More adventures in the land of Chaos and Mayhem

How I find time to sleep I'll never know. I have been so busy the last few weeks I feel like I'm spinning. Between my kids and kids that aren't mine, helping out with Gram (she had her hip replacement surgery Monday, all went well and she's going to rehab on Friday.. I believe) trying to get our Shriners fundraiser up and running, helping out at Travis' house, and Brad and Gloria's house, 7 pets... only one is mine, and trying to make my house not look like a tsunami went threw it.... I should be grey or bald. And the overwhelming weekend suckage that comes with summer...ugh! I have something going on every single weekend from now until September.... and I only have one weekend currently left in September that I'm not already "booked". I also had my second, third and forth Stupid-person run in with Taylor. All in one day. "What's wrong with her arm?" Nothing, she only has one hand. "Oh... well at least she still looks alright" FO! Um blood pressure medicine...STAT. I know it is bound to happen but give me a break. Its days like those I wish she had her naughty onsie on. I hate stupid people. GRRRRR! More later when the "cranky" leaves my brain

SHrINE ON Springfield

My friends and I are going to give it a whirl. Its not the fundraiser I wanted to do but at least we can do one. And we did raise a lot of money in no time for the March of Dimes, so hopefully we have similar or better results for Shriners. We're putting together a walk-a-thon and we'll most likely have a pot-luck barbecue for the people who participate after the walk, either at my place or at some other local/neutral location. All money collected will be going to the Shriners Hospital in Springfield Mass. I'm not spending any money on door prizes or whatever so there is no start up money to be deducted from the collections. If I get some freebies to offer, great! and if not, everyone who participates will just have the feeling of knowing they did something for a wonderful cause as a souvenir. Pray for nice weather, lots of walkers and donors and that Springfield Shriners remains up and running.

Taylor's idea of crawling: the butt scoot

How awesome!!! "Arms for Kids"

What a wonderful way to say "Thank you". Justin and Jeramie you guys are an inspiration to everyone. Good luck Justin. I send you wishes of safe passage and a roof over your head this weekend.


*** click on the pics to enlarge them***



article from The River Record

Another busy week in New Hampshire

The kids are finally healthy. And now my father-in-law is beyond sick. We're pretty much not going anywhere near there until he's better. Sue's been hiding from him too, so she's been hanging out with us a bunch lately to avoid catching the evil pukey/poopy bug. So I took the kids on the trainthe other day. It was Jeremy's first engineering run on the passenger train. I picked on him a bit but he did a really good job. None of us got whiplash :) I didn't realize when I told Ashtyn we'd go that that run was a special one. We were accompanied by the author of A lucky dog: Owney, U.S. Rail Mail Mascot , Dirk Wales and someone in a very goofy Owney costume that I think looks more like a donkey that spent some time under the train but Ashtyn was in love with the costumed critter. She did not want to leave the dog's side, or let anyone else touch "her" dog. We missed out on the author reading the story but Ashtyn, Taylor or this adorable little girl named Sophie along with her mom all had a good time sitting in the end of the car discussing and looking at Taylor prosthetic, or "cast" as Sophie put it. She was so cute. She hugged and kissed Taylor and told her she was sorry she didn't have an arm. And asked me if she cut it off. She definitely had a lot of questions and was very eager to learn all about Taylor. I explained, to the best of my ability to a 3 year old (who hasn't seen or heard of Nemo), how Taylor got a boo-boo while she was in my belly and that made her not grow an arm. A slight stretch from reality but that was all I could come up with and I knew she could understand it. I took off Taylor prosthetic and showed it to her which she thought was really neat and then Ashtyn had to remind us all that it was Taylor's hand and not a toy. All in all it went well though and the kids all had fun and they all got special Owney dog tags, with the date and train logo on them to commemorate the adventure. Oh.... and about my whining about the rain the other day....we had 2 HUGE rainbows because of it..... and we finally got back outside......so all is much better.

Happy Mother's Day Mom

Rain Sucks!

I think it has rained every single day since April 26th. 12 days! I'm sick sick sick of it. It makes me cranky and puts me into cabin fever mode. All I want to do is sleep. The kids are nuts when its like this. They've both been sick since the 26th too we've done NOTHING and gone NO WHERE and it needs to end NOW! That's another thing that has irritated me for the last 2 weeks: Taylor had a wicked nasty cough and a slight fever. I let it go for a few days thinking it would pass, hopefully quickly, and I really didn't want to drag her to the doctors. Its not that I don't like the kids' pediatrician, I do, he's awesome, I just hate feeling like I'm one of those Mom's who freak out at every little sniffle. But after 3 days of coughing and crying, the pukey diareah showed up and Jeremy said I needed to bring her in. So my immediate thought is: Oh my god, if he says to get her in, I should have done it 3 or 4 days ago. This is the guy who didn't go to the doctors when he cut off his finger....Popsicle stick and duct tape "cured" it......REDNECK..... anyway, so I call the doctor and they get her in at 4:30 that evening, ears look good, throat looks good, no wheezing or anything in her lungs, and the kid didn't friggin cough once. I was not impressed where this was going. "she's fine, but call us if she gets a fever" Give me a f-ing break. So I pack the kids up to go home, pissed off. No sooner do I get outside, Taylor starts hacking and crying. Give me a break! So I get back home and listen to coughing, crying and screaming. So the next morning, about 6:30, she's warm. Jeremy goes to work, still oblivious I brought the kids to the doctor, and I frantically look for a thermometer. I find one, stick it under her armpit, 94 degrees....oh, so my kids a Popsicle! I find another one, I stick it in her ear, 95.1, again my kid has hypothermia. I find the "butt one" 96....so at least she's getting warmer. Then low and behold, I find a bandy-dandy new one. Please let this one work. Into the butt we go, and 102. Finally. So I call the doctors office. "He's not here today....want me to call Springfield for you" seeing how my only alternative is the ER, and this ER would let you bleed to death before giving you a bandaid, yeah, please call whoever. So she calls them and calls me back. 4:30 appointment. So I package up the kids again. Drive 30 minutes to the other doctors office. Wait FOREVER and then finally the doctor shows up, has a nurse take her temperature, check her O2 stats, the doctor comes back "she has a minor fever 100.8, give her some Tylenol", which the nurse then did and sent us on our way home again. Again I'm pissed. I'm pissed that Taylor didn't cough for the doctor AGAIN and I'm pissed that "She's fine".... she's not fine. Saturday comes and goes, this was the day of the March for Babies and Ashtyn's birthday party, I have been religiously checking Taylor's temp every hour or so. All I kept thinking was of Dee's little girl getting sick the summer Ashtyn was born, being repeatedly told she was fine and then passing away on the ride to another attempt at a doctors visit. I kept trying not to over react and look at it rationally, but that morning Ashtyn started in with a cough. At first we all thought it was a joke to get cough drops. But the cough remained all weekend. Monday, I call the girls pediatrician's office again. The evil fill-in-secretary:"he's busy and doesn't have any time today" WRONG ANSWER! Ever so calmly "you look here, I brought my baby in on Thursday, brought her to Springfield on Friday. Its now Monday and now BOTH of my girls are sick" "Both of your kids are sick?" ever so meekly. YESSSSSSS! "Oh. well, I'll tell and have her give you a call" Great. So I wait. Tick tick tick. 2 minutes have gone by....the phone rings. I tell her whats going on, she rescheduled someone's well child check up thing, and we needed to get our tushies over to their office. So we pack up and run over there. Now: Ashtyn has a pretty bad ear infection and bronchitis/bronchiolitis (whatever... phlemmy coughing yuck) and little miss Taylor has an ear infection in BOTH EARS and the same bronchio...whatever. Finally, I'm not insane, they aren't FINE. Some antibiotics prescriptions and we're homeward bound again. Ashtyn's med's are the 4 day kind and Taylor gets the 10 day. At this point Ashtyn has not said a word about her ear hurting. As soon as the meds are gone. "my ear hurts" sure it does, she just wants more medicine..... So I ask what ear hurts.... she points to her left one. Motherffffffffffer. Sure enough, that's the one that had the ear infection. So I have no idea if its still there or what. But today I get to drag them over to the doctors for our 4th trip in 14 days to attempt at making it through Ashtyn's 3 year well child check up and then both of them will get a recovery check up. At least they're smooshing the 3 appointments into one for me.....I hate the rain. Have I told you that lately. You wouldn't be reading this crap if we were outside doing something fun. GRRRRRRR

You'd think I'd have learned by now

I should know at this point in my child raising career, that if I get woken up to an uncommunicative, uncontrollable, whining, crying and/or screaming fit, it means: Mommy get up right now and bring me to the bathroom or you'll very quickly be sorry. Well in my current state of sleep deprivation, at 1 am, that thought really never came to mind. At least until I heard BLECH! and then BLECH Mommy whimper whimper....by the third projection I slipped a couple curse words grabbed Ashtyn and ran to the bathroom for the grande finally. Ugh!

A pic for you, Jolene

I do have more to post when I get a minute or two. This week and last have been crazy.... 6 appointments with doctors, physical therapists and prosthetists, ripping up 2 driveways and then putting them back together again, sanding, painting and cleaning my in-laws computer room, watching another child above and beyond my own two, everyone being sick, a birthday party this weekend, planning 2 other birthday parties for both of the next 2 weekends, a walk-a-thon and brainstorming fundraiser ideas.....All that and fighting with Ashtyn for just one decent picture of her and Taylor, or even just of her alone......hopefully it will happen....but for now, I'm pooped.

So now what?

My Mom and Dave came down to snag Ashtyn for the weekend and left 20 minutes ago. I'm already bored and can't figure out what to do with myself. Taylor's still hanging out with me but she doesn't require as much work as Ashtyn does. I'm so used to my 24/7 mommy-hood, that I don't know what to do when I'm short a child or both. Last night my parents watched both of the girls so Jeremy and I could have some much needed time away..... we haven't been alone together since our fakie honeymoon back in April of 2007.... and I was completely at a loss when we had to figure out what to do. This was my second night out since Ashtyn was born and all I could think of was "what are the kids doing right now?" I whine and carry on about how I want to have a few hours away to do something..... anything..... and then it finally happens and I have no idea what to do. I'm lost without my babies. Its insane. It might have been a different story if it was warm out and daytime, then I could have ridden my Harley.... that's always enjoyable, but a night out...... I hate the bar, and I'm too poor to enjoy it, same with dinner at a restaurant. Why spend 50 bucks to eat something I could have made at home for $4? Last night was kind of an eye opener of how my priorities have changed so much since having Ashtyn. And as much as I still hate spending countless hours at home, I'd really rather do that than do whatever it was I used to do before them. I've turned into a hermit against my will. I only enjoy being out if its with my kids. Playgroups, the beach, the pool, wherever as long as I've got Ashtyn and Taylor by my side. Even when Ashtyn is being absolutely unbearable, I'd rather be with her, than not. 10 years ago, I didn't want kids....and now look at me, I have forgotten how to live and function without them. I'm offically a complete sap.

"It's not the kids that have a problem, It's the parents"

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Horrifying Parents is more like it

I don't think I've ever been so appalled as I was this morning when I saw this on NBC. To think there are people out there who believe that differences should be hidden away!?!?!?! Apparently there are some morons out there who need to be re-educated.



http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29391313/

By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 5:59 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 25, 2009

When the BBC hired a pretty young actress to co-host a daily program for toddlers, it never expected viewers to complain that the young woman might give their children nightmares.

“I didn't want to let my children watch the filler bits on the bedtime hour last night because I know it would have played on my eldest daughter's mind and possibly caused sleep problems,” wrote one viewer in an e-mail to the British television network after seeing Cerrie Burnell play games and read children’s stories.

The viewer’s problem? Burnell was born with an incomplete right arm that ends in a stump below her elbow.

According to a BBC report, most viewers have been supportive of Burnell, who took over a daily slot on the BBC’s children’s network, CBeebies, at the beginning of February with Alex Winters. But a handful have written to the station complaining about her disability. Some say she may frighten the children. Others accuse the network of going overboard in the interests of diversity. Some say they don’t want to have to address such issues with very young children.

Burnell, who has a 4-month-old daughter, seems unfazed by the controversy. “Children come up to me in the street every day and say 'What's that?' I wouldn't say they're frightened but certainly they're inquisitive,” she told BBC magazine. "I would always take the time to explain to a child. All they want is an explanation. They want to know 'What's that?' and 'What's happened?' and 'Why are you different?' And then they will move on."

Barbara Otto, the executive director of Health & Disability Advocates, a national American organization that lobbies, said in a phone interview that she would be surprised if a person like Burnell caused a similar reaction in the United States.

The Americans with Disabilities Education Act has mainstreamed as many disabled children as possible into regular schools. “We have community inclusion of people with disabilities,” she said. “Kids are going to school with people with different abilities. In the United States, this would be unheard of.”

In England, experts have noted that small children do not normally have difficulty dealing with people who are different. Where adults may turn their heads away from someone in a wheelchair, toddlers will walk right up to them and ask them about their chair. They don’t ask what’s wrong, but rather what is.

“They acknowledge it, they don’t look away,” Otto said of small children. “They ask what happened, not out of horror or disgust or fear. The want to know what happened. A responsible adult tells them: ‘Here’s what the situation is.’”

Are adults the problem?
England has non-discrimination laws similar to those in America. The problem isn’t with kids but with adults, Sir Bert Massie of Great Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission told the BBC.

"I think what's happening is a number of adults do have prejudices, do have very negative views about disabled people, and instead of admitting the views are their own, they're projecting them on to their children and saying the children are doing this,” he is quoted as saying.

Otto agreed. “It’s the adults,” she said, noting that Baby Boomers were raised in an era when the disabled were excluded from mainstream society. “People with disabilities were ‘the others.’ They were went away to live in institutions. A lot of that changed starting in the 1970s and 80s. It’s an old-fashioned notion.”

Otto said the reaction to Burnell is symptomatic of a larger issue some parents today are trying to cope with.

“This situation really speaks to an issue we’re seeing in parenting today,” Otto said. “Given the challenges of being a parent and the inability to control what our kids are exposed to, some parents are having a real drastic reaction. Maybe this is a part of it. Some people strive to shelter their children as long as they can. I suppose you see that everywhere. You see people home-school their kids because they don’t want them in an environment where they can’t control what they’re doing every minute of the day.”

Although the target of complaints, Burnell did not attempt to tell parents how to raise their children. “I'd never comment on anyone's parenting or the time for them to have a discussion with their child about disabilities,” she told the BBC. "It's a totally personal thing and people have to do it when they feel comfortable to do it. But I would just hope that, I guess, me being on CBeebies would present an opportunity for them to do that in the comfort of their own home."

If you're squeemish.....don't look

So yesterday I was a moron! Ashtyn decided it was necessary to play on the table on my porch. It has 4 "windows" in the table which are obviously glass and she has already broke one....we assume it was her anyway. So I see her and knock on the door that goes from my living room to the porch to get her attention.....It basically went, "knock, knock, oh f$#@%!" I manged to smash out the window, slice a 1 1/2 inch long chunk of my hand open all the way down to the veins and whatever else I was staring at. I knew it was bad when I saw blue veins. All I could think of was chicken skin. And then, somehow very calmly and rationally, "Hey Ashtyn honey I need you to get your shoes on now. Mommy's got a boo-boo and needs to go get stitches." I then packed up Taylor, grabbed Ashtyn and ran out the door, loaded the baby, re-strapped in Ashtyn's car seat and I drove 20 miles away to the ER trying to keep my cool as I got stuck behind moron after moron going 20 under the speed limit. But we got there and I got some more stitches to add to my list of accomplishments. Luckily Jeremy's father had just shown up to visit from Oklahoma, so he attempted (which is all you can do with Ashtyn) to help entertain the kiddos.

Aahhhh! The joys of nap time

Five minutes finally :) So alot of people (somehow) have missed some important things in the goings-on of our family. So I figured I'd inform and clarify. Ashtyn has now been out of diapers for 7 months now. I decided if I shared the news back in July when it all went down I would be jinxing it and she would revert back into diapers so I just never said anything. I've just kind of assumed people figured it out a while ago but I recently have had a few people asked me "when are you going to potty train her?" So now it is clarified.... no more diapers for Ashtyn :) She has also finally hit 36 inches!!! So now my little monkey can go on all the rides at the fair and Storyland!!! Also.....Ashtyn is turning 3 in April, not 4 or 5 like some seem to believe.......don't rush it. I know the terrible two stuff SUCKS but I don't want to see her off to school yet....Little Taylor has hit 13 pounds now and is about to be introduced to the world of yucky baby cereal. Her first tooth/teeth should be through any day now.....they are driving her crazy.....poor kiddo. Her hip issue.... I've been doing the ROM exercises with her since November when we first heard there could be an issue and they've helped but she's still limited. I have a physical therapist and some other specialists coming to evaluate her this week and depending on their findings, they might be doing home visits (yay!) to do some OT/PT with her and we're going to Dartmouth to get her x-rays done in a couple weeks which will pretty much clear up any questions of whether or not there is anything to worry about besides tight muscles or whatever. Jeremy has almost finished his "student" period of engineering the train. He will have his engineer license soon and driving the train all on his own. Hopefully he also gets a raise :) The only kind-of downside to that is he's one step closer to taking that position up North and making me pack all my junk again to move up there. And along with the move....sell this house and build one up there!!!! AHHHHHH! I'm torn about that idea. I'm not done fixing this house and after all the thousands of hours of excruciating labor, I don't know if I want to get rid of this house. But its beyond gorgeous up there. 80 Acres of trees, grass, deer, moose and all the other woodland critters. No more route 12 traffic along my property threatening to enter my yard or home.....the sweet sound of silence..... and the threat of Jeremy building a house....YIKES! I love him but he's no carpenter. Oh well time will tell. Still no news on the Ryan situation..... we'll all know when the answers come...... and we're all praying for the best. My 5 minutes are apparently up.......

More Emily info

Debbie, Emily's mom, posted this on Emy's myspace page:

Our daughter Em's wake will be sunday eve at stringer funural home from 6-8 and her funural will be at stringers as well at 11 on Monday morning.

Em loved you all she brightened the room when she walked in. Adored her son Kurt with all her heart.

Please look to the sky and send kisses to the brightest star their it's her.


Em I love you momma.


This is the link to Emy's Myspace www.myspace.com/skwertsmom



Debbie, her mother, is also requesting stories of Emily to share with Kurt. You can email them to her myspace page.

Goodbye 2008

As 2008 comes to an end...

1) Where did you begin 2008?

At home, on my couch with Jeremy and Ashtyn.....missing the ball drop because NBC messed up the NYEve programming

2) What was your status by Valentine' Day.

married

3) Were you in school (anytime this year)?

no

4) How did you earn your money?

watching kids, cleaning, plowing, mowing, etc

5) Did you have to go to the hospital?

Yes, Twice. 4 days after Ashtyn's 2nd birthday, Ashtyn had her first ER adventure after she fell and stuck a straw in her eye!!! Luckily there was no severe damage, she just shaved part of her cornea which healed up very quickly. I found out quick how much kids don't like it when you put medicine in their eyes..... and then in September, I got to have my happy stay at Valley Regional to deliver our newest family member, Taylor.

6) Did you have any encounters with the police?

Yes, several. There was a string of thefts in town this summer as some of you may recall me cursing about. The first hit to my house they stole all the gas out of tractor, atv's and jeep, the second time they stole my f-ing car!!!! and the third time they didn't get a damn thing!!!! Jerks.

7) Where did you go on vacation?

Orleans, Vermont.....to our camp

8) What did you purchase that was over $1000?

2002 Ford Explorer for Valentine's Day and a 2008 Yamaha Grizzley 700 for my birthday

9) Did you know anybody who got married?

My baby sister Julie on FRIDAY!!!!! February 8....Why on a Friday???? Because she's a pain :) I love you Julie.

10) Did you have any new additions to your family?

2, My daughter Taylor and my cousin Bailey

11) Did you know anybody who passed away?

Unfortunatly. RIP Boomer

12) Did you move anywhere?

no

13) What concerts/shows did you go to?

none :(

14) Are you registered to vote?

yes. And for the first time, I actually voted.

15) Who did you want to win Big Brother?

I don't watch it

16) Where do you live now?

New Hampshire....still

17) Describe your birthday?

Sadly, I don't remember. Being 2 days after Ashtyn's, mine just kind of comes and goes. I know I got a new Grizzley though!!!

18) What's one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2008?

Manage to not have a nervous breakdown. 2008 was a very bad/crazy year. It seems like bad news was around every corner. In April, my step brother was in a very bad car accident, he actually just recently ended his never-ending stay at one hospital after the other, but that was not a good time to say the least. Then in June, I went for my ultrasound to "find out the gender" of my little munchkin, just to find out she didn't have a left hand and then hear that I needed a battery of other tests to make sure she was actually OK in all other aspects. When I got home from that appointment, I recieved a 2 week notice from 2 of the 3 kids I was providing daycare for, then that night had to tell my husband "hey, I lost 2 kids today, so we have no money coming in on my end and oh, by the way, we're having a girl (ha ha I win) and she only has one hand" that was a rough week. so we eventually told the family and everyone had their initial tears but was totally fine. Once we finally found out Taylor was fine and going to be a perfectly healthy, normal little girl, the fog seemed to disipate for a while. Then, two days after Taylor was born, my sister and her husband were in a terrible crash..... one of the passengers died..... a few bumps and bruises to Julie and Ryan, Rachel, a friend of ours, got the worst of the "boo-boo's", she broke her nose and had to get a zillion stitches and whatnot to fix her poor nose.... but so now Ryan is going to court for this and that's just making stuff all sorts of crazy. That's just the icing on the cake. I won't bore you with the rest.

19) What has been your favorite moment?

When Taylor was born and Ashtyn was so proud and excited to have a baby sister.

20) What's something you learned about yourself?

I CAN NOT AND WILL NOT DELIVER WITHOUT AN EPIDURAL!!!!!!

21) What was your best month?

February..... I looked hot at Julie's wedding (and I had just found out I was pregnant)

22) What music will you remember 2008 by?

none

23) Who has been your best drinking buddy?

Ashtyn and Taylor.....we get to be sober together...yippee

24) Made new friends?

The computer

25) New or old best friend?

I have no idea what I am supposed to say to that...

26) Favorite Night out?

Ummmmm When I have one, I'll let you know.

5 seconds is all I'm asking

I never thought I'd see the day I was this busy. I barely have time to wipe myself, or even go to the bathroom for that matter. Anyway, since I have only a few seconds to blah to all who care... Taylor had her two month check up today (shots and all) what fun :( She did great though, she only cried for a few aggonizing seconds. Some of you may know I was a bit concerned to hear of the possibility of a hip problem last month from the orthopedic dr at Dartmouth.... well her pediatrician checked her hips today and its a gray area still. Basically her hips should allow her legs to lay flat when pressed open......did you catch that??? Picture the flats of your feet together while you lay on your back.....the sides of your knees (at least if you're a baby) should touch the floor.....well hers won't allow that. I guess that is usually a big but fixable problem. It basically means her hip is not actually in the socket, its kind of floating....however, normally when there is a floating hip thing going on, the doctor can disconnect the hip on the baby.....well he can't do that to Taylor soooooo there may or may not be a problem???? I'm lost myself.... So I'm still stuck waiting until March to have her xrays done to find out if there is a problem or not. Everyone knows how I enjoy waiting >:( But on another note..... we have her first appointment made with Shriner's.....January 14! Talk about right around the corner. I have no clue what will happen then but at least the ball is rolling. Hopefully I will have another 5 seconds in the near future to blah some more soon.

OH HOW TIME FLIES

here's a little sample of how my life has gone over the last two months.

Busy Busy Baby.....( I mean Toddler)

The newest pics of our adventurous weekend. We went to Wellwood to pick blueberries and say hello to the animals at the petting zoo, then went to see Daddy and "Uncle" Sam for lunch on the train and finished our weekend off with a house warming party at Uncle Greg's and Aunt Ashley's house. We are all beyond ready for a nice long nap.

Vacation time

Sorry to neglect my blog....I've been up north at camp all week having a blast. Internet access there is basically a "nice thought" but doesn't really exist. We all had fun despite the huge crazy downpour storm thing. I used the chainsaw for the second time and cut down my first tree!!!! Ashtyn had a blast riding her ATV and ours and the new tractor. We went to Louis's pig roast and saw fire works. Lots of fun in the mud and fixing the road and trails during and after mother natures wrath. We discovered our dog is pregnant. Pure bred sheppard + pure bred golden lab = me stuck with puppies......super! All in all we had a lot of fun and it was nice to do stuff as a family on our own for once (and I do mean for the first time!)