Blessing of the Week

I have decided that it is time for me to do my blessing of the week. The thing I am greatful for this week is My Husband! We have now been married for over 10 years. As many of you know he and Dad left yesterday for their week long backpacking trip. It has been only 24 hours and I miss him tremendously.

I was cleaning up my room today and I came across a letter he wrote for me for our anniversary. He wrote a letter listing 10 things that he loved about me. It was better than any gift I could have received. It made me feel so special. You get so involved in the day to day stuff that it is nice to rekindle those special feelings.

I was thinking tonight of how much I missed him. Even the snoring :). It reminded me of the first week that we met. One night we were having one of our three+ hour conversations on the phone. He started quoting Disney movies. I couldn't believe this handsome young man knew Disney movies word for word. I was shocked and totally smitten. I can specifically remember him quoting the movie Robin Hood. He even used the accent; "Absense makes the heart grow fonder."; "Or forgetful." I remember it so well. It is so true though.... Absense definitely makes the heart grow fonder! I cannot wait for him to get home.

I'd like to share a special story. On our first date we went to Seaport Village. We spent hours just walking and talking. We had both just gotten out of long relationships and honestly weren't interested in anything serious. We both felt such a connection that scared the heck out of both of us. We were scared of even the slightest of touch. At the end of the night we went on the Carousel. At the end of the ride as the carousel was slowing down, my horse slowly made its way to the highest possible point. It was as if someone was pushing it up as high as it could go. Being a tall 5 feet 2 inches, getting down was not going to be easy. Mike reached out and took my hand and helped me off the horse. The moment he grabbed my hand the both of us felt a spark! Literally. We knew at that moment that this was going to be something special. A while later we told the carousel story to my mother. She made a comment that has stuck in my head ever since. My father had passed away just a few years prior. She said that she would bet on the fact that my dad "helped" push that horse up to the highest point. I truly do feel that my dad was my angel that night. I don't know that we would have progressed the way we did if it had not been for that spark.

I am so greatful that Mike didn't let me talk him out of going on our first date (long story)...I am greatful for his family and for instantly accepting me into the family. He knew that if I passed the sister test... I was in!

I am so greatful for all that he does for me and for our family. He is not only my husband, but he truly is my best friend.

Link to Eberly's Website

Here is the link to Eberly's Blog:
http://eberlysthoughts.blogspot.com/

Eberly has joined the blogging clan

Eberly has been watching me do the family's blog and she has been bugging me to do one.. So she now has a blog of her own. There isn't too much yet, a work in progress; but you will have to check it out.

The Metal Box

I just got another Chicken Soup for the Soul book. I still love those books. I cannot believe what they have come up with now though... Anyways.. I just read a fantastic story that I thought you might all love. In fact you might want to start this in your own home....
The Metal Box
Last weekend, we celebrated my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary. This morning, they left on a long awaited trip to Hawaii. They were as excited as if it were their honeymoon.
When my parents married, they had only enough money for a three-day trip fifty miles from home. They made a pact that each time they made love, they would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for a honeymoon in Hawaii for their fiftieth anniversary,
Dad was a policeman and mom was a schoolteacher. They lived in a modest house and did all their own repairs. Raising five children was a challenge and sometimes money was short, but no matter what emergency came up, Dad would not let Mom take any money out of the "Hawaii account." As the account grew, they put it in a savings account and then bought CD's.
My parents were always very much in love. I can remember Dad coming home and telling Mom "I have a dollar in my pocket," and she would smile at him and reply, "I know how to spend it."
When each of us children married, Mom and Dad gave us a small metal box and told us their secret, which we found enchanting. All five of us are now saving for our dream honeymoon. Mom and Dad never told us how much money they managed to save, but it must have been considerable because when they cashed in those CD's they had enough for airfare to Hawaii plus hotel accommodations for ten days and plenty of spending money.
As they told us goodbye before leaving, Dad winked and said, "Tonight, we are starting an account for Cancun." That should only take twenty-five years.

I hope you all enjoy this story. I LOVED it and wanted to share it with all you.

She shoots! She scores!

Eberly had an indoor soccer game this evening. If you haven't guessed, she lives, eats and breathes soccer. She is currently playing on a co-ed indoor league. Her team won 8-5 tonight. During the first half, Eberly was the first one to score.... Making the score 1-0. Mike was at work as was not able to watch the game, but I kept him posted. At half-time the score was 5-4 (Our team was up by 1) I called Mike and gave him the update. He asked me who had scored and I couldn't quite remember how we got to 5. All I could remember was that she had scored 1. About 4 minutes later, I gave Mike a call again. So I called up Mike and said "Eberly scored 3!!!!!" He said "Oh... so Eberly did score more than one before half time." I said "NO!.. She scored 2 goals since I last spoke to you."
Eberly scored 2 goals in less than 4 minutes. In this league if you score 3 goals, you are not allowed to score any more for the rest of the game. She was beaming! She was so excited.
The thing I absolutely love is that Eberly has proven that you can become good at anything you want to if you just practice and give it your very best. When Eberly first started soccer a couple of years ago, she could barely dribble straight... But she practiced and practiced and practiced... You rarely will see her at home without a soccer ball close by. She is always dribbling up and down the hallway or teaching her brother and sisters how to play outside. I am so proud of her. She has become that soccer player she is today because she didn't give up.

Sara's Birthday wish

All Sara wanted to do on her birthday was go to the beach. She got her wish. Although it was majorly packed, the weather was beautiful and the water was nice and warm. Eberly spent the whole day trying to perfect her boogey boarding skills. Katie had a blast jumping waves. Although a few of those waves got the best of her. Sara had a blast in the water and making sand castles. It took Jimmy a while to warm up the waves. There is a story behind that. Back in March our family went camping at the beach. During that trip, Jimmy got TOPPLED by a wave. Apparently he has not forgiven that wave for taking him out. When that happened he sobbed and he said "That water tastes disgusting." I proceeded to tell him that there is salt in the water. That is why it tasted so nasty. A few minutes later, once he had calmed down, he said to me "Why doesn't it have any pepper?" Gotta love him.

Best of Friends!

Eberly is such a little mother hen... Especially when it comes to her little brother. She watches over him like a hawk. Jimmy and Eberly are the best of friends. They are sharing a room together right now. I was thinking of possibly changing rooms around. Eberly wouldn't hear of it. She told me outright "NO!" She loves sharing her room with Jimmy. When you ask Jimmy who his best friend is he will say "Ebi or Eberwy". He has his big sister wrapped around those cute little fingers of his. Whatever he wants, he gets where she is concerned. Especially if her calls her by her full name (Eberwy). She just melts. I thought this picture captured so well the great relationship these two have.

Sara Turned 6!

Happy Birthday Sara! I am happy to report that Sara was free and clear of all pain to celebrate her 6th birthday. Sara decided that she wanted to go to the beach on her birthday. So she got some fun in the sun and a fun little sunburn. I kept on trying to convince her that she was turning 5, but she wouldn't fall for it. Instead of having me "pre-buy" her birthday gifts, she decided that she would rather have me take her shopping. Smart girl! She said she wants to have some "alone" Mommy time, other than sitting in the hospital. Me Too! We Love you Sara!!! Happy Birthday!

Love Dr. Rosie

I don't think we can thank Lauri enough for finding Dr. Rosie. She is wonderful. Our poor little Sara has had quite the ordeal this past week. What started out as little minor tummy aches turned into MAJOR doubled over in tears tummy aches. I had never seen her in so much pain. So we took a trip down to the ER on Saturday night. Yes I know this may sound a little premature, but with all that has occurred in the past year I think you might just understand. Of course now I wish we had never gone. The doctor was at the end of her shift and pretty much just didn't want to deal with us. She took an x-ray of Sara's tummy; determined she was "plugged up"; gave her some Maalox and told me to get her some Miralax. And sent us on our merry way. Of course by this point I am feeling like I over-reacted and she would probably be better by the morning anyways.
Not the case. She continued having severe stomach pain and it was getting worse. So Monday morning I called to get her into Dr. Rosenfeld. The only problem was that she is so popular I couldn't get her in until 3:00. I was nervous about waiting so long since that morning she woke up very weak and couldn't even walk really well. So I decided to make an appointment with "the other" doctor. Another mistake. She thought that it was a bladder infection and dehydration. So after two seconds she wrote us a prescription and sent us on our merry way.
By the afternoon, Sara was still getting worse. She was weak, the pain seemed to be increasing and she was not keeping anything in. So I called Dr. Rosie to see if there was something I could be doing in the mean time to at least help comfort her. Love this woman. While I was on the phone with her, Sara was throwing up. She heard her and said "You need to get her down the the ER right now. She needs an IV." She told me that she was probably getting dehydrated and the IV would probably also help with the pain. She said it is amazing what an IV will do. She also told me to not back down and make sure they give her one.
So, Monday afternoon we got to go back to the ER. And to make a really LONG story short... Once they started the IV, she started to perk up. I had an amazing doctor who was very thorough. He took another x-ray, drew some blood and really showed concern for our little one. Fortunately it all turned out well. It all turned out to be a really bad case of constipation. Once they "relieved" that problem.. she is almost as good as new. Sara was a brave little soldier too. Not a single tear through the whole visit.
So I am greatful for Dr. Rosie and her amazing way of knowing how to take care of my kids.

Up and Running Again

I am loving this blogging thing. I am glad to have our new one up and running. Since I am so new at this.. I did something and I couldn't get the page to look right. So here we go again. I won't mess with it this time :)

More antibiotics

So, if you have read Ginger's blog.. you heard about Mike, Eberly and Dad's hiking trip. Eberly was fortunate enough to bring home a present. Bunches and bunches of mosquito bites. Poor little thing was itching like crazy. But they seemed to go away.... until Saturday. She came into me and told me her knee was itching again. When she showed me her knee, it was even more swollen before. I assumed it was because she was scratching them. By Sunday morning, the swelling was down, but she had developed the bright red ring around her knee. With the experience I had with mosquitos I thought that I should probably take her in. Glad that I did. The doctor told us she was almost at the infected stage...which means hospital time. So fortunately we caught it early enough and she is taking some lovely pink antibiotics :)

Help Me Obe One Kenobe

Help me Obe One Jimmy!. Last night he kept on saying he was cold. So he decided to put on a sweatshirt that even doesn't quite fit Eberly! We thought it was hilarious. When he walked all you would see were his cute little feet.

Eberly's Point of View

Eberly has come up with quite some interesting.... tidbits... lately.. The other day my mom, the kids and I were driving down the freeway. All of a sudden Eberly yells out "Wow! That is a COOL car!" My mom and I automatically look over expecting to see some pimped out ride. Maybe something with flames on the side or something like that... Not the case. Within seconds a hearse pulls up along beside us. My mom and I just started laughing! We couldn't control it. I then explained to Eberly exactly what a hearse is and she no longer thinks it is a cool car. She says that she hopes she never has to see the inside of one. We hope so too dear!Then the other night we were watching the Track and Field Olympic Trials on TV. I made the comment that you rarely see any "white" people doing track and field. (Meaning that most track runners seem to be African American) Eberly has a theory on that apparently. She said to me "Maybe it is because they spend so much time in the sun!" Mike and I were in stitches. Of course then they showed a caucasian women and Mike says "Guess she hasn't been practicing enough."What would we do without our kids. The make us crazy, but they make us laugh on a regular basis.
Posted by Mike, Suzann and Family at 3:19 PM

What a Week!

Mike and I have decided to keep doctors and nurses and Pharmacists in business. Friday night (4th of July) I got bit by some sort of bug. No big deal right? Not in our house. By Sunday morning the bite had grown a good 4-5 inches and was bright red and REALLY hot to the touch. I decided that I should probably get it checked out. Glad I did. The heat and the redness indicated infection. Since it was on my elbow and so close to the joint my doctor gave me IV antibiotics. She was worried the infection would get into my joints. So now I am on oral antibiotics. Fortunately they are working and they won't have to amputate :) (ha ha)Well, I guess Mike didn't want me getting all the attention. He called me early Wednesday morning and informed me that he was leaving work. "Why?" I asked....He was heading to the ER. He felt symptoms that his diverticulitis was returning. Let panic attack begin! Fortunately he is aware of the symptoms now and he was able to catch it REALLY early. So he got IV antibiotics also. They were able to send him home. We are very greatful for that. We will be meeting with his doctor on Monday to see what the next step is. He is on some pretty heavy duty antibiotics, but we are hoping with all our heart to avoid surgery.It is quite sad when the pharmacist actually knows me by name. "Hi Suzann! Where are the kids?" Yep.. they all know me and the kids! In fact when I came home from picking up MY antibiotics, I had a message to call the pharmacist. I called her back and she wanted to make sure that I knew that the antibiotic I am on will make the birth control pill null and void. Hmmm... is she trying to tell me something :)

The kids just completed their fourth week and final week of swimming lessons. I cannot thank their teacher enough. The kids have made such amazing progress. Eberly has now passed level 4! She is even doing IM's! She knows the front crawl, the backstroke, the breaststroke, the butterly, the sidestroke and the elementary backstroke. Katie and Sara have now passed level 3! Congratulations girls! I am so proud of them. And Jimmy has now passed level 2! Karen, his teacher, thinks he is going to be a fantastic snorkler. He LOVES to skim across the top of the water and look at all the fun things at the bottom of the pool. The kids have had such a great time. Now it is time to test out their skills in Grammy and Papa's pool!

Future Backpacker

Mike, Jim and Eberly are going for their second attempt at backpacking tomorrow. Jimmy wanted to show that he is ready to go too! (That is Eberly's fully loaded backpack) Yes he is carrying a backpack that is almost just as big and heavy as he is. Backpacker in the making! He is a little excited to go along.