Merry Christmas Eve.....Eve

So, it's getting close.  Today is Christmas Eve Eve.  But, I already got the best gift I could get.  Kaden had his Ortho appointment today.  The Dr. said that he can do most anything.  He can run, jump, and play as normal.  He can do most anything that he could do prior to breaking his leg.  He has to wait another 6 weeks to participate in contact sports such as soccer or sparring in karate and to jump on a trampoline.  But, after that he is good to go.  We don't have to go back to the Ortho Dr until June 23.  At that time we will have more x-rays and discuss when the IM nails will have to come out of his leg.  I hope that they will be able to take them out in plenty of time for his leg to heal before school starts.

It is so great for him to be able to run and play without Brian or I fussing at him for doing typical boy things because he may hurt his leg.  He has been really patient through the entire healing process.  I am so glad that he is able to play like he should be able to.  It did not come a moment too soon.  It is a great gift to me to know that my son can play and enjoy himself on Christmas without limitations from a broken leg.  

I hope to post tomorrow and Christmas Day.  But, if I do not get to then I want to wish everyone a wonderful, love-filled, memorable Merry Christmas!

The Mom Song

I saw this posted on another blog and I thought it was really hysterical. This is so true! ENJOY!

Christmas is my absolute FAVORITE holiday.  I get so excited about all of it.  I love decorating, shopping, wrapping gifts, looking at Christmas lights, Nativity scenes, putting out milk and cookies for Santa.....ALL OF IT!!  But, for some reason I am feeling kind of blah.  We have the house all decorated, I have most of the shopping done, and the kids are really excited.  Maybe it's because I will not get to see any of my family.  Maybe it's because we have had a rough 2008.  Maybe I have just been too busy to enjoy the season.  I have no idea why I have the blahs, but I do hope that it will pass soon. 

The pointless attempt at Christmas Pics

     Every year when it gets close to Christmas, Brian and I get the wonderful idea in our heads to take the kids somewhere to take their pics for Christmas cards.  I think most you know where this is going.......we are NEVER successful.  One of them is always tired, or cold, or hungry, or has to go potty, etc....We have an awesome place called The Crystal Bridge at The Myriad Gardens in OKC.  It is just beautiful and decorated with tons of lights.  Oh well it was a nice attempt.  

     I am so excited that Brian and I are done with school until January!  Well, I am done for a while.  Brian will start again in January but I will not go back until after Kaden has his next surgery to remove the flexible nails in his leg.  It was just too hard with him in a wheelchair and I don't need all that stress.  

     We are almost done with our Christmas shopping.  I am really excited for Santa to come!!  Kaden has his Christmas Party at school this week and then Friday will be his last day until January.  He is getting very anxious.  Cassidy is also really excited and keeps talking about a flying snow horse that she wants.  She is so funny!  Lately she has been getting in a little trouble at school with not listening and being mean to her friends.  When I talk to her she tells me that she does not feel good.  When I ask her why, she says that she 'had a hard day at school!"  What?  How does a 3 yr old have a "hard" day exactly??  Oh well, what can you do!

Doctor Day

Today was Doctor Day for Kaden. We had an appt with a dermatologist to have a wart on his finger treated. That was simple and painless. The dermatologist, Dr. Collingbourne was awesome. She put some paste type salycylic acid on it and we were done. She said that it should work since it was a small wart. She also recommended "Wart sticks" that can be purchased at a pharmacy. She said they are the same thing they used in the office, just not as strong. She mentioned that the sticks were different than the freezing stuff you can buy OTC because they do not cause any pain. You put the wart stick on the wart, cover it with duct tape, and pull the duct tape off the next morning. It sloughs away the layers of the wart, and you repeat every night until it is gone. Our next appt was with Kaden's Ortho Doc, Puffinbarger. We had X-Rays done and then met with the Dr. He said everything was right on track. He even said that Kaden could start bearing full weight on his leg to the extent that he was comfortable. So, he hopped down and started walking on it. It was pretty funny because he looked like a little limping penguin. But, I think that in no time he will be going as strong as ever. We are very thankful that everything is going well with the healing of his leg. The only downside is that just when he is able to resume normal activities then he will have to have another surgery to have the IM nails removed. Once again he will be restricted from activities to let the bone heal. I want to thank everyone that called, sent cards/gifts in the hospital, and said prayers for our boy. We appreciate it.

The Holidays are in the Air

I have officially gotten the "holiday bug." I am about to die for Thanksgiving dinner, you know the ham, turkey, dressing with cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, broccoli salad, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. You eat so much that you are miserable for the next 5 hours, and then just when you start to feel a little better, you stupidly eat just as much for your next meal. I am so ready for that!
I have gotten about 1/2 of my Christmas shopping done. I am really hopeful that I may get it all finished soon. At least I am making the effort to get it done. Our neighbors put up their Christmas tree last weekend....yes, last weekend! I am kind of jealous although Brian thinks it is way too soon. So, I guess we will wait until Thanksgiving weekend to put up our decorations. We have a 7 1/2 ft. tree that we got about 4 yrs ago when we live in MS. Our living room was kind of small, so we got a slim tree. Now we have a larger living room and our tree looks kind of like a Charlie Brown tree. I want a huge 9 ft tree that they have at Hobby Lobby, but it's not exactly in our price range at the moment. Oh well, it would probably cost a fortune to buy enough ornaments to cover a tree that big. We barely have enough to cover our current tree.
I am going to make Thanksgiving dinner and my sister-in-law is going to come in with her kids. The next morning we will get up at about 3 am to hit the black friday sales! I am so pumped. I am a black friday fanatic. I will get up and go to the stores even if there is nothing that I want. It's another one of those things that puts me in the holiday mode. I can't wait!!

I let myself down

I am currently taking Accounting II. I did okay on Acct I last semester and so I thought I would get the next one over with. I am, admittedly, not that great at math. But, I had a test tonight that I was pretty sure that I would get a good grade on. So, I start the test.........and I sit there like a deer in the headlights. I could not remember a thing. So, I sat in the testing center for 2 hrs trying to remember what I could. I left pretty discouraged about the whole thing. I was tempted to drop the class once Kaden got hurt. But, I thought maybe I could just make it through and get it over with to avoid wasted money and having to start the class all over again. No I am doubting my decision to drop while I could. I have one more test before Thanskgiving. If I can ace that test then all may be okay. But, it would take a huge miracle at this point! So, if you are in the mood to pray for me a miracle...I need all the help that I an get! Thanks.

Discouraged in OK,

Tracey

Halloween

I know it's a little late, but I wanted to put up a few pics of the kiddos from Halloween. Cassidy was Cinderella and Kaden was Skullzor (don't ask b/c I am not really sure)! But, I got Cass ready and Brian got Kaden ready. I thought we did pretty good. We went around our neighborhood and then to The Turkingtons. After that the kids were both exhausted to the point of tears. Kaden said his leg was hurting. So, we grabbed some food for dinner (after the kids had tons of candy) and headed home.

A little worn out

It has been a while since my last post. I have been completely exhausted lately! Taking care of Kaden takes a lot of energy. On top of that, he has fallen about 5 times now using his walker. Two of those times he hurt his leg bad enough to cry. The second time it happened, Brian ended up taking him to the ER at Children's Hospital to have it looked at to confirm no further damage had been done. They said it looked okay and was probably just sore when he fell. It makes me very nervous for him to use the walker.....and I think it stresses Kaden out that he is going to hurt his leg again.
The weather here is changing and starting to get cold. We actually had frost a couple of mornings this week. But, along with the cold weather, Cassidy's asthma flares up in the form of a horrible cough. Also, I have been sick with a cold that seems to be passing on to Brian. Brian and I have been discussing all the reasons that this year has been so rough for us. Let's take a trip down memory lane for a minute: January I had to have tests done on a thyroid nodule, February (Cassidy's Bday to be exact) I had an episode with kidney stones....worst pain ever, later in February I ran over our dog (he survived with 1 bone in his paw missing), March Brian had strep throat, April, May, June, July, and August were pretty uneventful, September Brian got a staph infection, and now October Kaden broke his leg and had to have surgery. I feel like I have aged about 10 yrs from all the stress!! I am hoping that things will go better for us in 2009.

I am very excited that tomorrow is Halloween. The kids are ready to wear their costumes. I will post tomorrow with some pics.

Kaden's broken leg

These are pics from Kaden's surgery on his broken femur. The surgery took about 2 hours. Kaden's fracture was transverse with complete lateral displacement and shortening. In layman's terms....it made me want to cry to look at it! It was a clean break right in the middle of the femur. The surgery was successful and he now has 2 flexible titanium nails in his Left femur. In about 9-12 months they will be removed in another surgery. The pics here are from right after his surgery. He was in a LOT of pain at the time and his blood pressure was really high. So, they tried to keep him well medicated and comfortable after he woke up in so much pain. It has now been 11 days since the surgery and we had our first follow up today. They did X-rays and said that everything seemed to be on track. He took the bandage off and the incision s looked clean. I asked that they put another bandage on for my comfort. Kaden can now start to put pressure on his left leg while using his walker as long as he is comfortable. We talked to him about it tonight and he said he was scared to use his hurt leg. This really broke my heart! Our poor baby has been through so much in the last 2 weeks. Please keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery and healing.

The First Break

Another day in my life with KIDS!! Yesterday, about 3:45pm, I got a call from Kaden's After School. The conversation goes like this: "Mrs. Wines, this is Truman after school program. Kaden fell from the Jungle Gym and hurt his leg. It is swelling and he says he can't move it......and, we don't want to move him." So, I say I am on my way, hang up, and call Brian. We both head to Truman. I get there first and go to the playground where Kaden was laying. I could see the swelling underneath his shorts. It was on the inside of his leg between his knee and his groin. I instantly knew that I would not attempt to move him. So, I called 911 and Brian. An ambulance and fire truck came. During all of this he had not even cried! I thought I might cry just looking at him. So, we go to Norman Regional Hospital via ambulance. They get him stabilized and get X-Rays. They come in a while later and tell us that they are moving him to Children's Hospital in OKC. They said it will need surgery and that Children's has Pediatric Ortho Specialists. So, we get in another ambulance and take a very bumpy ride to Children's in the City.
Once we are at Children's Hospital (about 8:30pm) then we go to the ER there. We are there until about 1:00 am. They access him, talk about his x-rays, and our options. Our options are this: a full body cast from the chest down both legs or they could put two flexible titanium nails in his femur. Later they tell us that they have to move the current splint because it is getting uncomfortable. They give him more pain meds and start to move him and he starts crying and shaking. It was horrible and his little lips were quivering uncontrollably. His blood pressure got really high, from the pain. They FINALLY gave him a medicine that made him rest. They finished splinting the leg and they told us that we could get admitted to a room soon. They also say that he is in the schedule from surgery Friday morning about 9 am.
We get admitted to a room about 1am, then they have to do a traction boot. Let me give you a visual of this: The attach a soft boot around his splint on his leg, the boot has straps to which they attach a rope, and at the other end of the rope is a 10 pound weight. This boot pulls the leg out and hels the bone realign to relieve pressure. WHATEVER! It sounds painful to me. And, my stress level goes back up at the thought of doing this.
Now it is about noon on Friday. Kaden is currently in surgery. So, here we are.....just waiting. It seems like forever. Please pray for our little boy.

Mom of the Year

I just want to start off by saying that I am counting up the reasons why I should be mom of the year. The first reason would be that Kaden wants to be a vampire for Halloween and we cannot find a costume that we like. So, I decided to buy some material and make him one. Granted I will buy black pants and a white dress shirt and the only the I am making is the cape.....it's still questionable as to whether this is a good idea. I went to Hobby Lobby today and scoped out the fabric section. I found some shiny red and black fabric that I thought looked "vampirish" and did what any girl would do....I called my Mom to ask how much fabric I needed for my attempt at making this cape! She told me what to get so I got it. Now I am sitting at home looking at my fabric and waiting for it to tell me what to do. I forgot to mention that I don't have a sewing machine, nor have I ever had the desire to have one. I have always lived close to my Mom who could sew anything so she took care of those things for me! WAAAAH, I want my Mommy! But, it would be a long trip to get a cape made so I will try to figure out what to do.
Back to my point about mom of the year. Second, I have been designated as Kaden's class Homeroom Mom. I am thrilled to get to be involved, but WOW, this is a lot of work for a kindergarten class! I think we took naps in Kindergarten and picked our noses. Now they read, do math, and have a lot of extracurricular activities that I have to plan, coordinate, and execute. We are currently working on a field trip on October 14th, Fall Carnival for October 24th, a silent auction that will coincide with the Fall Carnival, and a Halloween party on Oct 31. Did I mention that I have to make a cape for my son for Halloween!
The good news is that we have activities for the kids 3 nights a week, Brian has school 2 nights, a week, and I have my online class. So, there should leave meplenty of time to squeeze everything in.
Now you may not really feel that this makes me Mom of the Year, but if you know me then you know that I don't really have any talent (especially sewing) to pull these things off.................so the fact that I am even trying should at least put me in the running for Mom of the Year.

Another day down

It's Thursday and I am glad that the weekend is in sight. My boss is out of town this week so work has been pretty hectic. Brian and I are slammed with school as usual. Cassidy has declared that she wants to start ballet. I do NOT think she has the patience for ballet. She can't keep her hiney still for 5 minutes. We'll see how that turns out. Kaden is doing awesome in school. I am really amazed at all the things they learn in Kindergarten. Tonight I told him that he needed to feed his fish because they were going to starve to death (I always feed them, but he doesn't know). He told his fish "Don't panic! I am going to feed you a bunch since I don't often feed you." He says the funniest things.

The other day we were listening to a song on the radio. The words go something like: "I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul." Kaden asked me what a "soul" was? Now, anyone who deals with kids knows how hard it is to explain something that you can't hold, touch, and feel.....the intangible. But, I explained the best I could about a person and their body and what happens when one dies. He took it all in and his only question was "Do people in Heaven get sad?" So, I realized that maybe kids have a better concept of faith that a lot of adults.

Welcome to the Weekend

It's Friday night....about 10:30pm. When Brian and I got off work at 5pm we picked up the kids and headed to the mall. We had family portraits for our church directory at 6:45 and we needed dark colored shirts (per the pic people). So, we ran around like mad trying to find black shirts. We found what we needed and headed to the house to get dressed. We actually made it to the pictures on time. Not only did we make it on time, but all the pics they took actually came out really good.

So, we spent way too much on pictures and left there in search of food! We decided to try something new so we went to Sweet Basil Thai Restaurant. Once there, we were worried about finding something the kids would eat. There was no chicken or fries on the menu.......What kind of place was this??? We decided on a few menu items and soon we had our food. It was all really good! Kaden ate so much that I was worried he might get sick. He asked if they served breakfast......I guess he liked it so much that he wanted to go back in the morning. We just laughed!

We got home and Kaden appeared to be asleep. I picked him up and carried him into the house. On the way in we saw a butterfly (remember that it is about 9:30 PM) I have never seen butterflies out at night. I am to the point that I am almost dropping Kaden (he is like 55 lbs.) and Brian takes him to put him in bed. Cassidy and I stand outside and play with our new found butterfly friend. All of a sudden I hear a loud noise inside. Then Kaden comes dashing out of the door telling me that he was "faking asleep the whole time." I have to admit that he had me fooled! So, he thinks he is pretty funny that he tricked Brian and I. And, we just know that we are in for it from this point on. I am sure he will be doing a lot of "tricking" us.

All in all, we are off to a great weekend. Today Cassidy had school pictures and Kaden had a Jog-A-Thon at school. Tomorrow we have a soccer game and Brian is going to give blood. The State Fair is also in OKC, so we will probably try take the kiddos to that. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. XOXOXOXO

Almost the weekend

Friday can't come quick enough! It's Thursday night and I am tired.....or better yet, exhausted. I had a CE Class in OKC today, picked up the kids and Kaden had soccer practice, and I had a meeting at the school for The School Carnival. Let me mention that I somehow got voted into Homeroom Mom for Kaden's kindergarten class. I am not even sure what a "homeroom mom" does? But, I do like to be involved, so I guess this is it! Well, the school carnival is this big fundraiser for the school and PTA. Now I have to try to get other parents in the class to not only donate money for a themed basket that I have to create, but also get them to volunteer their time on the night of the carnival. I know what you're thinking.....GOOD LUCK, SUCKER! I am being optimistic that the other parents will at least feel sorry for me and help me with the carnival. We will see how that goes. And, to make the end of the week even better, I have a test that I have to take by Saturday in Acct II that I have not studied whatsoever for.

I guess this chaos will stick with me for a while. I do enjoy it......but it can be trying at times. I tell myself that more sleep would help. But, it does not work. I have tried getting 9 hrs and getting about 6 hrs. I feel the same when I wake up.....TIRED! Any suggestions????


XOXOXO,

Tracey

I'm Back....

Hey all! I know it's been a while. Life has been so crazy lately. Brian and I are both in school. I decided to go back and get my degree. For what you ask? I have no idea. I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. But, for now my degree will be in business management. Kaden just started Kindergarten in August. He loves it! The pic above is him and Daddy on his first day of school. But, he is already having issues with talking in class. He doesn't get that from me!! Kaden also just turned 6. I never thought that it would come so fast. It seems like just yesterday that he was running around in diapers. Time flies!

Cassidy is doing great. She is upset that Kaden is a different school. She told him on the second day when we were driving him to school that she "might cry for him." He said "Well, I won't cry for you, cause I won't miss you. I love my school!" I felt so bad for her. Today she picked out her Halloween costume. She is excited. I won't tell what it is. You'll have to check back with me after Halloween.

Well, maybe I can find the time to keep this updated. Hope everyone enjoys.

XO,
Tracey

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

It is officially time for me to panic! Kaden will be starting Kindergarten in less than 1 month. I cannot believe it. He is facing it of course, a lot more gracefully than I am. In fact he would go tomorrow if he could. We already packed his book bag. Why does time seem to speed up post children? I wanted to be older and time to go by quickly my entire life.......now I just want it to slow down or even stop for a while. I want to keep my babies just like they are for a while longer. Right now I can tell Kaden to stop growing and he says "Mommy, I can't! But, I'll still be your baby even when I am grown and married!" I keep telling him that I am going to record him saying that so that he won't forget. But, he will forget one day. And then he will say he's too big to be my baby.
Cassidy keeps telling me she is an "adult." I keep arguing with her. It's like arguing with the wall. You're not going to change the view and you just look crazy to everyone around. Oh well......I tried. She's like 3 going on 14.

Will there ever be a time that I will want parenthood to fly by? Does that "parenting" feeling ever go away?

Long Weekend

It's Saturday night and I was so glad that we were finally getting a 3 day weekend. My sis-in-law, Kristy, came into town on Thursday. I got to see my two nephews Jayden and Orion. They are growing like weeds. On Saturday we did a little shopping and then went to Brian's Dad's house to grill and pop firecrackers for 4th of July. Cassidy is not a fan of loud noises....to the point that we have considered therapy. Do they have that for 3 yr olds? She is terrified of loud noises. So, I sat inside with her while everyone else did fireworks. This was okay b/c it is some kind of hot!

Saturday Kristy had to leave to go back to Kansas. Saturday night we went to Brian's grandparents. We got to see Keith, Julie, and Maddie. Maddie is getting so big. She is rolling over and just grinning from ear to ear. She is such a sweet baby!

When Kaden went in our bedroom this morning to wake Brian up, he pulled my cell phone out from under my pillow. I keep it there at night for the alarm to wake me up. So, Kaden throws my phone on Brian and says "Look Daddy! The tooth fairy brought you a cell phone!" I think he says the funniest stuff!

Well, I hope everyone had a great 4th of July.

Trial Run

I just want to see what this will be like. This is my first attempt to blog even though I have contemplated it for about a year now. I figured I could update it with info about the family, mainly the kids......since that is what everyone wants to know about anyway! My feelings aren't hurt, they are a lot cuter than I am. Anyway, it's Saturday night (about 11:45pm) and the kids are sleeping and Brian and I are attempting to catch up on all the school work that we have been putting off from this week. We bought a new car today. It's a 2006 Passat and it's really nice. I am amazed at how quiet the ride is. Brian and I can almost whisper to each other and still hear. In the Saturn you could yell and still not hear the person beside you. It was like being inside a vacuum cleaner on wheels. But, I think we are going to donate the Saturn to a local charity. I think it will be more valuable to us as a tax write off than anything else! Oh well, I have managed to avoid my school work for about an hour and it's calling my name. Good night!