Sunday, March 21, 2010

Calm


I do feel a little guilt knowing that my family is at church while I am at home with a sleeping baby. I am feeling much better than yesterday but still not 100% so I figured it would be best to stay in and not spread my germs or somehow contract something else and stay sick for the rest of this week. And it is not as if I have nothing going on while I am here. I have a load of laundry washing right now and will be doing more as soon as I get off of here. And I am finding myself in a super grateful mood lately. I just feel so blessed by family and friends, my husband and little vacations we have been able to take, just an all around happy and blessed feeling has come over me and I am loving it!!!!! I have a feeling this week will be a good one :)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Really?!


This week has been a pretty good one and I had even started to feel better! Until last night, or should I say this morning, around 2am. My throat started feeling swollen and sore again. Of course, I woke up and it was gigantic! Not to mention my shoulder. At first I thought I was sleeping on it wrong so it was sore but it is 10 hours later and still is killing me. Will says it looks swollen, what on earth have I done to myself?! How do I not remember hurting myself in this way? However, it has made for a very lazy Sunday enjoying our kids and some movies. So far we have watched 'Cloudy with a chance of meatballs' and later it will be time for 'where the wild things are' followed by 'the hurt locker'. Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Neuro and some shopping!


Today was an appointment with Cassidy's neurologist. She was pretty concerned with how things have been going and saw how shaky she was. She asked her to put blocks together and even that small task made her super shaky. She decided that she would like to slowly take Cassidy off of the Keppra and just keep her on her new med, the Zarontin. Within 6 days she should be completely only on the one and hopefully with good results. In one week we will get labs done and hopefully an EEG after if we see that she is doing good on just the Zarontin. Her neurologist is up in Long Beach which is where my mom lives so we stayed up there for a nice lunch and did some shopping at Belmont Shores. It was such a pretty day out today. While some places are stuck in snow still or at least have warm jackets on, we here were wearing tank tops and flip flops because it was 80 degrees at the beach!!!!!! I seriously love living here :)

Monday, March 15, 2010

Early Morning


My friend Daniela moved out here a couple of weeks ago. I met her when we lived in Illinois and I am so excited that she is out here now!!!! And, around 3:30am this morning I got a phone call from her telling me that she was having contractions. That is my cue to get down to San Diego so I can watch her sweet little daughter Nastaja. So, I got ready, packed some things for the kiddos and stuck them all in the car. No one went back to sleep. Kendall was excited to see the baby, Cassidy just wanted to chat and Hayley I think was mesmerized by the lights. Plus she got to get up and have mommy giving her attention so I am sure that kept her up too. She didn't want to sleep last night. She hasn't been feeling well and I thought our bed would help her sleep, instead she tried climbing the headboard :) Anyways, we got to the hospital and ran into Daniela's husband Yancy and Nastaja and I took all the girls to breakfast. Everyone was looking at me and I got a few, "oh my, all girls". To which I had to laugh. Yancy is white and Daniela is Hispanic so Nastaja has the pretty olive skin and brown eyes, put her in with me and my girls and would you really assume she is mine? Granted, she was alone with me, but wouldn't you think I was watching her? Well, I guess that would be racist and to be honest I kind of liked thinking of having 4 kids, lol. No, I am not getting pregnant, so no assumptions please. As we went to pay, I had a tray of food for 5 people (Hayley loves her some scrambled eggs and pancakes) plus glasses of milk and balancing it on one hand to try to push a stroller as well. And get 3 girls to follow and not run into anyone. We reached the cashier and I was told, they only accept cash, which I had none of on me. After asking and finding the ATM and making sure I had less than a $20 (they wont take anything bigger than a ten, pshaw) I made it back to the cashier. Our food was cold of course but the total of everything was seriously only $3.48. They had to weigh the fruit I ordered so I thought that alone would be the $3 but the whole thing, pancakes, eggs, bacon, milk and fruit!!!! For 5 people!!! Not that the food was anywhere near good, especially cold, but if that hospital was closer, I would think of hitting it up a couple of times when we eat out, that is so cheap!!!!!!! After breakfast we went up to the labor and delivery ward and they actually let us in her room, kids and all. She said she was dilated at 6. I gave her tummy a rub, kissed her forehead and took the girls to the waiting area to watch a movie. She was in labor at 3am and still managed to think to bring a dvd player and movies, that woman rocks!!!!!! Halfway through the movie Yancy came to say they broke her water. It only seemed like 20 minutes later and he came back to say she was here. Arabella Forbes was born weighing in at 9 pounds 1 ounce, and she is gorgeous. Yes, they let us all back in the room after!! Nastaja was already a wonderful big sister kissing her little cheeks and I was able to hug both mama and baby. Plus they got a big cuddly pink teddy bear, the girl needs to be spoiled of course!!!!! The next thing I am looking forward to is calling Julie in Japan to let her know and then hopefully get news in the next couple of weeks that she had her baby. Its kind of making me wish I had Hayley now so all our kids would be the same age!!! But no, no more babies for us :) I think Will would have a heart attack :)

Saturday, March 13, 2010

A New Hall Household?


So, I have always tried to pride myself as being a good mom and wife. I like to think that our family is resourceful and that we like to stay home and not spend any money on ridiculous things. Then again, I know way better than that. However, Will and I have been talking and we really want to make a new life for our house. I have been checking out this blog and have been thinking of how simple it all is and how I should be doing more (did you notice that I actually linked to a page, thank you my dear Launa!!!). Anyways, the blog is a woman who lived out here in California and did the whole high heel wearing everyday, shopping, typical Cali lifestyle until she went home and met a cattle farmer. Like a real chaps wearing cattle farmer. They fell in love and married and now she lives in a gorgeous house out in the middle of nowhere and makes amazingly yummy looking meals and just has family time. It got me thinking of how we sometimes just think of how bored we are with staying home and try to find things to do, how we eat out way too much and don't spend enough full attention family time. I think for some reason I am depriving my kids of fun in life if I am not out showing them something new or going somewhere super fun. Why cant family be fun? Having my girls help cook a fabulous meal? So, Pioneer Woman, you have inspired me. Lets see how this change goes. I am sure many of you may not notice it, but my family will, and that make me happy.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Seizure and Sickness


The flu has come and taken over my body. Body aches, chills, sore throat, no appetite....yuck. The good news? Maybe a little weight loss due to the no eating? Hehe. Today is much better but the flu is nasty!!!!! The big news is, Cassidy had a seizure at school. I received a call from the school nurse saying that Cassidy had "fallen asleep" and was unresponsive in class. She had her in her office at that point and said she was still pretty out of it and could barely sit on her own. Once I got there, she was still pretty out of it. We took her to the ER, calling her neurologist along the way. They determined she had a prolonged absence seizure. She has these on a daily basis but they normally only last for 5-10 seconds. This one lasted for 5 minutes!!!!!!!!! The doctor wanted to raise her dose of the same med she is already on and do another EEG in about 10 days. She seems to be doing ok today, she also seemed to be doing so much better leading up to the seizure. So, we wont really know until her EEG again.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Vegas!!!!!!!


Thursday evening my mom came to watch the girls and Will and I left for 3 whole days. We had never left before, maybe for a couple of hours but that is it, and that has been since Cassidy was born which is almost 8 years!!!! So, it was long overdue and it was fantastic. I did cry for the first 30 minutes of the drive, I felt guilty leaving my girls and Cass was sad when we left so that didn't help. We arrived at our hotel (the Wynn Encore) around 11:30. How fantastic is that freakin hotel? I felt like a superstar!!!!! The place was absolutely gorgeous and our room was not only swanky, but huge!!!!!!!!!!! Waiting for me on the table was a bottle of champagne and 2 glasses and a note that read "Happy Birthday, lets have a great weekend"............what a husband!!!!!! After drinking almost the whole bottle (we were not alone in this, my Aunt and Grandma were there as well, haha), but still, a whole flippin bottle, haha, ok, after the bottle we headed down to the casino floor and walked around our gorgeous hotel. Not too much action going on considering it was a Thursday but we did see 2 hookers and tons of stuff I wanted to buy :) We ended up going to bed around 2:30am.
Friday morning was early for me, I couldn't sleep that well, even though the bed was to die for. But, I woke up early and pretty soon everyone else was up too. I took a shower in the most awesome shower ever known to man and we headed downstairs to the buffet. By this time it was late morning/mid afternoon so it was part breakfast, part lunch. I had a couple of mimosas (ok, 3, hehe) and indulged in bacon, sushi, ceviche, hash browns, pot stickers, french toast and a baileys panna cotta. Yes, I know this is a little much but it is Vegas so that means there is absolutely no fat or calories, plus I was minus kids and up a few mimosas :) After the buffet we went and checked out a couple of hotels. We shopped a bit in the Venetian and walked the strip. My Aunt needed a nap and my Grandma wanted to go into a casino down the strip so Will and I went back to the Wynn and played some slots. This was my first time gambling and it was actually a ton of fun!!! I don't want to say I am a huge gambler but it was fun! Then my Aunt told me that her and my cousins had arrived so we drove over to their hotel to meet up. We got ready and went to a place called Carnival Court which sits in between Harrahs and the Imperial Palace. It was fun. Drinks in Vegas are ridiculous, so much money!!!! But we had a little and danced a lot. Which then followed by dinner at TGI Fridays. After dinner I learned to play black jack which was fun, but I sucked at it!!!!!!!!! So, we went back to the Wynn and Will and I went to a bar with my cousins. I think we came in around 3am.
Saturday I woke up to a text from my Aunt at 9:30 saying breakfast in an hour and a half. Dead tired I got everyone else up. We showered and met them at TGI Fridays for breakfast. Then a little more gambling while we waited for the cousins to d=finish getting ready and then we went to the Luxor so we could see the Bodies exhibit. It was so interesting and sad all at the same time. After that we went back to the Wynn and me and my cousin headed for our show, La Reve. Soooo cool. The story was a bit weird but the show was fantastic. The people in the show are amazingly talented!!!! After that it was time for dinner and we went to the Palms. After dinner Will really wanted to go see the Hart and Huntington tattoo shop so we went to go look............and he got a tattoo!!! He has always wanted to get my initials on his wrist, and so he did. After that, we drove over to Fremont street and looked around a bit. Then we went back to get some sleep, I think that was around 2:30am.
Sunday was the the day to go home so we got up and packed and headed out. On our way out we stopped at the titanic museum which was awesome and also did a little more shopping. I think we got home around 5pm and the girls were ecstatic. Cassidy actually jumped in my arms :) We did an easy dinner, ordering pizza and pretty much died on the couch.
Another thing that happened in Vegas.............swollen tongue. Friday evening I noticed my tongue hurt and was starting to swell. Today it is horribly swollen, has bumps all over it and seems to be traveling down my throat. I went to the er last night and after barely even looking at me, decided nothing was wrong. I forgot that nothing wrongs looks horribly bad. So, we will see. I was so happy we had a great weekend and I think a yearly Vegas trip may be in order.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Great Night!!!!


Being a mom and having to discipline never takes a day off I have learned. Even on my birthday, my horns had to come out, did the attitude party not know it was a special day and maybe they should lay off and leave my children alone? Of course not!! I am pretty sure they will have to come out even while we are gone this weekend. Lord help my poor mother, lol. Normally the girls would be on their best behavior because they normally are when they are around others, however, they have become very accustomed to having grandma around lately so I think the nice factor has worn off. Anyways, yesterday was great. Will had called our dear friend Lynne a week ago (yes people, he PLANNED AHEAD OF TIME). Even Lynne said how amazed she was that a husband planned ahead to make a special birthday night, lol. She came over around 6 and off to went, to places unknown for me, lol. We didn't go far, just out in downtown San Clemente to a street called Del Mar. It is your typical beach street, tons of cute little shops and places to eat and all the trees have twinkle lights in them. We stopped in a couple of stores to browse and then found the place we wanted to eat. It was called Nic's and was dark with candles on the tables and a fireplace on their patio. We asked for a table near the fireplace but had to wait so we went to go walk around some more while we waited. We ended up across the street at a wine bar and did a little wine tasting. Can I just tell you how grown up I felt, I felt like giggling the whole time. I had never been wine tasting in my life. I took a small sip of the first wine and then had to whisper to Will if I was allowed to drink it all or did I need to swish and spit. Don't tell me that never happened to you on your first wine tasting. I just kept thinking of the move Drop Dead Fred (love by the way!!! so hilarious!) and the wine tasting party they went to where everyone was spitting. He informed me that I was indeed allowed to drink it all. We each had 4 tastings, mine was whites and his was reds. I have never liked red wine and the wine guy told me after I tried some of his I would...............yeah, that didn't happen. I did however fall in love with a rose wine, we even bought a bottle to bring home, maybe I shall take it to Launas tomorrow morning for our coffee date, 9:30 isn't too early right? hahahaha. Anyways, dinner was awaiting after the wine tasting so we walked back across the street and sat at our table for 2. TABLE FOR 2 PEOPLE!!!!!!!! How long has that been? It was so strange to not have to make a million potty breaks and cut food into smaller pieces and make bottles and try not to have our kids screaming during the whole meal. We even had grown up food!!!! We both ordered Filet's, mine with a bleu cheese crust, his with butter. They both came with baked potatoes and fire roasted veggies. I was so excited to brussel sprouts on my plate!!!! I think I am one of the weird ones who actually enjoys the brussell sprout, I can eat them all day every day. And to have it fire roasted was so yummy!!! Oh, and we had fried asparagus for an appetizer. Then after dinner, I found it weird the lady didn't ask if we wanted dessert. I told Will I thought it was fishy and he did the worst cover up. I knew he had mentioned my birthday to someone. So, 5 minutes later and lady brings a hot fudge sundae with a candle in it. The wind kept blowing it out so she lit it a million times, but it was super sweet. After that we headed home to find out that Cass had lost her tooth and Hayley had given Lynne a heart attack when she fell and hit her head :( She was fine but I am sure you can understand the fear of doing that to someone elses child. My worst fear, she ended up having to go in our bedroom with the girls to get to our bathroom to brush their teeth before bed!!!! Mondays are not good clean house days. at least upstairs. I take all the laundry and dump it in our room to sort and hopefully get done. It didn't get done. And the bathroom counter top was filled to capacity with crud. I had meant to lock our door, knowing the girls might try to get in and Lynne would be shocked by the nastyness. She did say it looked like I needed help with laundry, I tried to explain it was my Monday thing but I am sure she knew I was making excuses, lol. So, needless to say, i was mortified and will never again leave my door open, yeah, I know, I should say I will have all the laundry done and bathroom picked up but that would just be a crazy promise I would break immediately :) So, on to another day. I am going to finish laundry (no promise made) and spend time with my girls :)

Monday, March 1, 2010

Happy Birthday to................me :)


Yes, it is my birthday and yes, I wished myself a good one :) Moving on..........Saturday was rainy so cookie booths were cancelled. Which meant my cousins could come down earlier than expected and we could go shopping. So, they came down, we left and on our way to the mall I stopped for gas. That's when Will called. He said I needed to come back home because he had just been called into work. On a Saturday at 2 in the afternoon? A little strange right? So, we came back and he left. That's when I got a text saying he found out that one guy in his command had got a DUI and caused an accident. Thankfully everyone was ok, but still pretty bad!!! On that same night another guy in his command got drunk (he was also under age) and decided to pull down his pants and kick in a nail salon door. Yes, this is pretty bad but it made me laugh more than I have in a while. You decide to get drunk and do something stupid and your choice is to go pants less in a nail salon, and getting in by kicking down the door? I think I might just want to meet this guy. Needless to say, the shopping trip was not going to be ruined, just added on by 3 more little people. Will was eventually able to come home (they just needed 100% accountability and to make the morons feel crappy in front of everyone, I am sure this morning was a great one for them) and then he met us at the mall. Then on Sunday my family had us over for dinner and cake. I must admit, I felt a little awkward and like a loser. I don't think they were planning on doing anything like that and then Will opened his mouth and well, I already told you the rest. But, it was a great night, they all made me feel so special!!!!!!!!! Oh, and my Aunt got her new washer and dryer, they are my dream machines!!!! The darn thing even sang a cute little song when the load was done!!!!!!!! So, that brings us to today. Will has told me Happy Birthday every chance he can get and had a beautiful card sitting on top of my new beautiful bible this morning. I know some of you might say "really?! You are excited over a bible on your birthday" and to that I will say "YES!!!!", lol. I have never had a bible of my own and now I do, and it is leather bound in dark brown with a pink closure. I love it!!!!!! He told me earlier too that our friend Lynne will be here at 6 to watch our girls so to be ready.....................I am kinda excited I must admit!!!! I hate not knowing things that are happening, I am a complete planner. But the mystery of something fun happening on my behalf and i have no control makes me a little giddy!!!! So, on that note, I really need to bathe, hahahahaha. My cousin bought me this amazingly good smelling bath stuff from Victoria's Secret that I cant wait to use!!!!!!!
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