Have I Got a Story For You!

As most of you know, Cassidy had pneumonia in September. We spent 3 days in the hospital and everything was better. Well, on Thursday (Nov. 18) I got a phone call from her school saying she coughed so much that she threw up. Of course that meant that I had to pick her up from school. (Now just so you know, she wasn't even coughing on Wednesday AT ALL!) When I got to the school, she was fine, a little cough but nothing bad. However being a mom with three kids, I made a doctor's appointment for 3:15 that afternoon. I always try to get to the office early, so hopefully that means they will see us quicker. We sat in the waiting room all of five minutes, before Cassidy was really struggling to breathe. I went to the desk and told the receptionist that she really needed to be seen. (Usually I do not mind waiting, but something told me we could not wait this time.) They got a nurse, who took her straight back and gave her a breathing treatment. (With asthmatics, they always put on a O2 saturation monitor. Her pulse-ox was 88.) After the breathing treatment, her pulse-ox went up to 94/95. She was doing better. However, what kind of story would this be without more. About 30 minutes later, her pulse-ox dropped back down to 89/90. Of course no one was happy with that. The doctor put her on O2, which only brought her pulse-ox up to 92/93. A second doctor came in and both doctor's agreed that she needed to go into the hospital. Not only into the hospital, but she had to go by ambulance. She freaked out! When the ambulance got there, the paramedic had to put in an IV. (Not Cassidy's favorite thing!!) She cried. The paramedic told her that if he put the IV in she could get a new teddy bear. She let him and got a cute little pink sparkly bear. I followed the ambulance and the boys were with me. We got to St. Mary's hospital in Hobart and sat in the ER until almost ten. They were waiting for a room for her. They did an x-ray and an hour long breathing treatment. The boys were bored and decided to fight with each other to pass the time. I am sure the people in the ER were very glad to see us go. We went up to the pediatric unit, where Cassidy was very excited to see nurses she remembered from previous stays. Her pulse-ox never got above 93, so on Saturday morning the doctor decided it was time to send her to a children's' hospital. We ended up going to Riley Children's' Hospital in Indianapolis. I was told that if there had been no fog , she would have been airlifted to the hospital. As it was, I followed the ambulance to Riley's. We never went slower than 80 mph on I-65. When we got to Riley's, Cassidy was admitted to the PICU, the pediatric intensive care unit. All day Saturday, her pulse-ox stayed about 90. The doctors decided to give her moist, heated O2. She was at 100% until the middle of the night when they turned it sown to 50%. Her pulse-ox through the night was 97/98. This morning was a whole different story. Her pulse-ox dropped to 85/86. Everyone was really concerned that they would have to insert a breathing tube. We had a tense couple of hours. However, they decided to try something different. They put her back on an O2 mask with the heated, moist air. They gave her a breathing treatment and then used another treatment machine. She had to breathing in and out deeply and when she breathed in the machine gave an extra puff and forced air deep into her lungs. After she did that, they used a third machine that pounds on her back to help loosen the mucus in her lungs. Right now (7:30 CST, Nov. 21) she is down to 60% o2 and her pulse-ox is up to 95/96. Tomorrow, we will meet the pulmonary specialist and see what we can do to stop this from happening again. I am sure this story is not quite over, we will have to see what happens tonight and tomorrow. TAFN ~ That's all for now!

Police, Hospitals, and Chaos!

Well, since I last wrote we have had a visit from the police, a visit to the police station, a five day hospital stay and of course the normal chaos.
The visit from the police was actually quite amusing! My boys were selling Cub Scout popcorn and I was delivering it to my next door neighbor. Christopher came over to get his inhaler and said that there was a raccoon in the yard. I said he could wait a couple of minutes for it to leave. Then he told me that the raccoon was falling down. That concerned all of us, so of course we went outside and found not a raccoon, but a opossum. It was sick, it took about 2 steps and then fell over. He hid under my house. So we decided to catch it in a pet carrier and call animal control. My neighbors have air guns (kind of like BB guns, but not) and they were trying to scare the opossum out from under my house and my other next door neighbor called the police because they were "shooting" guns. The police came, 3 of them. No one got it trouble, but they did stay for about 30-45 minutes to help us catch the animal. Animal control picked it up the next day.
Our police station visit was with Barry's Cub Scouts. The Chesterton police station and fire station are in the same building, so we got a tour of the police station (got to climb in a police car and hear the sirens up close) and the fire station (they still have a fireman pole). Cassidy and Barry went to that. Christopher was with his Cub Scout den at the library. Anyway that was a fun experience.
The five day stay in the hospital was not so much fun. Cassidy had been coughing for about a month with numerous visits to the doctor. Finally last Monday (10/19) the doctor put her on an antibiotic and gave her an inhaler. (She has never used an inhaler before and has no idea how to use it.) On Wednesday she was having a little trouble breathing about 10:30 pm. I took the boys to my mother's and took her to the hospital. They took us straight back and gave her a breathing treatment. They did a chest x-ray and found that she had bronchitis and pre-pneumonia. Because I have a nebulizer machine at home they sent us home and said that she should continue the antibiotic and do breathing treatments every 4 hours when she was awake. No problem. We had a follow up appointment with her doctor on Friday and everything was going well. On Saturday, she began to really have a hard time breathing. She was doing breathing treatments every 1 to 2 hours. (Not a good thing!) I took her back to the hospital and here is where it got interesting. We got to the ER and checked in with the triage receptionist. Cassidy was doing fine at the time, so I was not too worried when she said there were about 5 people ahead of us. About 10-15 minutes later Cassidy started to have a REALLY hard time. I got back up and told the receptionist that she needed to be seen NOW. The receptionist said she would tell the nurse (never happened.) Another man came in and said he was having trouble breathing and they took him straight into triage. Still no help for Cassidy. By this time she was crying and saying she could not breathe. A whole bunch of people came in and so another nurse came to help the triage nurse. She actually came into the waiting area and just looked at everyone to see if anyone needed immediate help and saw Cassidy. She listened to her lungs and took us straight back, no triage. Before Cassidy saw the doctor the nurse had her on O2 and had called for a respiratory therapist to give her a breathing treatment. They did another x-ray and she had full blown pneumonia. Her breathing was so bad that they gave her a breathing treatment that lasted an hour and they did a blood gas (not a good experience). Had the results of that been any worse they were going to transfer her to Riley Children's hospital in Indianapolis (about 2 hours from here.) Luckily they were good enough for us to stay in northwest IN. Cassidy's O2 saturation dropped to 88 (should be 95 or higher) every time they took the O2 off until Tuesday evening. That is why she stayed in the hospital so long. She was able to come home Wednesday. She is back at school now (half day today and full day starting Monday.) She is MUCH better.
Normal chaos is, well, normal. Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, AWANA, school, etc. are all going fine. The kids are ready for Halloween. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween. Enjoy!!

Sept. Update

I guess I am doing well to update this blog once a month. The kids are all back in school, for which I am very relieved. I forget how much energy they expend while they are gone learning. Christopher is in 3rd grade. He has Mr. Bol, who he thinks is the best. He told me he did not want to go to school on the day that he knew he would have a sub because the sub was not as nice as Mr. Bol, in fact she was going to be MEAN! (Of course he did go to school and as it turned out the sub was nice.) Cassidy is in 2nd grade. She is still in multi~age (1st and 2nd combined.) Usually she would have had the same teacher as last year, but with her teacher leaving (he moved to Indy), she had a long term sub. Mrs. Schaudt is a retired teacher who is willing to sub every once in a while. She ended up staying for the year because she was actually one of the teachers who started the multi~age program at Yost, so they did not have to teach her the ropes. Now Cassidy's teacher is Miss Rolfe (as of Sept. 19 Mrs Nicks) and she loves her! Barry is also in the multi~age program, but he has Mrs. Imhof (Christopher's old teacher.) He is in 1st grade and seems to enjoy the "big" kid role with the kindergarteners under him. He is a pro at school (according to him.) Cassidy and Barry have already gone on their first field trip ~ to the BEACH! They had a sandcastle building contest and then they played some teamwork games. (I was there to help out.) They had a really good time. All three of them are doing very well. We have started this year out right. The kids come home and race to see who will get their homework done correctly first. This has made my life much easier!!
We all went to the South Bend Zoo for my neice's birthday. It was a really nice zoo and my kids have already decided that we have to go back next year. We got to see the butterfly house (a first for all of us) and the kids would have been very happy to stay in there all day. We got to see butterflies not normally found around here and watch them emerge from their chrysallis. It was really neat to watch their faces as the butterflies flew around them.
Anyway, the kids are doing really well!
As for me, well, I think I need a vacation! :)

Kids!

Christopher had an awesome time at camp. He had no issues with allergies or asthma!! He cannot wait to go back next year.

I posted a note in March that the kids answered questions for. I had to repost it. It made me laugh. I think everyone needs to laugh once in a while. :) Enjoy!!

From March 13, 2009

Kids Say the Darndest Things

This should be interesting.

These are the questions I asked each of my kids one at a time (with the other kids in the other room):


1. What is something I always say to you?
Barry: I love you.
Cassidy: I love you.
Chris: Hm, I love you

2. What makes me happy?
Barry: cleaning the living room.
Cassidy: Hugs and kisses
Chris: When we obey, when I obey, not we, I

3. What makes me sad?
Barry: not obeying, not cleaning
Cassidy: when we don't obey
Chris: When I don't obey

4. What makes me laugh?
Barry: Me being silly
Cassidy: When we tickle you
Chris: When something funny happens

5. What was I like as a child?
Barry: Me
Cassidy: Uh, you didn't have any real live toys like they have now.
Chris: little

6. How old am I?
Barry: I don't know, how old are you momma?
Cassidy: I don't know
Chris: 33

7. How tall am I?
Barry: 25 feet
Cassidy: I don't know
Chris: Hm, I don't know

8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Barry: Swim with me.
Cassidy: Watch movie and us leave you alone
Chris: Cuddle us, cuddle me

9. What do I do when you're not around?
Barry: Wait, I don't know
Cassidy: Uh, sow on patches
Chris: Hm, play your DS

10. If I became famous, what will it be for?
Barry: I don't know what that means
Cassidy: Having one hundred million kids
Chris: Now that's a hard one, I think it would be that you are a nice mom

11. What am I really good at?
Barry: helping us do somersaults in the water
Cassidy: Playing with me
Chris: Hm, playing your DS

12. What am I not very good at?
Barry: I don't know
Cassidy: Not playing with me
Chris: Um, letting me play your DS

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Barry: I just know one job. You help the Girl Scouts. What's a job?
Cassidy: I don't know
Chris: Work at Baba's

14. What is my favorite food?
Barry: I don't know.
Cassidy: I forgot the name (while jumping up and down)
Chris: Anything

15. What makes you proud of me?
Barry: Giving me kiss and cuddles
Cassidy: That you love me (And then she gave me a hug)
Chris: Um, I think it would be that you love me and I love you

17. What do you and I do together?
Barry: Play
Cassidy: scrapbooking
Chris: Um, go, this is a hard one, go to McDonalds

18. How are you and I the same?
Barry: we do the same stuff like swim
Cassidy: you have blue eyes
Chris: Um, we both wear glasses and we both have blue eyes

19. How are you and I different?
Barry: We have different hair
Cassidy: you have glasses and I don't
Chris: You're a girl and I'm a boy

20. How do you know I love you?
Barry: Because you always love us, because you always say it.
Cassidy: Because you love us everyday when we come home from school
Chris: Um, because you let me play your DS

I really do not know WHAT to call this one

WOW!!! Meltdown city tonight! Cassidy is crying because I told her no. She is now saying it is because I do not love her. Of course, I am sitting quietly trying very hard not to laugh at her temper tantrum! Why do kids try these games? Barry cried a little earlier, but is now sound asleep on my mother's recliner. He tends to do this a lot when we make it to Friday during the school week. Christopher has decided to hide out in the car. He does not have the keys or anything, but I think that he just wants to be away from the crying.

Last Thursday, I went to the doctor and was put on an oral steroid and an inhaler. I now know exactly how Christopher feels when he has to use his inhaler. It sucks!! Still, my coughing has gotten mostly better. I am still coughing every once in a while. With this swine flu scare, everyone keeps looking at me like I am going to get them all sick. Relax folks, not sick at all, just a major allergy flare up. I did not realize my allergy to dust was so bad. Next time my mother can fix the vacuum cleaner.

Finally no more crying. Peace and quiet. I suppose that Cassidy has decided that no is not such a bad word after all. I wonder how long this will last! :)

Kids!!

You know, there are times when my kids absolutely drive me up the wall. For example, they were supposed to be cleaning the "play" room at my mother's tonight. Of course, they decided to 1.) fight, 2.) play, 3.) fight, 4.) play, I think you get the idea. So here we are three hours later (for a job that sound only have taken about 30 minutes) still trying to obey and JUST finish! These are the times when I really wish I had someone I could send in to talk to them, so I would not want to yell at them so much. Of course, I know God is in control and He knows what HE is doing. It is a really good thing that I am not in charge of the world. I know I would make a huge mess of things.

Anyway back to the kids. Of course, most of the time my kids amaze me. When Cassidy volunteers to help me, her brothers, family, or a friend, she is so willing to be there for people. She also is very sensitive to other people in pain of any kind. On Sunday when I pinched a nerve in my back, she cried because I was in pain. Christopher is one of the most inventive kids I know. Not just when he plays, but also when he is learning. His ability to put things into words that he and everyone else can understand is mind boggling! Barry is such a cutie. All he has to do is look at you and wink and you melt. When they play nicely together for hours it is so much fun to stop and listen to them pretending to be transformers, or a grown up family, or any number of things. These times more than make up for the frustration that comes with being a mom.

But why oh why do we have to pick today to act up??

Allergies!

I hate allergy testing! I really hate it! Anytime your child needs a shot or something that can "hurt or scare" them, parents hate it. But some ways to test for allergies are so much better than others. 40 pricks quickly done are so much better than 15 mini-shots done over a much slower period of time. Here are my two examples of the difference, aside from the fact that they were done to two different children. :)

In November, Christopher was tested for allergies. The testing was really quick and easy, although to hear Christopher tell you about it, it was horrible! The nurse had him take off his shirt and climb in my lap. She then QUICKLY prick his back with 40 different allergens (it took about 5 or 6 minutes.) He sat in my lap and waited about 5 minutes and they checked the pricks and figured out what he was allergic too. (27 out of 40 things) He will be tested for food allergies in March. Christopher never saw a needle and he really did not feel a thing. Being a kid, he hated it but he survived and the test was over.

When I took Cassidy to be tested today, horrible. Normally she is the easiest child to deal with at the doctor's office. She was refered to an ENT and he says that she has allergies and that is what is causing her frequent ear infections. He wanted her to get tested. She was fine until the woman before us got tested for allergies. The technician said, "You will get 15 or more of these pricks." Of course, that scared Cassidy. And then she saw what the pricks were. The tech got a syringe and put the allergen into it. She then had to poke the needle into the top layer of skin and inject the allergen into it forming a "bubble." It took about 15-20 minutes to do 15 "pricks." The woman before Cassidy did not like it at all. She got 8 "pricks" on one arm and 7 on the other. Then, it was Cassidy's turn. Of course she started crying as soon as she saw the needle. She allowed the tech to "prick" her twice (it took about 10 minutes) and then it was over. She was hysterical! The tech gave up and I was actually quite relieved! I took Cassidy to our "normal" doctor and her is going to refer her to the allergist that Christopher went to so she can be tested in a quicker, easier way. Cassidy did not let the test get finished the first time. I am hoping that the allergist can make her testing experience much better the next time around.

As you can see, allergy testing is horrible to begin with, but there is a good way and a bad way for the testing to be done. Unfortunately, Cassidy experienced the BAD way to be tested. I'll let you know how she handles the other way. :)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Well, we are now officially in 2009. I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and a wonderful New Year! 2008 was an interesting year to say the least. My children are all doing well in school and I hope they continue to do well as 2009 starts. Christopher has officially been diagnosed with allergies to every kind of tree and grass imaginable. He is also allergic to ragweed, cats and dogs. Did you know there are two different types of dust mites? Well, there are and he is allergic to both kinds!! He will be tested for food allergies in March. Cassidy finally got referred to an ENT. She has allergies also. We will not find out what she is allergic to until Feb or March. I never considered allergies with her frequent ear infections, but she has them and THEY cause the ear infections. Fun, right? Barry is not having any allergy problems at the moment, but that could change. Thank heavens God is in charge!!

All of the kids continue to excel at swimming. Christopher is almost ready to join the swim team (yeah!) and Cassidy is getting there. Barry thinks he can swim better than he really can, which makes thing fun. If I am not watching him 100% of the time, he thinks it is fun to try to swim away and then he sinks. He has no fear of the water at all.

AWANA is going really well. My girl's group is not very big, but they are really working hard. Every quarter we have a special activity for the girls that pass at least 14 sections in the quarter. (The quarter is two months long from Sept.-April.) Out of nine girls 7 of them were invited to the last quarter activity. I hope we get at least the same number of girls for our next activity. I will know in two weeks! Christopher is doing well in Sparks. He continues to surprise is leaders with his ability to figure out what the verses mean without them having to explain it to them. Cassidy is doing well also. She is starting to read on her own, so she needs less one on one help. Barry loves to go to Sparks. He gets so excited to be there. He thinks it is fun when he see a word he knows, so it is fun to work with the leaders.

All of the kids will be able to start riding the horses again when it gets warmer. They all went to the horse show awards with their grandmother and had a really good time. It was a nice little break for me, because I have not had two days in a row with no kids, in a very long time . :)

We had a lot of people at my mother's for Christmas. It was one of the biggest get togethers we have had in a long time. That made things fun let me tell you! It was wonderful to see family that we have not seen in a while. Dave and Sonya came up from OK, Uncle D.B. and Mary Jo came, and Helen and her kids were there. We have not seen most of them in a long time.

My life has been a bit chaotic lately. My ex is the source of a lot of the problems, but as of now he is no longer permitted to talk to me. I am glad of that, because it takes a lot of the stress out of the picture. I am still dealing with the after effects of his actions, but I can handle them, if he is not in the way. :)

Anyway, I hope that God allows 2009 to be stress free as much as possible for me and for everyone I love. Have a great year!

November Update a Little Late!

Christopher is nine! I cannot believe my oldest is nine. It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny little baby! Outside of the very cold and snowy weather, November was rather uneventful. For this I am very grateful. The kids are pretty healthy, although Chris did get strep throat. Cassidy has not been on antibiotics recently and she has been referred to an ENT. Finally! I am still waiting for the doctor's office to call and let me know who she is going to go to. Barry is very healthy and happy. He does not really remember Brad, so he does not seem to have the same kind of issues as the other two. We are still getting counseling which is really helping. My kids really like to go and see Kathleen (our counselor.) She is very nice. The only problem is that as of the 18th, she is out of work until the grant is renewed. Anyway, she is going to give me the names of some people that will take our insurance and still be able to help the kids. My life is a little overwhelming at the moment and the kids have nothing much to do with it. They are doing well in school and swimming, AWANA, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts. It makes me happy that they are feeling so much better about things. Anyway, my life is crazy mainly becasue of, well, you guessed it - Brad. Long story that is not really important, however, if we did not have kids, I would be done talking to him altogether. Anyway, have a wonderful holiday season!!

27 out of 40

Hello everyone! I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! This year my oldest will be nine (tomorrow)!!! I cannot believe that he is already getting so big! He was tested for allergies (finally) last week. The allergist gave him the "40" test. They pricked Christopher's back with 40 different environmental things (trees, grass, animals, mold, dust mites, etc.) He was allergic to 27 of the things. Every tree that he was tested for, every grass, 2 different types of dust mites, and cats and dogs. They will test him for food allergies in March. He hated it. He now takes five different kinds of medicine every day. One for ADHD, 4 for allergies/asthma. He also has an emergency inhaler for his asthma for only when he needs it. He is supposed to take another allergy med, but the insurance needs to get the doctor's pre-authorization. At least now we know part of his allergies.

Cassidy and Barry are fine! Cassidy will be seeing an ENT soon to discuss whether she needs her tonsils removed or something like that. Right now though she is feeling pretty good. Barry is doing great. He is the healthiest of my kids. Anyway everyone is doing fine!

October Update

Total chaos. I suppose anyone with kids can understand where I am coming from. I think at the moment the chaos is somewhat controlled. I went to AWANA last night and the girls had a lot of fun. One of our girls has downs syndrome. She had emergency surgery on Monday, her growth plate in her hip slipped out of place. Please pray for her. Her name is Libby. Anyway at the end of club, I had one of Christopher's Sparky leaders tell me how smart he was. She said that he would read the verses and then change the worlds he did not really understand to words that meant the same thing so he was sure that he knew what he was learning. I am so happy for him. He is finally able to focus enough to show the world how smart he is, something I have known all the time! Cassidy is at a girl scout event right now. She sold over 200 boxes of cookies so far. She is so proud of herself. Barry loves to come home from school and tell me everything that happened over the whole day, to him and his friends. Today and tomorrow the kids are not in school. Their teachers have inservice. Christopher's teacher went on maternity leave on Wednesday. Cassidy got a new teacher about two weeks ago. Her teacher got a new job. Barry is the only one so far that did not get a new teacher yet. I hope he does not. Christopher's teacher comes back in January. (She is having a boy, she thinks!) Anyway, I just thought I'd update everyone.

Just a quick thought -> I am SO not ready for snow!!! (The weather report says we might get some on Sunday!!) TOO SOON!!!!!

Kids again!

Wow, last week was a bit insane. This week looks a little better, well it did before all three kids got sick and missed school today. As soon as I leave here, I am taking them to an after hours clinic, so they can HOPEFULLY not miss any more school. It is really hard to get them an appointment on Mondays. They all started getting sick yesterday, and well now they got me sick too!!! Christopher slept until 2pm today. He was so pale. He looks and feels better right now, but he still gets to go in to the doctor. Any way, I think I keep jumping from one thought to another, so if none of this makes any sense, I am sorry. My head is a little achy right now. Cassidy probably has an ear infection (she has them a lot and never really has a fever or earaches), she has been coughing and that usually leads me to her ears. Anyway, Barry just has a cold I think, but you never know! I'll fill you in later!

Crazy life!!

Lets see, where to begin? I do not even know! My life is so crazy! My kids really seem to be going in ten different directions and they are still little. What am I going to do when they get big enough to really have lots to do. I think I will just have to let them figure it out. This past weekend the Colvins took my kids on Saturday and kept them the WHOLE day. It was so nice to have a day with no kids. I did not have to feed them breakfast or lunch (they ate at grandma's house), I did not have to entertain them, I actually got stuff done! Hooray! Yesterday Christopher had a counseling session that went really well. Today Cassidy has Girl Scouts, and then all three kids have swimming lessons. I am watching my nephew so his mom can go to a funeral. Tomorrow we have AWANA, and Thursday we have more swimming lessons. I am pretty sure the kids do not have some place to go on Friday, but I have an AWANA activity with the girls T&T. Then on Saturday, I have a counseling session with Brad's counselor again. That is just this week. Oh well, I will survive! :)

Weekend of rain!

What about this rain!? I took Christopher to the Colvin's house today. Ron was going to spend the afternoon with him. (They had a really good time.) Anyway, I got a phone call from Ron telling me not to take 73rd. If you know 73rd avenue in Hobart/Merrillville, then you will know about the dangerous curve that is between 51 and Colorado. There is a sinkhole about 14 feet deep across both lanes of the road. When I got to the Colvin's house, there was a car in the sinkhole almost completely under water. All I could see was the left rear tire and part of the trunk! The man driving the car got out OK, but his car was flooded in a BIG way! For all you Northwest Indiana people, you will know that the rain is not over yet. We are supposed to get heavy rain tonight and the weather report on the radio said "100% chance of heavy rain tomorrow." Roads all over the area are already under water. There has been so much rain already. I suppose I should not complain. We are not in the middle of Hurricane Ike, so it could be worse. Cassidy is at a horse show in southern Indiana and they have not had rain there yet. She got pushed over by the baby horse and got muddy, so I guess that means that they did have rain earlier this week. Anyway, I'll keep you posted!

Update

I have a little update about Brad. He got out of jail last December. I expected him to really cause a lot of problems for me right from the beginning. I have been pleasantly surprised that he has been on his best behavior. He only communicated with me through his mom because he was not allowed to talk to me until I talked to his counselor. I did not talk to her until the very beginning of August. That was the hardest meeting I have ever had to go to. Everything that I thought I had gotten past was brought back to the surface. I have come to the decision that I am not quite as over everything as I thought. I have gone back to talk to the counselor twice. Once alone and once with Brad. (The first meeting Brad was at and he had to do all the talking.) I am getting child support, again another thing I did not think I would ever see. Brad has not tried to see the kids yet. It is part of his parole that he stay away from kids under 18. From what he has said, he does want to see our kids. I am still a little uncomfortable with the idea, but it will be court supervised, so it should be fine. The kids have all figured out that he is out of jail, but Christopher is the only one who is having a hard time with not seeing him. After my first meeting, Christopher said that since I had talked to "Daddy" he should be able to see him too. I have been considering getting Christopher some counseling, but could never afford it. I found a place near our home that counsels kids for free, so we have our first appointment on Wednesday right after school. Cassidy has started telling people that her dad is dead. I have told her that she cannot lie to people about things. She may start counseling also, if I see that she is continuing to have an issue with the "Daddy" stuff. I think that she is angry that her dad is not around to do thing with her, like her friends' dad's do. Matt and Nick have both done special things with her, but she is starting to see that it is not the same. (Nick and Matt both took her to her Girl Scout Daddy/Daughter Dance the past two years.) Barry does not seem to care much about whether or not he has a daddy in the picture. Anyway back to Brad. I have been told that he may not be able to see the kids until at least December and if that does not happen it could take as long as December of 2010 or 11, before he can see them. Anyway, I will let you know how things are going as things happen.

Just wondering

Well, I am a little confused. I have been sneezing like crazy and my nose keeps running, but until today I was not coughing at all. At first I thought I was just allergies, but now I am not so sure. Also, my kids started swimming lessons again this week. Of course, I HAVE to swim too. I wonder if that has anything to do with me feeling sick. Anyway, Cassidy has a horse show this weekend, her first girl scout meeting next Tuesday, AWANA started on Wednesday, Christopher's boy scouts start next Tuesday (after Cassidy's girl scout meeting), and the swimming lessons are every Tuesday and Thursday. I think that I am going to go crazy this month. Maybe that is why I am sick!! :)

Horse Show, August 17, 2008

My kids all competed in a horse show today.

Cassidy competed in SHOWMANSHIP, WALK / TROT 9 & UNDER, PONY WALK / TROT, SENIOR HORSE WALK / TROT, NOVICE RIDER WALK / TROT, and ENGLISH SADDLES WALK / TROT 18 & UNDER. She came in second in WALK / TROT 9 & UNDER, fifth place in PONY WALK / TROT (she did better than Connie did), and sixth place in NOVICE RIDER WALK / TROT. She did not place in the others. This was her first English saddle competition. In her SENIOR HORSE WALK / TROT, there were 27 people. Cassidy was the youngest. She had a really good time.



Barry competed in LEADLINE class. Connie (my sister-in-law) lead him around while he tried to guide the horse. He came in first. He was quite excited.



Christopher competed in the WALK class. He rode the horse with no one around (all by himself). He was proud of himself. He was afraid of first. He also got first.



We spent the whole day at the show and the kids cannot wait until they can go to another show!

Summer Update A Little Late

WOW!! It has been a long time since I wrote any update! This has been an interesting summer. I have been babysitting my nephew (Brad's older sister, Kim's son) every other week all summer. Zack is eleven so he is a little older than my kids. Christopher, Cassidy, and Barry are all fine. They love having Zack over every other week. Cassidy and Chris were is Danny Martin's wedding in July. Cassidy was the flower girl. Christopher was the ring bearer. They thought it was great fun. I am still working for my mother. Nick (my brother) is building a deck for her. I am helping as much as I can. The kids start school next week. Barry is in full day kindergarten, Cassidy is in first grade and Christopher is in second. Cassidy and Christopher are in a multi-age class. These classes have about 10 first graders and 10 second graders, so they have the same teacher two years in a row. I really like the program. They do have two different teachers, but the teachers work together some of the time. Cassidy is still riding the horses. She moved up from the Leadline class to Walk/Trot. She is working on the canter part and is almost ready to move up to the Walk/Trot/Canter class. She is also learning to ride an English saddle and bareback. She has not competed in English riding or bareback yet, but she is getting there. She went to the Lake County Fair last Friday and came in first place in the Walk/Trot class and second place (out of 12 people 18 and under) in the costume class. She had a great time. Christopher came in first in the Leadline class and Barry came in first in the "Stick Horse" class. They both thought it was cool that they got to be in a horse show like Cassidy does. She has another show hopefully on Sunday of this week and them she is in a weekend long show on the 22nd-24th. She can not wait. The boys will be able to ride in the show if we go this Sunday, but not the 22-24. On another note, I had a meeting with Brad and his counselor about two weeks ago. It was the first time I had seen or talked to Brad in over four years. It was very hard to get through that meeting. I got the first apology since everything happened and he also told me that it wasn't my fault. (I know I did nothing, but it was nice to hear from him.) He had to tell me some stuff I did not know about. I thought I was over most of that stuff, but, it reopened the hurt and I guess I am not as over it as I thought. He will still not be allowed to see the kids for at least a year. After a year he can petition the parole board and maybe get to see them, but if not it will be at least three years. We will see what happens. I have a meeting with his counselor on Saturday and then another meeting with him and her in about two weeks. Anyway, life is not bad. The kids are ready to go back to school and I am more than ready for them too. :) Here is a picture from the wedding.

I just realized how long it has been since I wrote anything! I have been finishing a semester in school. (I have two classes left to take.) My life is pretty full right now. My kids seem to be going in ten different directions. Christopher has boys scouts and swimming lessons. Cassidy has girl scouts, swimming lessons, and horseback riding stuff. Barry has swimming lessons. Last week was the last week for AWANA so that is one less direction to go. Cassidy competes on the horse. She does showmanship, costume class, trail, and one other class that I cannot remember the name of with a Western saddle. This year she is also learning English riding. She has her first competition of the season next weekend. She is really excited. Last year she came in second in the state for her age group. She was in 6 and under lead line. (The horse was lead around the arena.) This year she could still be in lead line, but she is good enough to ride without a lead line, so she is doing it alone. She loves it!!! Christopher is doing great with his swimming. He is reviewing the guppy class at the Y, but I could have just let him move up to the next class. He has not taken swimming lessons in almost a year. Barry and Cassidy are in their first class. They are both doing great also.

Christopher is still struggling with his ADHD. We changed his meds (again) and instead of helping they are making it worse. We go back to the doctor on Monday to see what we can do next. He is trying so hard and I feel so bad when he ends up in trouble for something I know he can do, and has done, right.

I will try to keep up on this blog stuff, but I cannot promise anything!!