I need to catch up

I have so much to blog about and I now have a friend holding me to at least 3 posts per week, so hopefully I can do it. Where shall I start? How about our Anniversary trip.... We had an absolutely amazing time!! It began on Saturday night when we went to see the Taming of the Shrew with Brad's Shakespeare class. Yes, it is strange to begin your anniversary trip with your spouses English class but we both had an amazing time watching the performance. Then we went out for a drink with the class and then headed to our hotel. By the time we got there the club next door was clearing out so the parking lot was filled with half-drunk gangster looking people and we almost stayed at a different hotel! After considering the fact that we would have to drive around L.A. looking for a hotel we decided we were exhausted and would just stay where we originally planned. It was a very nice hotel and because they couldn't locate our reservation we got free breakfast for the next 2 mornings which was great! Sunday morning we woke up and went to the Farmer's market in Santa Monica. I was so excited to be there I started to get teary eyed and then when I saw how much fun our kids would have being there I really started to cry. After a moment I composed myself and just took in how awesome it was to be surrounded by organic produce. There was a band playing nice music and people were totally picnicking on the grass. We had brought a cooler so that we could come home with organic treasures. For our lunch that day we decided to get salad greens which came in a plastic bag, some sun dried tomato dressing, an heirloom tomato,strawberries, garlic butter and a loaf of kalamata olive bread all from different vendors. We grabbed a fork and knife from one of the other vendors and we went to the sit on the beach and have our lunch. It was so relaxing to sit with our lunch and enjoy it together. We then went wandering around all the little shops and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant then went back to the hotel. As we were relaxing and watching a show there was an earthquake! The hotel was swaying!!! We ran downstairs and I was totally freaked out. All was fine though and we went back up to our room for a good night sleep and then had breakfast in the morning and then headed home. There were no catastrophes at home and we had a glorious time. It was exactly what we needed!!


This was the Awesome fountain that we got to see in action after the performance. We were very impressed!!!

BBQ

We had a BBQ with my friends that I have known forever. Since I am terrible at posting pictures my friend Chrissy has posted some on her blog so please go visit here to see the pics. They are sure cute and one day eventually I will post some on my blog. I hope to get caught up with blogging ove the summer but it probably won't happen.

Baldness

These bald heads are what I came home to after being at a rally for summer spectacular at church. We had talked about shaving these heads and Brad took the initiative tonight. They look adorable!

The Bulldozer sitting in his sisters car seat

The munchkin half watching tv and half looking at me

We are leaving this afternoon for our Anniversary trip. We are hoping it is better than Last Years Anniversary Trip. We are staying two nights in L.A. We have the weekend planned out but I will share the details when we get back so I am not reiterating information. We are both so excited. I am a little nervous about leaving the kids for 2 nights but I am sure I will get over that very fast. Please pray that nothing eventful happens with the kids and that the munchkin eats for Grandma because our weight gain appointment is on Wednesday.

I am sick

I don't think it is swine flu though because it started yesterday and I am feeling MUCH better today. This happens every year around this time-I go to bed too late and then I have one really long night where the kids don't sleep well and WHAM! Last year I got strep throat 2(or maybe 3) times in an eight week period. The kids are being pretty good-the bulldozer has actually been "washing dishes" at the kitchen sink for about 30 min. He is very happy there and I think he may have a system going. The princess is napping, the munchkin is talking to the TV when he is asked questions and the prince is playing in his room with his friend. I was able to clean the kitchen this afternoon -thank goodness! The only reason I am even feeling better is because my amazing husband watched the kids this morning instead of doing his homework. I was able to rest and get rid of my fever. Then the wonderful man took the kids to the park so I could shower in peace. He truly saved me! My only complaint is my throat is still a bit sore but I am treating that with echinacea tea with honey. Everyone else is doing well though. Brad has occasional kidney pain but he is okay for the most part. He has his pre-op appointment June 4th and on that day they will schedule the surgery, I think it will be a month after that- not sure though. Just wanted to update everyone.

My Husband's Kidney

On March 9th a day after my Husband turned 27 he went into the emergency room because of excruciating pain in his kidney area. He had had that pain before but this time it was so terrible that he had to go into the ER. We found out that his left kidney was not working but that hospital could not do anything for him but give pain medication because we don't have insurance for him. We applied for medi-cal and he has seen a urologist in Moreno Valley at the county hospital 3 times-the third was today. He found out what we had been suspecting, that his left kidney is not working due to a severe obstruction that he has had since birth but it hasn't given him problems until the last year or so. In about two months-we don't know the date for sure yet- Brad will be having his left kidney removed. The right one is still working fine but it may give him trouble later in life. I will update with the date of the surgery when I know.

The Munchkin is Doing AMAZING things!

I never reported this to everyone but we went to the GI doctor in Feb and she wants him to gain a good amount of weight by mid May or they will want to put in the feeding tube. Well, we have started putting a small amount of prune juice in his bottles of pediasure plus the neccessary 3 scoops of Calorie booster in each bottle. And let me tell you he is totally gaining weight!!! Also, he used to spend a good part of his day cranky, like screaming cranky-not fun. Well since the addition of the prune juice he has been soooo happy. He is like a new child. He also has many new tricks. He can pull himself up to stand in the hallway and open doors, he can also walk along the hallway holding onto the wall. He needs less support when we are helping him walk and today he got his gait trainer (medical walker). He was so excited and so was his brother and sister. They wanted to help him when he was in it and the bulldozer came up to me and said "Bike" and pointed to the garage. He wanted to take the munchkin outside with his new wheels so they could ride "bikes" together. So we went out and they had so much fun. I let the munchkin wander around the cul-de-sac where there were no obstacles. He was very tired after already having had therapy and then trying his new walker out for a second time but it was so fun. I pushed the munchkin home because he was just too tired to walk himself and when we got to the driveway, the bulldozer hopped off his bike so he could push his brother up the driveway, while he was pushing, he kissed him on the shoulder. It was the sweetest thing ever. Here are some short videos and a couple pictures.


He is so happy!

The bulldozer enjoying playtime outside with his brother



He got really tired at the end of this.