I am getting ready for bed thinking how lucky I am. If you had asked me 10 years ago how I saw myself in the future, I would have probably told you I would be doing something in the field of Biology. I would not have children till in my 30's. I might be in a steady relationship, but not married. How different everything turned out to be! I am very happy with how things have turned out. I am married to a wonderful man who is my best friend. We have been together for 6 years now - married for 4. We have 2 beautiful children. I am currently fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom and spend valuable time with my family. Life is not always perfect, but I would not change a thing! I love how things have turned out!

And she's off....

Catherine is now walking. She took her first steps last week and has been going ever since. She now has 6 teeth!! (They keep coming in 2 at a time) She has added a few more words to her vocabulary. She says Sheshan (Christian), Sissy, doe (dog), hi, done, eat, and shoe. Only a few more weeks left until she turns 1!!!!!

This is a picture of her trying on her Christmas dress. She didn't stay still for long.

Christian won some awards for his artwork that was entered in the Covington County Fair. This is him with his art.

Dog Free to Good Home!!

Let me just start by saying I love Bruiser very much! If I had more money or a bigger house, than keeping him would NOT be a problem. I just can no longer deal with his phobia. He is absolutely terrified of thunder! Currently he is an outside dog, but was raised the first 2 years of his life as an inside dog. From what I have heard from others, he must have been nearly struck or struck by lightening in order for him to be this terrified. He has places to go to get away from the weather outside, but insists on making his "own" safe place.

This photo was taken today. Bruiser is 5 yrs old.

He is wonderful with kids....just a little big. 93 pounds to be exact

A little background info on him - Bruiser was born February 23, 2004. We adopted him from the PetLand store in Pensacola, FL when he was 3 1/2 months old. ( $485 -What an expensive dog! ) He was an inside dog and was crate trained for when I would have to go to work (He was a puppy afterall and puppies like to chew!!). He has been walked with a leash, so that is not an unfamiliar thing for him. He LOVES to go for rides. He is a big baby and always has to have a pacifier in his mouth. He still thinks he can be a lap dog. He is not super lickey or bouncey. He just paces alot. Like I mentioned, he is 5 yrs old and 93 pounds as of July 6th. He has very recently had all his vaccinations and has always been up to date on vaccinations. He has a clean bill of health. He is non-neutured. He has papers, but I never paid the money to register him since we didn't plan on breeding him. He LOVES people and LOVES LOTS of attention. The only reason he was made to be an outside dog was because our house we live in is too small for a 3yr old, an 8 month old, 2 adults and this big dog. He doesn't bark a lot and doesn't dig a lot. The only time he will dig is to get to some cool dirt to lay in and he tends to like the same spot once he gets it dug. He was a wonderful inside dog and housebroken. He has already gotten past his "puppy" stage. He doesn't mess with shoes or the kid's toys. He has had some basic obedience training and thrives as long as you are dealing one on one with him. He has "sisters", so he gets along well with other dogs. Both of his "sisters" are medium to large size. He tolerates small dogs well because my mom has a pomeranian and they get along. I think Bruiser thinks that her dog is actually a cat. LOL. He also does well with cats. He lets the cats lay on him from time to time. He has no problems with bathtime, nail clippings, or ear cleanings. He is a wonderful dog that just needs a home where he can be kept indoors most of the time, especially when storms are around. If you or anyone you know might be interested please leave a comment or email me at devilyoda@yahoo.com. Thanks!

A few happenings

Two Sundays ago we FINALLY made it to church for the first time. The kids behaved (of course my mom was with me to help). I have been putting off going because it is just me to wrangle a very wild 3 year old and a baby. I enjoyed the service and hope to make it back soon. I had every intention of going back for Wednesday night service, but things were just too crazy. We

got a call on Monday from family to tell us my Aunt Sarah had stage 4 liver cancer and was not doing well. This was the first we had heard of this. She was admitted to the hospital on Monday and never made it out. My mom, my Aunt Carol, the kids, and me all drove through the night on Thursday and made it to see Aunt Sarah Friday morning. She passed away around 2pm Friday afternoon (July 31st). We stayed until Saturday evening visiting with family and then drove through the night (I drove) so my mom could be back to work Sunday morning. I was SOOO tired that I slept through most of Sunday (as much as the kids would allow). Of course, we got home to my siding ripped off the front of the house. Thank you my ever so wonderful giant scared lab!!! He is TERRIFIED of thunder! I should have had him boarded, but didn't have time when we got the news about my Aunt. So, now I have an even more trashy looking house since they don't make that siding and Bruiser decided to eat half of the siding. *sigh* If anyone wants a FREE chocolate lab just let me know!!! (5yrs old, recent shots, pure breed, non-neutered) Since there was not much I could do as far as siding repairs we just played video games. Then I got adventurous and decided we would do our grocery shopping. Of course, I should have known better because both kids had meltdowns in Wal-Mart. LOVE IT!!! Jason should be home very soon!!! Just a few more days and I can't wait!!!!!!!!!! We have our 4 yr anniversary coming up in a couple of weeks. Hopefuly everything will work out so we can at least have dinner - kid free.

Christian's Updates

Christian doesn't have a lot of milestones going on right now. He can finally spell his first name. He can identify letters and some numbers. He is so full of life and ENERGY! He never slows down and is always questioning things. One of his favorite things to do is to ride his truck. I snapped this picture with my phone. Catherine loved the ride with her big brother.

Christian shared his truck and took Catherine on her first ride. They both had so much fun!

For the 4th of July we took a trip to Tennessee. Here are some photos of our trip:

Me and my sweet boy

Swinging at the park in Shelbyville, TN

Swimming during the 4th of July BBQ

Christian at the bottom of the big water slide.

Climbing the big slide

Christian riding Lightening

Feeding Lightening

He loves horses!

We had such a good time on our vacation, but after a week it was back to reality. Christian will be starting 3 yr old preschool on August 20th. He keeps saying he is excited, but I bet he changes his mind when we drop him off for the first day. Jason will be home to go to the open house for preschool. YEAH!! I am so happy he will get to take part in this milestone for Christian. As far as health, Christian seems just fine. We have a chest X-ray to get done in the next week or so and that is it until April of next year.

Catherine's updates

I just realized it has been a while since I posted anything and that my blog is in DESPERATE need of a makeover. So, I think I might blog....it just might take some time for the makeover.

Catherine, Jason, & me - Christian was with G. G. Peggy

Let's see....over the past 3 months lots has happened. Today Catherine turned 8 months old!!! I can't believe it! She has cut her first 2 teeth. She got her bottom 2 in at the same time. That happened over the 4th of July weekend. We went on our first family vacation with Catherine over the 4th of July. We first went to visit my Aunt Carol in Shelbyville, TN for a couple days. Then we went up to Gallatin, TN to visit with Peggy (Jason's grandma). We had such a wonderful time with the family. Here are a couple pictures:

Catherine's new earrings

Catherine's first horseback ride.

Chillin at the 4th of July BBQ

Taking a break from the pool.

Aunt Carol and Catherine at the park.

Catherine crawling.

She is crawling and pulling to stand. She wants to walk so bad! She can stand unassisted for a few seconds at a time and has attempted her first step. She claps and waves bye-bye. She is a very curious and happy baby. She LOVES to play with Christian. She just cracks up laughing at him all the time and he loves to entertain her. We are so fortunate with Catherine. She is a wonderful eater and just so content all the time. I got her ears pierced 2 weeks ago and she didn't even cry. She doesn't seem to mind her earrings because I never see her messing with them.

Surgery Complete!

Christian was admitted to Shands at UF in Gainesville on April 8th. Bless his heart! He DID NOT want to go, but was cooperating because he knew he would get to take a ride on his bed and eat lots of chicken nuggets when his surgery was done and the doctor gave him the ok. We were admitted at 10am and taken to the room. He bounced around asking to ride the bed. Finally they came in to put in his IV and feeding tube. He went by himself because I had Catherine with me and Jason was getting our stuff settled at the RMH. They brought him back and he was sobbing and crying for mommy. I ended up just hugging and rocking him until he eventually cried himself to sleep. He was given some "GoLytely" a few hours later. After that was completed Jason and I slept with him at the hospital awaiting our surgery time. They took him down to pre-op at 6am and he slept through the "bed ride" that he had been waiting for. I let him sleep because I knew he would fight with us about the surgery. They took him in for surgery around 8:30am (April 9th). We received a call about 10:30am that the surgery went well. When they opened him up they found that the back of the patch had come away from the diaphram (a section about 3-4inches). The Dr said that there was about 3/4 of the patch still attached and had some muscle tissue growing over it, so instead of replacing the patch he just stitched up the loose part. Only a little bit of the bowel was found in the chest, which they just pushed back down into place. Christian was taken to the PICU for the first 24 hours. He slept for half of the time. They eventually moved him back down to the pediatric floor Friday morning. Because he was not getting good bowel sounds they didn't let him eat anything except a clear liquid diet until Easter Sunday. It wasn't until Sunday morning that he was able to get out of his bed and walk around. Once he found the playroom he didn't want to go back to the bed and since he was allowed to have "real" food ,finally, we took the wagon downstairs to the Wendy's and got him some chicken nuggets and mandarin oranges. He did wonderful and by Sunday the only pain medication he was taking was just a little bit of Tylenol. We were discharged on Monday the 13th. The first few days home he wanted to play of course, but was still taking breaks to rest. We were having problems with frequent loose bowel movements (sometimes as often as every 10 minutes for an hour then an hour break and then again every 10 minutes). Since he had been on an antibiotic for 48 hrs following the surgery we were away that this could be a side effect for up to 10 days. I ended up taking him to the pediatrician because it was continuing. All test results came back negative for E.Coli, Salmonella, and C. Diff, but positive for blood. He had 2 firm movements on Thursday morning and now we are back to the loose, just not as frequent. Poor guy is once again having to wear diapers and waking up at 3-5am with soiled pants. He is so devastated because he was doing so well with his potty training. I can't wait for his system to get back to normal. We went this past Monday to our follow up appt and were told that everything looks good. We don't have to go back to see the doctor for another year, but do have to have a chest X-ray done and mailed in August. Thank you to everyone for you thoughts and prayers!! He is now back to his happy wild self.

CT scheduled

Well, let's hope Christian doesn't get sick before....but his CT is scheduled for Feb. 24th. With cold and flu season upon us it is SO hard to keep him from getting sick. I don't want to keep him in a bubble. LOL

Catherine is 2 months!

We went today for the well baby check up. She got all her shots and is now sleeping peacefully. She is 10 pounds 6 ounces already! Getting big fast. At the rate she is going she is going to be bigger than her brother pretty soon (he is only 28 pounds).

Christian had his 3 year old birthday party on Sunday. He had a blast! My dinosaur cake was a hit. :) Still no word back about his CT appt. I will let everyone know as soon as I find out. I have already called them, but they said they would have to get back with me still.

Reherniation....ugh!

So, we went today for our annual follow up with the pediatric surgeon for Christian's congential diaphragmatic hernia. Unfortunately we will have to have another surgery because it appears that he is reherniating (which only happens in about 5-10% of CDH survivors). I was told that life should not have to change for him just because of the reherniation. It is just something that sometimes happens as the body grows and may outgrow the diaphram patch. It is not something that needs to be fixed immediately, but it will need to be repaired. The chest x-ray showed some of the colon pushing up into his left lung. Dr. Kays wants us to get a CT scan and echocardiogram within the next couple months, so I am going to wait for Jason to get home before we do that appt. Once we get that done the doctor will know more about when we should do surgery. Besides the reherniation, the doctor said that Christian seems to be doing well developmentally and that his weight is still a little on the low side, but common for CDH patients. We knew that reherniation was a possiblilty and leave it to our little man to be in that 5-10%. I have to chuckle. When I was still pregant with him, all the ultrasounds showed that his diaphragmatic hernia was not as severe as most. The doctor was guessing we would only have to be in the hospital for a few weeks (we were there for 59 days and the hole was a large hole). The doctor also said that his right lung was looking pretty good and doubted he would require life support(ECMO) and he was on ECMO for 10 days. The surgery was supposed to go smooth (he had internal bleeding afterward and was rushed back to surgery). Now there is this reherniation. Guess we just gotta keep our heads up and know that our strong little man will pull through as usual. I suppose he just likes to be one of a kind.

Our baby girl is one month old!

What an exciting month we have had! Catherine is now one month old. Over the course of this past month we have celebrated her first Christmas and now brought in a new year! She is now tracking better. She stays awake for longer periods to "play" and look around. She is also holding her head up a lot better. Christian loves her so much! He is constantly giving her hugs and kisses.

So, just a brief reflection on 2008. Jason and I had a wonderful year. With each passing day we get closer and closer. We have been together now for 5 years and married for 3. The most exciting news was the arrival of our little girl. Jason had a huge accomplishment. He got his Captain's license. :) I am so proud of him!! I am now fortunate enough to stay home with the kids. I love it! Our pet family has changed. We took in a dog named Biscuit, but lost him. Our cat, Dora, gave birth to 2 litters of kittens this year. (a total of 8 cats) She recently passed, but the kitten's daddy has taken to living here in her place. (Go figure!) Overall, a great year! Hope we have an even better one this year!