She died early this morining. Please pray for her twin Timothy Michael and his parents Robert and Tricia.

Reposting from Soldiergrrl on LJ

2010-05-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

http://soldiergrrrl.livejournal.com/853437.html The home owners association can foreclose on a home that is fully paid for because the $800 fees were not paid? That just does not compute!

I hate this time of year

2010-05-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

I am breaking out in hives and wheezing, due to my allergies to the blooming stuff. Maybe living in Alaska wouldn't be such a bad thing? :(

They must be troublemakers, like their father?

2010-05-02T04:58:00.000-07:00

After 21 years of marriage, my brother and his wife are expecting their first children, twins, due in early September. Bob posted on his live journal blog last evening that Tricia was in the hospital, with some complications. Thankfully, the babies are fine now, though SIL is on bed rest in the hospital. I'm praying she will be very bored for several more weeks, until the babies reach at least 34 weeks.

It's been a long spring already

2010-04-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

2 of my big boys were recently diagnosed with aspergers syndrome. It was a very surprising diagnosis, as I did not realise they were "different". I just thought they were introverts, shy like me. The counselors think they have aspergers as they do not interact with classmates/peers and really only talk to teachers and family members. They are both very intelligent, and get good/great grades, aslo a sign of aspergers. The counselors will be working with them to teach them how to carry on a conversation and how to read facial expressions and body language. My doctor said people with aspergers are usually more intelligent than average and that some very famous people, like Bill Gates, are though to have it. It hasn't stopped him from his dreams.

Pictures Rosalie

2010-04-17T17:23:00.001-07:00

1 year old 2 days old

Ms Rosalie is 1

2010-04-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

How did that happen? The year flew by. At her check up on tuesday, she was 18 pounds, 5 ounces and 29 inches long. My oldest daughter was 20 pounds, 5.3 ounces and 29 1/4 inches long at 6 months. One of them had to take after my 5 ft 1 and shrinking MIL. :)

I'll try to remember to post photos later, no promises that it will be before monday.

Security +

2010-04-01T18:38:00.001-07:00

My brain is spinning. I have to finish the studying and pass the CompTIA test by June, or lose my job. How many abbreviations can they throw into one book? MAC, DAC, smtp, pop3, https, udp, my brain hurts. And I took the boot camp course at learning tree for a week before I started studying. I like troubleshooting and fixing pc's, but the certification I could do without.

I can't wait for spring!

2010-03-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

In the last 2 weeks, I've had 6 kids with strep throat, 1 with a double ear infection and 3 of the 6 also had a stomach type bug. Only after the stomach thing went through the 3 of them did one of my high school kids mention that there was one going through their school.

Now, the pollen is getting bad and my allergies are already bothering me. Time to replace the prefilters on my hepa filters?

Somebody knock some sense into me!

2009-12-28T18:13:00.000-08:00

My parents did not come down for Christmas. Therefore, we are making a very quick trip to NY to see them. Even if I don't really want to drive that far, little brother already changed his plane tickets to fly back to Madison from Rochester, instead of National airport. My oldest 2 have volunteered to stay home and watch/take care of the cat and dog and be here when the repairman comes to fix the dishwasher, again. It is making a weird whining noise, probably something stuck in the food disposal. :)

Finally 11-27-09

2009-11-29T14:18:00.001-08:00

New family photos.

Miss Rosalie

2009-11-12T16:26:00.001-08:00

At 6 month adjusted, 7 1/2 months actual, she is now 13 pounds 5 ounces and 26 1/2 inches long. So she has gained 7 pounds 13 ounces and 7 1/4 inches over her lowest weight/height in the NICU. Size wise, she looks like a 2 month old, but does all the age appropriate stuff for a 6 month old. My #3, oldest son, was 11 pounds 8.8 ounces when he was born and around 13 pounds by the time he was 4 weeks old. :)

Pictures

2009-10-26T09:03:00.001-07:00

Sam 3 and Rosalie 6 Months.

Sickness, ARGH!

2009-10-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

Three more sick today with cold type symptoms. I wonder if they have flu, also?

Flu, part 2

2009-10-17T15:24:00.001-07:00

Now my oldest has it. Only 8 more kids to get sick, plus hubby and I.

Swine Flu.

2009-10-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

Swine flu
#5, aka Richie, has Type A flu. The most prevalent form now is Swine flu. It’s going to be a long week. :(

The cdc's website says he was contagious from 1 day before he got sick up to 7 days afterwards. He had a sinus infection and bronchitis when he went to the dr tuesday, but may have had the flu then. He just got the fever yesterday afternoon. The nurse today suggested we check him for flu, which came out positive before the DR came in to see him.

6 Months old?

2009-10-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

How can that be possible? Rosalie is around 13 pounds now and 25+ inches tall. She is tiny compared to the oldest 9, but still on the growth charts in the same percentiles. I'll have Anne take pictures this week and post them.

School

2009-09-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

I dread the school year starting, as I really enjoy sleeping late in the summer. :) However, I found out trying to home school my oldest daughter (twice), that we are not organized enough to home school and still get the bare minimum of housework done.

After 2 weeks of school, it is still hard to get the kids up every morning. It's a mad rush to get everyone out the door and off to school on time. This week we add 1 more child who has to get to school. My 4 yr old is starting preschool at the high school Tuesday morning. She is really excited, especially since my 8th grader has permission to bring her lunch and eat it in the preschool classroom with Laura. What will I ever do with only 2 at home for part of the day? Sam (almost 3) gets into so much without supervision. I guess I'll be following him around the house, with Rosalie in the sling?

Poor Rosalie

2009-08-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

She has her first ear infection. By the second day of antibiotics, she had a rash starting on her head and body. Since 2 of my boys react badly to amoxicillin, the dr said to take her off the medicine and treat her for the pain with tylenol. She will either fight it off her self or the ear drum will rupture. Either one will make her feel better.

On the up side, she is 12 pounds even now, as of Friday. So at 21 weeks, she has gained 5 pounds, 12 ounces over her birth weight. My oldest son weighed this much when he was 2 weeks old. :)

#10

2009-08-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

She is finally big enough that I feel like I am holding one of my babies. The others were so much bigger at birth. She started the real smiles recently.

It has been crazy recently. Between the trips back and forth to Pennsylvania to meet my BIL and drop off/pick up her siblings, #1 has gotten plenty of interstate driving practice.

School starts in 3 weeks? We have so much to do to get everyone organised before then. I would at least like to get the clothes all washed/dried/sorted once before school starts. After the next sock matching party, I'm going to throw out all the odd ones. An entire 1 bushel basket of unmatched socks is too many.

#10

2009-07-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

She is now 10 pounds 8 ounces and 23 inches long. She has gained 5 pounds over her lowest weight in the NICU in 14 weeks.

Poor Rosalie

2009-07-12T13:15:00.001-07:00

She was rudely awakened last night by Sam, (almost 3) who rolled toward me, squishing her between us. It was a bit squishy in our bed last night, with me, Rosie, Sam, and Ray (6) and Billy (9) who crawled in with us. For some reason Hubby decided to sleep in his recliner. :)

Rosalie, first 3 months photos

2009-07-02T17:50:00.001-07:00

Top From 2 July 13 weeks

top right 10days old

bottom left 2 months old

bottom right 6 weeks

She is growing and eating alot, but can still fit in newborn diapers.

My hubby surprised me last week.

2009-06-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

For the first time in 20 plus years, he cleaned out the microwave. He even washed off the turn table. Of course, he was the one whose spaghetti sauce splattered all over the oven. :)

Life is crazy

2009-06-21T21:42:00.001-07:00

It has been 3+ weeks since I posted? This is my last week of family medical leave before I go back to work. I still have not been able to teach Rosalie how to nurse efficiently, so have been pumping and bottle feeding her sometimes. She is gaining weight slowly, so different from my other kids, but having plenty of diapers to change and getting much taller. With the long fingers and toes she has, I think she will have my #2 body type. Mary is 17, 5 ft 9 inches and maybe 120 pounds soaking wet. Rosalie will have her first shots early next month, as I decided to delay them a bit due to her prematurity. I'll find out in 2 weeks how much she weighs. 10 days ago she was 8 pounds, 4 ounces, so 2 pounds 12 ounces over her lowest weight in the NICU 10 weeks ago.

#10

2009-06-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

It looks like she has an upper lip tie-like a tongue tie, but between the upper lip and gums. If the dr thinks it is bad enough to cause dental problems later, she should be able to refer us to an ENT or pediatric dentist to have it corrected. From the research I've done, that could be causing her bad latch and nursing problems. It would be so nice to only have to pump at work and not after most feedings. :)

Moving?

2009-06-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hubby wants to move back to NY state, where we met 25 years ago, and buy his parents house. I would love living nearer to our families, but I dread sorting through 16 years accumulation of stuff in our current house. Unfortunately, jobs are few and far between there and the taxes are terrible. But, if we could sell our house for anywhere near the assessed value, we could pay off both cars, our current mortgage, credit cards and still buy his moms house. Then we would only have the normal expenses and taxes, no debt. We both have relatives in this area he could stay with during the week and come home on weekends. It took him 7 hours round trip to get to work one day last week when he missed his commuter van. It takes less time to drive one way to his mom's house 325 miles away when we leave from Front Royal...

#10

2009-05-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

She is eating and growing well. If I could just get her to nurse, life would be so much easier. With all the allergies that hubby and I both have, I refuse to feed her formula. My pump is my friend, when it is working correctly. After 9 yrs, maybe it is wearing out? They only have a 1 yr warrantee.

Rosalie is coming home today!

2009-04-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Now I just need to teach her to nurse, as she still does not latch properly. There is plenty of breastmilk in my frozen stash for when I go back to work. I just wish I did not have to pump until then. ;) Anyway I can get her to eat until she figures out the nursing thing is fine with me, as she can now go home.

Hooray!

2009-04-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Rosalie actually nurse well today and drank her entire bottle of fortified breastmilk. I think she is finally getting the I need to eat idea. She needs to eat for 48 hours without using the feeding tube to get discharged from the hospital. She will be 37 weeks gestational age on Monday, which is considered full term.

Rosalie Photos

2009-04-10T19:47:00.001-07:00

Rosalie Arlene

2009-04-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

She was born yesterday, 5 weeks 3 days early. She was 6 pounds, 4 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long. She'll be in the NICU for a few weeks, at least, until she learns to suck/swallow and breath and her jaundice clears up.

The silly Van, part 2

2009-04-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

The fan was working fine this morning. The only thing I did was to take all the junk off the dashboard, as hubby likes to pile stuff there. Then is started acting up again. ARGH, make up your mind, you ornery piece of machinery.

Silly Chevy Van

2009-03-31T19:35:00.001-07:00

It must know the warrantee expires soon? I went to turn on the ac today and the fan only worked in the hi speed selection. I checked the heat and defrost also, same thing. Then I called the dealer. The Van has 33,848 miles on it and the warrantee expires in late May. Hubby will drop it off tomorrow afternoon when he gets home and they will fix it Thursday. Now, if I could find the 5 inch long L shaped piece of metal that locks the bench seat in on the passenger side. We took out the back 2 seats when we bought Anne's new bed and some one did not put it back into the floor. The dealer says they are $25 each. Argh!

Ah, to be young and single again

2009-03-24T19:31:00.001-07:00

One of my coworkers decided to buy a new 52 in flat screen lcd tv. So he gave us a 47 inch projection tv and a 27 in older tv, plus an entertainment center and a table. Sam walked into the living room after I had the big tv set up and figured out the DVD and vcr connections. He did a double take, picked up his little chair, placed it righ in front of the tv and said "Watch Dora". Daddy is tired of Dora and so is mommy, but it kept him busy for a while while we got the other tv set up. We just need 2 more dvd players, as the combo dvd/vcr the vcr does not work anymore and the dvd player in the girls room does not work. I think 4 tv's is enough, though it will be nice when we decide that we are getting dish network or get the antenna fixed. The same kids movies over and over again are getting old.

Good back!

2009-03-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

After 3 visits to the Chiropractor and icing my back frequently last weekend, I can finally move without pain. Yeah! Just in time for me to start nesting and decrap the house before Rosalie is born, due in 2 months. :)

Bad back!

2009-02-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

I really shouldn't have cleaned my van 2 weeks ago. My back has hurt since then. It was getting better, then started hurting a lot more yesterday. I have no idea what I did to mess it up more. The chiropractor is my friend? Time to call him monday morning.

I wish I knew to what I am allergic

2009-02-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

Every evening for the last few days I have broken out in hives at work. Maybe I'm allergic to corn, also, as well as peanuts? I bought a large UTZ party mix container last weekend, that I have been munching on every night. I think I'll take it home for the kids and go back to eating pretzels and wheat chex.

The thermometer must be wrong

2009-02-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

It says that is is 73 degrees in my office. I'm freezing and so are my co-workers. It was 77 this weekend in here and we were all hot. I know this is a big building, but you think with all the money and time they spent renovating it that the heating and cooling systems would be a little better...

Tuesday morning was exciting!

2009-02-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

I drove Hubby up to the commuter parking lot, as he did not realise his license had expired until he took Anne in for her road test on Saturday. He was not able to get the documents from the safe deposit box in time to get a new one. Of course, with the holiday Monday, he had to wait until today to go to the DMV at work to get a new one.

I dropped him off, then circled around the parking lot to exit. A car backed right into my front bumper as they were trying to leave a parking space. No major damage noted, but I brought the car down to the body shop to make sure nothing in damaged in the bumper, etc. I think Rosalie is fine- no worrisome symptoms yet. Maybe I should call my OB/gyn to see if they want me to come in?

The bodyshop said to replace the bumper cover and repaint it, it would be $700. There is no way I'm going to charge someone that to repair a 12 yr old car that already has dings in both bumpers from when mIL owned the car. If it had been my 2006 Camry or Van, I would have gotten it fixed.

My oldest has her driver's license

2009-02-16T16:24:00.001-08:00

It was nice to have her drive everyone who missed the bus to school today. I did not have to get the youngest 2 dressed, and get them all in the van. I could get used to this. :)

Hospital stay

2009-02-14T10:46:00.000-08:00

The antibiotics weren't working. I ended up at Winchester Medical center ER on Sat morning last week. I spent almost 4 days hooked up to iv's of antibiotics and extra fluids. I was bored. At least the baby was/is fine. Little stinker!

I hate it when I get sick

2009-02-04T19:39:00.001-08:00

I have a kidney infection. Not fun, though after 3 days the antibiotics seem to be finally working. At least I can rest at work. :)

The kids don't understand why mom is cranky when I am over tired anyway and sick. They are cranky when they are sick.

Tired

2009-01-29T18:22:00.000-08:00

Boy, now I know how hubby feels. We both drove to work separately Tuesday, as his carpool wanted to leave early and he needed to stay until his normal day was over. No problem, I parked at the parking garage in Pentagon city and paid for parking, he parked with the parking pass at work. When we finally got ready to go home, we decided to take my car home and just leave his in the parking lot. So we drive home, on roads that weren't too bad and decided to stay home on wednesday, as his van pool was not going in due to freezing rain. I had to drive him to the commuter parking lot to catch his vanpool this morning. They leave at 4:40 and do not wait for stragglers. We got up at 4 and left our house at 4:28. I never went back to sleep, as the school did not announce the 2 hour delay until 5:15. By then I had finished 3 cups of strong tea and was wide awake.

I need to edit the photo?

2009-01-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

I scanned it in last night, but should have changed it before I emailed it to myself at work? Oh well, I'll fix it later.

Rosalie is such a little stinker

2009-01-04T12:30:00.000-08:00

Not even born yet and already freaking mom out. I went to the dr for a routine OB check on Friday. They were not able to pick up her heartbeat in the lower abdomen. They finally picked up her heartbeat under my ribs. No wonder I have such bad heartburn right now. The upside it that the lower digestive problems have gone, for now.

Christmas

2008-12-30T14:59:00.000-08:00

We had a nice quiet Christmas at home. Just us, no visitors, no driving for 8 plus hours to see our families. After seeing all the storms that have hit the Northeast US in the last few weeks, I'm glad we chose to stay home.

Of course, the kids only got a few things each, as they already have enough toys around here to start a day care center. Now that I am mostly done with the clothes rewashing and sorting and storing, I think I'll start sorting the toys in the attic and all around the house. My 6 yr old would like to play with his Duplo battery powered train. The tracks are in various bins scattered around the house. Maybe I can find enough to make an oval track to start with?

Amnio results are in

2008-12-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

Everything they test for came back normal. #10 will even us out again, 5th girl! Of course, I gave away most of the baby stuff after Sam out grew it. Oh well, Mom owns a children's clothing consignment shop. I'll get "new" stuff.

This is funny!

2008-12-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

http://www.vimeo.com/1509073?pg=embed&sec=1509073

I hate laundry!

2008-12-11T19:04:00.000-08:00

The next child who goes into the attic better have a responsible teenager with them. The kids were looking for something, I don't know what. They spilled all the bins of off season clothes all over the floor. Just what I need, more laundry. At least I found the maternity clothes.

I've finished the rest of the clothes I brought down. There are still 6 18 gallon bins of stuff to bring down, wash and sort. I scrubbed out the bins and washed the tops that already came down stairs. I thought I could get the extra clothes washed by this weekend. Maybe by next weekend I'll get to them?

Headache day 2

2008-12-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

I wish the darn thing would go away. I've gone through Caffeine withdrawl before, but I don't remember it being this bad. Maybe I'm getting another sinus infection. I think I have motrin or tylenol in my purse.

Boy, I have a headache today

2008-12-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

I had an amniocentesis yesterday. The dr said I had to avoid caffeine, drink plenty of water,not lift anything heavier than 25 pounds, etc for 3 days. The lack of caffiene is giving me a headache? I didn't think I drank that much caffiene, only a few cups of strong tea every morning.

The dr thought #10 is a girl, but the amnio will show for sure. Rosalie Arlene? Rosalie was hubby's cousin who died recently. Arlene is hubby's mom.

Tv, part 2

2008-12-03T17:53:00.000-08:00

It looks like from the ground that the wire just came loose from the amplifier. I just can't tell if it unscrewed or if the plug pulled off the end of the coax cable. Tomorrow the kids have an early release from school, so I'll have my 14 yr old help me get out and set up the extension ladder. Then my 10 yr old monkey can climb up and see if he can reach the wire. If not, I'll have to remove the bolts that hold the brackets around the pole so we can lower it down. Time to find the pickax and loosen up the soil at the base of the mast. It is packed hard like cement. While it is down, I need to replace the motor so we can turn it. The hd stations come in fine, except it has to be pointed straight at them to get a picture at all. Not like the old analog stations...

Blasted TV

2008-11-29T14:27:00.000-08:00

All of a sudden we get no signal. I don't know what broke this time. It's either the signal booster or the coax wire where it attaches to the antenna. Just what I want to do in my spare time. Climb up an extension ladder and take out the bolts that attach the mast to the brackets, so we can lower it down and check all the connections.

On the upside, the rotator motor is broken, so I can replace while the antenna is down. Digital pictures come in fine off the air on my pc, so we are not getting cable...

Snow!

2008-11-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

We had flurries yesterday. The kids were so excited. Of course, there was no accumulation and the flakes melted as they hit the still warm pavement and grass.

We're visiting our families in upstate NY sometime over Christmas break, but haven't decided just when. There should be snow for the kids to play with. We'll be staying in a warm hotel and not my parents icebox, er, house. It is too cold in the house if the butter you left on the cabinet to soften is still too cold to cut an hour later.

My online "friends" know

2008-11-11T12:34:00.000-08:00

Is it really bad that I haven't told my family about #10 yet? My dad was so negative about number 9, with my c-section and disability before his birth due to me messed up back. The house was trashed when he came to visit us before #9 was born. I just don't want to deal with him right now. Maybe after my next dr visit and ultrasound?

Halloween was boring!

2008-11-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

Usually we have 10 or 12 groups stop by. We had 2 this year. 4 children. Good thing I didn't buy a case of full size bars this years. I got a few bags of the miniature bars and told the trick or treaters to take a handful each. #'s 8 and 9 got into the left overs yesterday morning and finished the candy, plus whatever other candies their siblings didn't put away.

At least I mostly finished #1's costume. It still needed to be hemmed, but I just zigzagged the edges and will hem it later. It is a mideval type gown with over sleeves and a floor length full skirt. It will take a while to hem it. She still wore it, but had to hold up her skirt so she wouldn't step on it.

New Dr

2008-10-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

I like the one I saw Thursday. She has no idea why I am still spotting occasionally. The ultrasound showed a very active baby, but they can't tell yet whether it is a boy or girl. She says they will let me try for a VBAC, as I had the first 8 naturally and only had 1 csection with #9.

I have to see the maternal fetal specialist for my next visit in 6 weeks. She's the Dr I do not like. I've seen her on a consult basis with the last 4 pregnancies. She usually treats me like there is soemthing wrong with me for being a practicing Roman Catholic and having all these kids. But, I can see the other doctors for other visits and have one of them deliver this one as long as there are no problems.

Dr appointment

2008-10-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

I had to find another OB/GYN, as mine is an Army reservist and has been activated. My first appointment is Thursday morning. I'm huge- I don't know if it is just because I've had so many or something else is going on. It should be interesting. The same practice delivered #5 10+ years ago. They are 20 miles away from my house. My favorite dr was 6 blocks away. Wah!

So tired

2008-10-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

Iwent to bed early-10 pm and didn't get up until after 7. I'm still tired. This pregnancy thing is harder than it was when I was younger, maybe because I was at home and could nap when the older kids were young? Forget the kids taking a nap- mommee needs a nap.

It's been almost a week since the spotting stopped.

2008-09-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

Maybe we'll have a number 10. I don't want to find a new dr. Mine is an Army reservist and was activated last spring. He is within 1 1/2 hours of my house. I don't think I can deliver at a military hospital since I'm a civilian.

#10?

2008-09-27T10:25:00.001-07:00

I'll be 8 weeks tomorrow and the spotting has stopped. Maybe we'll have a number ten in mid May? My girls have been praying for a baby sister for several months, as we would then be even again.

I hate it when pc's don't work correctly.

2008-09-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

I like determining why things don't work. PC problems can be frustrating, but very satisfying to me when I figure them out. But when there is nothing I can do and higher level tech support needs to address the problem, it really annoys me. I don't want to just know the answer, I want to know why. Maybe that is why the A+ book puts me asleep. It just teaches the exam. I want to know why that is the answer, kwim?

School!

2008-09-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

I have 7 in school this year. I forgot how much trouble the 2 and almost 4 yr old could get into without siblings around to keep an eye on them. I have to wait for the big kids to get home to get anything done.

On the upside, it is nice to not have kids fighting over the pc all day. L, almost 4, gets a turn everyday now. And if S (2) takes an afternoon nap, I can spend some time with L, helping her with games or making crafty stuff.

New pc woes

2008-08-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

After spending 2 weeks of my spare time trying to get my pc working again-new power supply, new mother board and memory, etc, we finally decided to take back all the parts and buy a new HP media pc. The new one has Vista home premium and windows media player on it. It does not see the tuner card, though it is installed in device manager. I think I finally found the solution on HP's website. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01187871 I should have known it would be challenging when we started it and the pc froze at the registration page. Then every reboot it kept going into safe mode. I finally restored it to the factory shipped settings and was able to get the darn thing working. Is it to much to ask that the pc work out of the box? I don't think that is an unreasonable request...

#9

2008-08-23T10:39:00.001-07:00

He was climbing on something Thursday night and fell, hitting the side of his head and splitting it open. Once daddy looked at it and decided it needed stitches or something, I took him to the ER. We were there for almost 5 hours before they were able to examine him and glue it together. During the first 4 hours he was climbing on the chair backs in the waiting room, trying to jump off... Almost 2 and no sense yet. :)

Our vacation

2008-07-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

We cleaned the house for a week and took 2 15 passenger van loads of stuff to the dump. It is still not clean, but we can see the floors in a few rooms. If only we did not have so much stuff. :)

The laundry never seems to get done and put away on a consistent basis. I just wish the kids would put the clean laundrty that gets sent back to their rooms away and not throw it on the floor and ignore it. My girls have more clothes then they know what to do with, as evident by the mound of them on their bedroom floor. Ironically, they have nothing to wear.

Toys- Argh! My younger brother used to buy my sons any lego set he thought they would like. Thank heavens he is out of the military now and a poor college student. They only get small sets and not the hundreds of pieces sets they used to get. Only my 3 yr old daughter plays with most of the dolls now. Her big sister (12) was ready to strangle L after she gave most of the barbies haircuts. Most toys are now in the attic, as they were not picked up by their owners. I'll sort them this fall, when it gets cooler. Maybe I can give away the baby toys, finally?