Food Poisoning?

Kyra might have had food poisoning.

The other night we ate dinner with James. We picked him up and went to McDonalds drive thru and ate in the car. Brandon thought it was cute to throw his food in the floor but I thought I picked them all up.

I was wrong.

Thursday I picked Kyra up from preschool and she was talking about eating a chicken nugget. I looked in the mirror and she was holding one from the other day. I told her not to eat it but she said she already had. The one in her hand hadn't been bitten. I thought I stopped her in time. I told her she would get sick if she ate old food.

She started throwing up at 7:30 that night. In all she threw up 8 times. Not a fun weekend.

She is now afraid to eat. She hasn't thrown up since Friday night but she has barely eaten anything since then. She is existing on Gatorade. I finally got her to eat some chicken noodle soup tonight.

She won't even eat sweets! She's got to be sick!

Circuit City SUCKS!!!

My DVDs aren't coming. My cheap, wonderful House DVDs aren't coming.

Sob, sniff.

The email I received said I should receive my order between Dec. 4th and Dec. 12. When I didn't receive them on the 12th I called 800thecity. The nice woman was completely unhelpful. They didn't have a tracking number from where it had reached the USPS, but it had been 15 days so they must have it by now. She said I should just call the post office and ask them if they knew where my package was. I pointed out that without the tracking number they wouldn't be able to track my package.

I asked them if I could just go to the local store and pick my DVDs there but for some reason there is a difference between corporate and regional and it's not the same and no I can't.

She said the only thing they could do is offer me a refund so I hung up and called the local store. I spoke with a manager who said I should wait a few more days (I guess 15 isn't enough) and if I didn't receive them by Friday I should call back. I called back on Saturday but he was too busy to come to the phone so I left a message. He never called back. I called today and he said that there is a difference between corporate and regional, he doesn't know why, but that's the way it is. He can't just give me my DVDs that I ordered. He did finally agree to sell me his DVDs for the $12.99. He wasn't sure if he had season 1 in stock but he could order it in special for me. I had to call the 800 # to get my refund and I'll go to Circuit City tomorrow to buy my DVDs.

After all this trouble it wouldn't kill them to just give me the freaking things.

I'm Back

It seems like tons of stuff is happening but nothing is getting accomplished. I still haven't heard from Children's Hospital about testing Kyra, I still haven't got my "House" dvds and I still don't know about moving yet. I talked to Dad the other day and he's moved in with Sherri and Chris. I feel bad that Sherri has to take care of him but even if I was there he'd probably still be with Sherri. A large part of me wants to be there to help. A small part is selfish and says "been there, done that". That is not why we aren't in Oklahoma right now. I'm actually really home sick. I love Washington, but I don't think I would get paid what I make now in Oklahoma. But I miss the people in Oklahoma.

You'd make it a lot easier on me if all of you just moved up here. I'm worth it, right!

James has applied for the Assistant Manager in training at Wal-Mart at two stores in Washington and pretty much all of the stores in OKC. I so hope he gets hired in OKC. If he doesn't get the promotion then he would have to step down as a supervisor to move. For some reason it is really hard to transfer as a supervisor. Something about hiring from within.

If he does get the promotion we could end up moving in a matter of weeks instead of months. Keep your fingers crossed.

I'm Such An Idiot

There, you now have it in writing.

Mom has gotten me addicted to the show House. When she was here in April we watched it constantly. I watch it every chance I get. Mom was going to let me borrow hers since I've never seen season 1 or most of season 2, but it hasn't happened yet. I've looked longingly at the previous season when I shop at Wal-Mart, but seasons 1 and 2 are still $46 each.

I don't spend money on myself if I can help it. Even when we have extra (like, when does that ever happen), I'll spend it on the kids or James.

This is not why I'm an idiot.

Black Friday. The biggest shopping day of the year. Yep, you guessed it. Circuit City has Season 1 & 2 for $12.99 each. OMG, my heart started racing. Luckily this wasn't one of those 5 hour sales. Who is going to rush out and buy up House first thing Friday morning?

EVERYONE!!!!!!

Circuit City and Best Buy were both out. Sob! Target was out but they had a rain check for $14.98 each. Not my $12.99, but close enough.

I can only blame my sleep deprived mind. I had a 3 hour nap yesterday but only 2 hours sleep before I went to work. That could cause it, right?

I just went online to circuitcity.com and they have both of them in-stock for $12.99 each. With free shipping since it's over $24. I should receive them between 12/4 and 12/11.

I'm such an idiot.

It's About Time

Kyra's sister Tanya finally signed a release for us to get Madison's medical test results. Children's Hospital called last Thursday to say they had received the signed form so they were going to request the records.

Now they have to wait for the results to come and check to see if the gene actually causes the disease. If it is only a variant they won't test Kyra.

If it is then we have to get permission from the insurance company to do the testing. God only knows how long that will take. Luckily it will only cost $350 if they don't approve it, but they should. Then we have to schedule the testing, which we should be able to do as a walk in. We'll have to make an appointment for the results to be read. It will probably take 6 to 8 weeks for them to do the test. Hopefully it will be sooner since they'll know what they're looking for.

Usually, I'm an optimist, but not with insurance companies. Her 5th birthday is in April. She'll probably have her screenings protocol complete (blood test for prolactin and CAT scan) before we get her insurance approved and the gene testing back.

Life Has Been Crazy

It seems I haven't had time to do anything lately. Especially go online. Right now I'm working from 2 am until 10:30 am. Believe me, I know what you're thinking. It's actually harder than you think. Actually it's mostly not that bad. I get to work all by myself except for like two hours of my day. The problem is that I'm addicted to a couple of shows that come on at 9 pm Pacific time. That doesn't give me a lot of sleep before I wake up at 1 am.

The reason I'm doing this is because James is killing himself working overtime at Wal-Mart. Last week he had 20 hours of overtime. This week he'll get his 8 hours of holiday, plus 10 hours of overtime. This is basically going to be our Christmas fund. He also gets a quarterly bonus that we should get in December.

I feel bad that I can't work extra also, but for one, there aren't enough hours in the day. We don't have a babysitter and the kids aren't in daycare. Two, I'm not allowed to have overtime. I usually take a nap while Brandon is sleeping and he's to active for me to be online while he's running around. I'll have to try harder to post more ofter.

Posting Pictures

Can anyone explain how to post pictures on here? Sherri was going to walk me through it but I have dial up and my cell phone doesn't work at my house because there are too many trees. She was going to email me instructions but she's been too busy.

Any Advice?

Brandon has a thing about being naked. He won't leave his diaper on and now he's learned how to take his pants off. I have to keep him in one piece outfits to keep him dressed. The other day he was wearing a one piece shorts outfit and he reached in the pant leg and undid his diaper.

Short of using duct tape, how can a stop him from stripping?

Two Wonderful Years

James and I celebrated out two year anniversay yesterday. We spent the whole day together doing lots of nothing and enjoying each others company. Topped off with pizza, the Transformers movie, and chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese frosting it was darn near perfect.

I can't believe it's already been two years!

Cuboid Syndrome

I had my appointment with the Podiatrist on Thursday. She thinks I have Cuboid Syndrome. Apparently it is a common problem with athletes (especially ballet dancers). That is sooo not me. I was just lucky enough to be kicked in the right place. It is also called Cuboid Subluxation. Anyone who has been to the chiropractor should know that term.

Basically, Taylor kicked my cuboid out of place. In March, I had the chiropractor put it back in. It got better but never healed completely.

The podiatrist taped my food to simulate orthopedic inserts. I have to keep tape on my foot for five days and see her again in ten days. The orthopedics she want me to get will cost $500. My chiropractor offers them for $170. If they decide I need them I'll definitely go for the cheaper ones.

When I went to the chiropractor on Friday he looked up Cuboid Syndrome and it showed the way to adjust it. When he did it, it hurt really bad but there was a really loud pop. He got real excited and said it was the best adjustment of the day. Hopefully it will continue to get better.

By the way, having your foot taped really sucks!

The Unhurt One

Brandon on the other hand is doing very well. He has learned how to "Gimme 5" and say cheese. He is an escape artist and a nudist. He is constantly taking off his diaper and is learning how to take his clothes off. And to make matters worse, he can now open doors. I'm so glad someone invented door knob covers.

Taylor

On Tuesday Taylor came home from school saying his wrist hurt. He was playing a basket ball game called King of the Hill and fell down on his wrist. The next day we took him to the doctor and she thinks it could be a Scafoid-Snuffbox fracture. She put him in a splint and sent him for x-rays. There appears to be no break but he has to wear the splint for two weeks (which he is just thrilled bout) and he might have to have another x-ray. If there is a fracture he will have to wear a cast.

I'm so glad my mother had such graceful children that we could pass it on to our own children.

OMG

Kids have the crazy ability to make our hearts stop without really trying. I got a call from Kyra's school saying that she had fallen down at school and I needed to come pick her up. They said she had scraped her knee and had a pretty big goose egg on her forhead. I could hear her crying in the background and she sounded really upset. When she gets hurt I'm the only one who can calm her down. I left work right away and it took 20 minutes to get to her. James also came from home with Brandon.

Let me just say, when I saw her it broke my heart.

Her knee bled pretty good but it was just superficial. But then she lifted her bangs!!!!!!

Her goose egg was larger than a golf ball! It hurt to look at it. I just wanted to hold her and cry with her.

Her doctor is only at the clinic on Thursday which is when this happened so I felt pretty good about her going there instead of the ER. I called to let them know we were coming since it was noon. They said we wouldn't be able to see him but we could see his assistant. When we got there we sat in the waiting room for maybe two minutes then they brought us to the treatment room. The PA took one look at her and brought her doctor in. He checked her out and decided there were not fractures or concussion. Something about a hematoma and contusion. We bought her a bag of cookies and took her home to relax.

The swelling has gone down but the bridge of her nose is really puffy which makes her eyes look different. I'd say we were really lucky.

I talked to her teacher later that day and she said Kyra had tripped over the railroad ties that surround the playground and hit her head on the concrete. At first she was more worried about her knee so they didn't see her head right away. They then rushed her to the nurse office and put an icepack on it.

On Second Thought

Taylor is still in Cub Scouts. I talked to his Den leader about it and she says the group is set up so the boys can do as much or as little as they want to earn badges. I'm glad. I like the values and experiences he can have but I hate having to badger him to do the work.We'll see how it goes.

Anyone want to buy some popcorn?

Dropping Like Flies

Well, Britt's not the only one dropping activities.

Taylor has dropped out of Cub Scouts. We did the nature walk but he was bored. Then he had to fill out a worksheet but he hadn't paid attention to the guide so he had to re-ask all the questions. The biggest reason he wanted to join was to learn how to carve. Hopefully James knows enough about it to teach him. I just need to get him a knife that would be good to carve with. I can just see him trying to carve with his R&R pocket knife.

I have to say, the hike was a nightmare. For me at least. I decided to go along so I wouldn't have to wait with Kyra and Brandon. The stroller we have is definitely not good for four wheeling. I'm surprised Brandon didn't get whip lash. They said if we were quiet then we might see some animals. Kyra does not have a good indoor voice. We didn't see any animals.

Surprise, surprise!

Brett

We haven't seen Brett at all this month.

We were supposed to get him Labor Day weekend but that is when James' son left. We thought it would be too difficult having him at the airport with Kyra and Brandon.

I have tried since Sept. 3rd to call Mona to set up visitation but their phone has been turned off. I had assumed that she hadn't paid the phone bill like last month, and that she would be paying it soon. I have called her at least three to four times a week all month with no luck.

I have called her son Robert at work twice but he wasn't there.

I called him at work tonight and he was finally there. They got a new phone number and didn't let us know! The parenting plan states that we are supposed to have visitation every other weekend. This shouldn't be a shock to her. She has been without a phone before. She has always called us to set up meetings.

I told him that we wanted to see Brett tomorrow because we hadn't seen him all month and that Mona needed to call us tomorrow to set up a time. We should get to keep him for a week just to make up for lost time.

I don't know why I forget what a pain in the ass exes can be! What a bitch!

Kyra's in Preschool

Kyra loves going to school. James and I took her Monday morning and she was so excited. I had taken her for "Slow Start" last Thursday. That way she could get an idea about what was going to happen. I stayed with her for the two hours. On Monday I had to take James so he could figure out where to go and how to sign her in.

She was happy to be there until I told her I was leaving. That kind of threw her off a little but she quickly recovered.

When I picked her up she reluctantly left. While we were walking down the hall she asked if she could come back soon. She was thrilled when I told her she was coming back the next day.

She gets her school pictures done on Thursday so I'll have to learn how to post pictures soon. Sherri is supposed to email me how to do it but I have yet to receive anything (hint, hint).

Is This Thing On?

Hey, is there anybody out there?

Hello?

I had hoped to get some interaction by writing this thing. Am I that boring? Someone please write to me!

It's always something!

I got a foot x-ray today. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? It's not even that good.

Back in mid January, (yeah, that was quite a while ago) I was in the floor playing with Brandon. Taylor was playing a video game and was really into it. Then he stood up and started jumping around and kicked my left foot.

I swear I thought he broke it. Tears instantly came to my eyes and I was left gasping for breath.

The pain decreased but never went away completely. It hurt to walk too long and I couldn't put any pressure on the left side of my foot by my ankle. Barely grazing it would put me in tears.

In March I asked my chiropractor about it. He decided that one of the smaller bones had been knocked out of place. After he put it back in place it felt a lot better. I was able to walk without pain but if it was hit I was still in tears.

I went to my doctor on Thursday and she thinks it is a sprain in the ligaments of the cuboidal bones. She's never had it herself but other patients have said it is quite painful.

NO SHIT!!!!!!

So today I had x-rays and I see a podiatrist on October 11. I'm just ready for it to stop hurting.

Lilypie.com

I made charts to track Taylor, Kyra, and Brandon's birthdays. At first I had all of them on the top, but that looked too cluttered. For now I have Brandon on the top and the other two at the bottom. I plan to do one for our anniversary so I'll have that one on the top soon.

Sherri

Happy Birthday Sherri!

and

Bridget and Bobby

I know Michelle's birthday was this month, but I'm sure she doesn't read this. If you see her let her know I said so.

Kyra Update

I hate waiting for other people!!!

In April Kyra's other half sister Tanya called and said her oldest daughter Madison had a CT scan in December that showed tumor on her pituitary gland. They checked her Prolactin level and it was really high. In April they tested Madison and found out she does have the gene for MENS type 1 like Doug did. I got a referal from Kyra's doctor in early June for Kyra to be tested. The only thing we had to wait for was a copy of the gene report from Madison's test. It is a lot cheaper and easier if you know what to look for. Doug and his dad Gordon were never actually tested so we had to wait for someone to show symptoms and be tested.

Tanya and I had not spoken since Doug and I split up in 2005. She said a lot of horrible things and told me to go to hell, so of course we haven't kept in touch. I decided for the good of the children to be a better person and help Tanya get her dad's medical records to help Madison.

Now I feel used.

The last time I spoke with Tanya she said she had to cancel their appointment in July because her husband Craig had changed jobs and they lost their insurance. The insurance was supposed to kick back in Aug 1st and she had an appointment to see the doctor. I have been calling her off and on for the last month and a half and she won't answer the phone. They don't have an answering machine but I know they have caller id. One time Craig did answer the phone but he said she had gone to the store.

Chelsea and Aaron went to visit in July. Chelsea is going to have the test done because she has had some odd problems that could be related. She took a form with her for Tanya to sign. Tanya still hasn't sent it back. She doesn't have to give it to the doctor. Chelsea's doctor can request the information if she signs it. For some reason she is being uncooperative.

In April Kyra will be old enough to have her prolactin checked and have a CT scan. With the way Tanya's being. We might have to wait for April.

How Time Flies

Yesterday we went to the mall to see Chelsea and Aaron (Kyra's half sister and brother). We see them every couple of months but it really hit me how much they are growing up when I realized Chelsea is a Junior and Aaron is in 6th grade.

I knew Chelsea was 16 but it didn't sink in until last night. She wants to be a Profiler for the FBI. She was going to try to intern with the FBI this summer but I think they waited too long to sign up. She is taking a lot of hard classes to prepare and is pretty excited about it. Aaron is almost 12 and in Pee Wee Football. They've stayed pretty busy with practice.

I can't help but wonder if Taylor will play football? I think he'll have the size for it but I don't think they've played it in school yet. He tried Little League but lost interest. He might play basketball but he hasn't said anything about soccer either.

Finally

With the new upgrade to Blogger I couldn't figure out how to post the Flickr badge but I've finally figured it out. Now I just have to remember how to load new pictures!

Here We Go Again

Well, I've decided to give this another try. I have more people to keep in touch with now.

That's right, I'm up to four!

I found Sheree and Brandon Woodworth again. I haven't spoken with them since 2005 and I've missed them desperately.

I've been spending more time on-line lately so maybe I'll post more often. Kyra starts Headstart next week so that should give me more to talk about. Taylor is in 4th grade and Brandon is 19 months now. We also have regular visitation with James' son Brett who lives close by. James' oldest son (also named James) in Vermont recently left for the year, but we are hoping to get all of them for Christmas.