6 years ago...

It was 10:12 PM and I was at work doing a precious newborn baby's footprints when I felt a huge "pop/pain" sensation and thought "uh, oh". I had to excuse myself from the delivery room and took off to the employee bathroom with Nitrazine paper in hand.

But I was only 34 weeks and 5 days pregnant...could this really be my water breaking?

The nitrazine paper said YES. Then about a half hour later, my contractions started in full force and my water was GUSHING out like the Niagara falls. Tim hadn't even made it to the hospital yet, but I was in full blown labor!

Then at 12:12 AM on September 27th, my precious baby Jacob Thomas Valiant was born-I was still on the clock too;-).

It was a rocky start for him as his lungs were not mature and he stayed in the NICU for 12 long days...those were dark times for me. I couldn't have imagined that I'd tread even deeper, darker waters with future child bearing (Thank you very much Owen).

Look how far you've come my special boy, who at the ripe age of 5 3/4 decided he wanted his name to be "JAKE".

We love you so much Jakey! Hope you have a very special 6th birthday. I know I likely will not forget it as I've never had 17 neighbor kids (including my 3) over to entertain for a birthday party all while in misery myself of suffering greatly from probable strep throat-results not in yet, thank you slow Urgent Care (don't worry parents of the world-I've been on antibiotics now for over 24 hours and will be on them even longer (almost 48 hours)when the party actually occurs;-)

I have all kinds of fun things planned like a nature scavenger hunt, creature themed charades, cotton ball/plastic spoon relays, musical chairs-plus much more. And we are having "make your own" sundaes and birthday cupcakes. It's sure to add to my gray hair total but all very worth it as I believe Jake will remember this one;-)

Who wouldn't want to search for a dead bug on a scavenger hunt? Fun times!

Oh, in case you were wondering, Jake is still loving his $200 gas meter!

Fun times while I should be sleeping...

*As usual, blogger spell checker isn't working---so forgive my typos, etc*


This is what the non-sane people do when they should be sleeping...finally make a blog post about what's been going on.

1st up: the verdict on the new gas meter $65 but with labor, the bill was $189...way more than our typical birthday gift amount for our youngins'.

What's wrong with this picture?




Something you don't see everyday, eh?



Now onto the Owen and his cosmetic fiasco pics I promised...10 for your viewing pleasure...oh the captions I *could* use for some of these shots;-)












Can you believe him? Oi-vey.




We let the boys do soccer this year...2 games down so far...they LOVE it! Who knew? Each of them have been awarded special patches each week-TJ got the best attitude award (at least he gets that somewhere:-) the first week and most improved the 2nd week (he scored FIVE goals -and only one other kid scored 1) and Jake got best effort (and scored a goal too!)! I'm so proud of them. Soccer is way more fun than I thought it would be. I missed TJ's game this week, but here are some shots of Jake in action (or lack thereof;-):





Here's what Owen did the WHOLE time:



Nope, don't worry, not ONE person stared at us the whole game...not one;-) Really-no one shot us glares and snickered as we dealt with our heathen. No one.



Lastly, I couldn't resist showing off my latest couponing score:




The first picture is my Target trip from Saturday: I spent around $16 but left with a $5 Target gift card (so net of $11). Included are 16 individual string cheese, 6 boxes of cereal, 5 boxes of Fiber one bars (da bomb!), 9 individual portion cereal cups, and 2 new bounce dryer bars (haven't tried yet).

Second photo is my Meijer trip from Saturday: I spent $2...yes I'm serious. AND, I walker away with $6 in Meijer bucks (net +$4). Included is 6 boxes of kool-aid singles for a soldier care package donation, 2 boxes corn, 5 bags frozen peas, 2 lysol spray cleaners, 2 lysol toilet bowl cleaners, 5 healthy choice meals, 2 jars pickles, 2 apples, 1 caramel dip, and 1 bag saurkraut.

It was a very fun shopping trip to spend $18 total in cash and walk away with $11 in "on your next purchase" bucks. I already used them too-on todays papers to get my inserts for future couponing endeavors!

I will mention working full-time has left my house in shambles, me with no friends, and I don't even know why we have cable. But, I'm working, my kids are fed and clothed, and I'm couponing-so life is still pretty good.

Oh- and no, everyone is not well-YET! TJ and I made a trip to urgent care Thursday night for his mono-like symptoms (tested negative though-on an antibiotic now), Tim is still ODing on Tylenol daily, and now Griffin is having diarrhea and not eating.

Life is good though;-)

09.09.09

What a cool date huh?

It's even more cool because it's my sweet hubby's birthday!

Even though he's STILL sick...I hope he has a HAPPY 34th at home napping;-)

Love you BABY!

We are a mess...

Seriously...we couldn't be anymore of a mess.

I started working full-time. God laughed at me.

Here is what has transpired since I began working:

Things started out ok-I got an eye infection (my 4th or is it 5th? in just a couple months-blasted contacts!).

Jake got quite the yucky cold so we asked my sister to be on stand by for kid duty so I could still work. Ironically enough, the next day, TJ was sick. Verdict-the flu.

Jake continued with his cold and it turned into a nice case of impetigo in his nose-lovely.

Griffin got his 4 month immunizations and of course, they gave him a nice bought of the fussies and fever.

Owen got the flu mist vaccine and he got a nice fever as well (I requested the shot for him b/c he deserved it but they denied me the request).

TJ continued on with his "flu" for 3 days and finally went back to school on Friday. He then landed back in bed by the weekend with fever yet again.

And the grand daddy of them all...for our lovely 3 day weekend, Tim got the flu also. He's been in bed (or on the couch) since he woke up Saturday morning and it's really been the most pathetic thing...I will spare the details here to protect what little dignity he has left. He's already called off work for Tuesday...I can't WAIT to go back to work Tuesday (today) and it really is 2am. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep.

It has been MISERABLE being the single parent of a 4 month, 2, 5, 9 and 33 year old. I haven't been the best example nor had the most patience.

I've learned Owen has 2 levels-unconscious (when he's sleeping) and really loud (all other times). Griffin is needy...what a selfish 4 month old. Jake is very self reliant, impetigo and all. TJ and his father are...well, I think I may have to play the 'if you haven't anything nice to say' card.

Owen also is sporting the remnants of a make-up stained face as I didn't trust my instincts and allowed there to be "quietness" for a bit too long Saturday. I wear a lip product that stains the lips and it works lovely to keep my pale lips looking pretty all day...but Owen's eyebrows and cheeks are a different story. Not soap nor water will remove that stuff-serves ya right you little terror.

God is still laughing.