Happy Thursday is Coming

Tomorrow is the big day. Finally, May 1st and the catheter is coming out. Long gone will be the double diaper, the worrying, and the no sleep. Logan hasn't been sleeping good at all lately and I just have that gut,mother feeling, it's the catheter. Here's to hoping that life(sleep) will return to normal after tomorrow morning!!

Another Day Down

Logan is doing real good. Only if Thurs. can come so much quicker. This catheter is driving me nuts. You never know how many times a day or night your child poops until it is a process to change the diaper! I will welcome the one diaper change in the middle of the night and not complain after Thurs.! The catheter seems like it is coming out, but still working. I called the Drs. yesterday b/c the stitch came loose on it and totally freaked me out. I was driving Rich crazy about it, so I called. Why did they think that a little boy who hasn't quit moving since he was able to move in his mother's belly, would be able to keep a catheter in for a week!? Oh, I can't wait until Thurs.......okay, I've said it enough.
Olivia is doing awesome lately. We haven't had any huge arguments and it is nice. I can't believe how much that kid can read. She's really freakin me out, when we're driving and she starts reading signs. It's just crazy, my gosh, I learned the A,B, C's in kindergarten. I am so proud of her, she writes a journal every night about what she did (like a diary), and although some words are only spelled like they are sounded, it makes sense to her. I love it!!
I have been thinking that i really need to find some kind of art class to put her in. I've finally got my head out of the clouds and realized art is her thing and I really need to expand that for her. After all, she says she is a future art teacher. I can't seem to find anything yet for her though. Don't know what they have around here. I mean we do have a art museum in downtown Akron, which she has been bugging us to go , but I think it's too old for her........I don't know, I've never been in one myself. So I must in my spare time, find the kid a art class to take........

Our babies are getting much bigger and cuter now. They play with each other and "cry" for Olivia now when they hear her in the garage. Soon they will be gone and our cat Fluffy can have his place in the garage back and he can quit being a pain in the butt wanting in the house all the time!

Surgery

Hospitals, doctors, staying over night.........the words i most hate to hear, and it's growing stronger towards those words. So Logan had surgery. For those who don't know, it's called Hypospadias. Basically, in a nut shell, he was born with his urethra down on the bottom of his "pee pee" instead of the top of his pee pee. He could never pee on his mother when changing a diaper!!! So that is in the process of being corrected so that when he gets potty trained he can stand to pee and do it right. Very typical in preemie boys, but nobody has ever heard of it unless you work in a hospital, very common in their world. So the first phase was done on Wed. and all went well. This was more invasive than the hernia's and he took a little beaten Wed. night, but by Thurs. he had all the nurses bowing to him. They loved him and if I could have had a dollar (instead of a quarter, the economy is bad!) for everyone that wanted to take him home, I could have made out really, really, good!

It truly amazes me how fast babies bounce right back after having stuff done to them. Believe me, I didn't bounce back that quick after my C-section. So after seeing what the surgery looked like (i did not see this until Thurs. morning after the dressing was removed) I simply asked myself "How in the heck am i going to do this!". Not for the weak hearted. But of course I knew I had to do this. Once again I asked the question,"Where is my mother?". Some things your mother never tells you about before you have children. So I ate my pride and went in on it with both hands. He has a catheter, and believe me he never stays still, so needless to say, we pretty much have pee flying everywhere until I get better with this. Please May 1st, come quick, that is when it comes out. He is double diapered with the catheter on the second diaper to catch pee and you only change the bottom diaper when he goes poo. A lot of pee and poo in this blog!! Oh, what a disaster that can turn in to. So I'm chugging along, because I have too, Rich doesn't even want in on that action (can you blame him).

I spent the night with Logan and if I had known that he would have done that well at night, i should have spent the night at home. He would have just slept through the night had they not bothered him every 4hrs. for vitals. I know they have to do this, but really, why wake a sleeping baby?! I pretended to be sleeping every time she came in, so he would go back to sleep and I wasn't really in the mood to chit chat like she did with Logan, all I could think was, "Really, don't talk to him, slowly walk away!"Then there were other kids on the wing that had surgery also and they get hoarse after surgery from the vent, and they were crying and coughing all night long. I felt bad don't get me wrong, but ooohhhhhh I missed my quiet house. I kept telling myself "this is a children's hospital and we are going home tomorrow morning". We were home by 9am.........Home Sweet Home.

Rich laughed at me how well planned I was, and how I had "everything" with me. He can't believe i carry the bag I do, but i have everything with me. I know it drives him nuts, I'm a planner. I have to know, what day, what time, how long, etc. Drives him bananas. Hey I had my stuff that he laughed about but when he needed a drink and I had Pepsi and he had nothing, I simply muttered the words, "there's a water fountain over there". Don't feel too bad for him, I did give him my drink and a dollar to buy his own!!!!!!!! We shall be married forever!!!!!!!!

Getting Older

Olivia did do better at soccer Saturday, actually her whole team did much better. It was refreshing to watch them! Just out of curiosity I asked Olivia why she doesn't play with her Little People anymore. It made me think of it when i cleaned out the van this weekend and went through the many Little People CD's we own. Her answer was "Mom, I am getting older now and those are for, you know, like 1,2,3,4yr. olds, not 6". Where does the time go?

Logan has gotten better with his teeth, maybe they are completely through the gums now. Not showing very much yet (I can't remember how long it took before you could see Olivia's), so long goes my toothless, gummy smile of his........I started giving him those Gerber fruit puffs that melt in their mouths, and he loves them. I originally bought them to get him to start picking things up with this pincer fingers, well that part of the brain has not started yet, so I decided to bite them in half and suck on them to get them to start to melt, and to my surprise he loooooooves them. In fact he has studied the can so much that he now knows what the can looks like and gets all excited when he sees it. Might have started something I might not have wanted to start yet!!

The Promise of a New Day

Ahhh, Spring has come back! My "fun" family has returned and all is well. Spring has recently brought Logan 2 bottom teeth. It's funny cause all he wants to do is rub is tongue on them, thinking, what in the world is this! He hasn't been too bad with them cutting through, but our routine has been out of sorts lately. Olivia has a new promise of trying her soccer game on Sat., which she was scared too death last Sat. in the near snow storm! The trees are all coming out, the bugs are flying, the birds are chirping.........who could ask for more! Mama cat's babies eyes are almost all open and Olivia is loving that. Of course she wants to keep them all cause they are all just too cute.
I am finding some clothes, hats, etc. of olivia's that Logan can wear (being neutral colors), but I have to say, i was out shopping the other day and they have some very cute little boys outfits. I was in heaven. i always still look at the little girls clothes too, must be that trained eye I had for so long. Wait till you see some of the outfits on him......oh so cute! I was impressed to try on a 6-9mo. outfit on him, knowing the shirt would fit but was worried about the shorts, and the shorts fit him awesome. I was so excited cause this has been a struggle of mine with him being short. I think we seem to have skipped 3-6mo.

Soccer and a Party

Let me start off by saying,"the sun and high temps. went away and the good life, went right with it." Everything was fine up until Sat. morning. Now keep in mind it was 70 degrees here Friday and Sat. was at a good point 45. Olivia's first soccer game and it could snow. I thought I dressed the kid the best I could and she was like a ice cube. It was the best I could do to sit there with a hooded sweatshirt and winter coat. So, the tears flowed and she wanted to come home, but she never gave up and made it through the whole game. I did find out that her team are all "rookies". The other teams they play have played before and the kids are much bigger. My little girl is soo tiny. She was a lost little puppy dog on the field, but I had to keep in mind, she had never done this before and those kids must look like giants to her. Hopefully things will get better and she will learn, that's why we are doing this, right? Logan was the only one that was all snuggled and warm, in the stroller and his winter hat and soft blanket!
So I also decided to have Olivia a party with some friends this year and thought it would be a great opportunity to have some of the girls over that I used to babysit that I haven't seen since I went in the hospital with Logan. It went really well and it was nice to see them all again. I did learn that Olivia does not do well with all the attention turned on her, something I've been noticing lately. Who would have thought, Ms. Attention needer gets a little uncomfortable in the spotlight these days.
How many times have I said this year so far, Olivia being sick? Too many, that's how many. Well here we are on Sunday and she was sick again. The morning went well and then it hit her. Now hopefully it was just a 24hr. thing and it goes away, she seems to be doing better now. She told me , "mom, i prayed to God, and asked him to not make me sick, but I don't think he heard me yet cause I don't feel any better yet"! Thought it was cute. I just got done saying "I love it when my kids are not sick, healthy kids are happy kids".......spoke too soon! Olivia has never been sick so many times in one year as this, and I wonder if it's from school?
The kitty's are doing well. They are actually getting a little bigger. O has done very well not touching them or begging to touch them. Two are rather big for only 1 week old.

Ms. Momma Kitty

We still have the new additions to our family(for the time being). They are rather cute, I must say. I overheard Olivia talking to the "mama" as we call her, "Mama cat, I really love your babies, they are very cute like my baby brother". Thought I would pee my pants listening to her. She has done very well not touching the babies and you can imagine how tempting that must be to a 6 yr. old. We told her she cannot touch them until their eyes open. I'm just wondering what this is going to be like when they are up and moving around with their eyes open! Yikes!

Oh, Mr. Sun, you have brought much joy to my family this week. You have made my little guy sleep through out the night, you have made my delightful daughter, well just delightful...you have made me have a full nights sleep, and Rich is going back to work on Monday! Amen, Amen, Amen! I bow to thee oh Mr. Sun

Logan got a Polio shot today and didn't even realize he got it, not even one tear, cause he was too worried about entertaining the nurse and me. I was so proud of him. He's doing extremely well keeping up with his adjusted age and development. I AM SO PROUD OF THIS LITTLE MAN. He did come home today and sleep like 31/2 hrs. I even had to check to make sure he was still breathing. Olivia did much better at soccer last night. She may not have gotten the ball, but she never gave up.

Mr. Sun

Funny how the sun makes my family much happier. We've had a few very nice days here and the kids are absolutely the best children to be around ever. Logan has been in a mood where all he wants to do is just laugh(not that he didn't do a whole lot of that before) but it's a different laugh and happiness. Olivia has been so wonderful to be around. No screaming, whining, etc. It's been nice to be their mother! Now, understand olivia has had a sub teacher all week, so we will see. We went down to the lake with the kids and walked and let Olivia loose on the playground. Poor Logan is still adjusting his eyes to the sun. Then we came home and walked the neighborhood, as I was just loving the calories I was burning! All said and done, everyone was tired and in a very good mood and Logan did sleep all night until 5:30am and needless to say, we are walking today!

TGFG(Thank God for Grandparents), Olivia loves when pappy and grandma come out to visit, logan actually had fun and wasn't implanted on his mother hip either. Now Olivia has issues about them leaving.......but I have offered them to live in our basement! Anyway, we would not have a wonderful party like we do if it weren't for grandma and her God given cooking skills and being able to get things done with everything going on around her. This is a skill I must master. We make so much food and decorations. So the day was beautiful, this is the first year it hasn't snowed for her party. The kids could actually be outside!! Ahh, Mr. Sun we love you!

Olivia got a little surprise on Sat. morning, as a mother cat had made her home in our garage to have her babies. Rich has a old recliner and blanket out there for our cat in the winter, well this cat found a warm place to have 6 kittens. I'm looking at it as this is a good thing for Olivia to see and watch how they grow and eventually leave our garage. Rich has had to feed the mom, she hasn't left the chair yet. She will probably never leave after all this. Now our cat(Fluffy) is not the father and we do not have to go on the Maury Povich show to prove this!!, because he is fixed! So the lesson here is, when life hands you a litter of kittens, you make it a educational experience!!

Paaaaarty Day

This was Logan's pre-party festivities.

Another wonderful Birthday cake by Aunt Cookie!!

Logan has a hold of sister's hair just as she is going to blow out candles! That's just a taste of your little brother, sis!

Ahhh, the presents, what would a party be without the presents!

This was this Easter egg hunt that had been cancelled numerous times because of snow. Olivia is sandwiched in the middle of two cousins and one friend on the left. There were 5,000 eggs to be had, so fun was had by all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Happy 6th Birthday Olivia!

So far, the day has gone well!

Back To School

and momma couldn't be happier! I always said I wouldn't ever be the mom that couldn't wait till their kid walked out the door for school, well guess what, I got a taste of what it's like to have some sanity during the day! Although her first words when she walked in the door were,"I don't ever want to go to first grade and my stupid teacher hates me." lovely........There are some teachers issues Olivia has, but she is also a drama queen. She made a "Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award" blimp over the weekend and thought it would be a wonderful idea to share it with her class, well apparently they didn't have enough time today and that didn't settle well with her. She was very pleased with her soda pop blimp, but drama, drama, drama!

we learned last night that her first practice for soccer is her b-day! That went over real well also. Speaking of which, she didn't see her mother flipping out today about having to try to clean the house with her brother stuck to my hip all day........that brings me into my next story........Logan. Mr. Smiley Boy Nagle now knows how to whine, seriously, got it perfected. Now this is funny, unless you are the one he's whining for only because he wants implanted on your hip. He kept flipping out for Rich today until I would finally go and get him and then he would lay on me, suck his thumb(oh yes, we love our thumb now, daddy is quite proud) and stare holes thru Rich!! He's not sleeping much during the day, but he is going to bed by 7pm, which helps. I think he's like rain man, he's got times down pat and when it's a certain time, he's like "no, this is suppose to happen now". I swear, feed him baby food by noon he's happy, if not, he's flipping, 7pm roles around, you'd better have him ready for bed, it's crazy!I still can't convince him to sleep during the night. We have been getting up now for 6 months and that's long enough already! Some day......

i have seen signs of spring. Some of the bushes are budding up and the daylillies are trying to come up and the sedum is up and spreading! I pulled into the garage last night with Olivia and opened the van door and said "listen, what do you hear", she said "I hear birds mom", that's right honey and they are calling for spring. Now, it usually snows for Olivia's b-day so hopefully this year will prove us wrong. I can't wait for the weather to officially break and have the windows open full time and breath some fresh air!!!!!!!!!! A girl can dream right now