Part II

....As the kids arrived they started a lively game of basketball in the front. There was lots of hooting and hollering, not to mention laughter. I had 9 count them 9 boys from the age of 8 to 10. After it got too dark we all went inside and ate. the Chili's platters and pizza were a huge hit as was the Dr. Pepper in the football shaped bottle. They ate, and ate, and ate...finally time for the cake....um well not your usual type of cake but a Donut cake. I layers the donuts on a platter that had three different levels and tuck candles in 9 of them. We all sang happy birthday and the birthday boy blew out his candles.



I think my family is starting a trend. We haven't done traditional cakes since we moved here. Dannie is into the donuts and doesn't eat cake unless its chocolate and then he doesn't like the icing. Donnie likes cake but wanted his candles in the huge burrito last year. That's right he had a burrito cake. This year it was Donuts again for Daniel, I can't wait to see what Donnie comes up with.



Ok back to the party. After the cake he opened presents. Oh did he love his presents!!! Then they were left to the playing and horsing around. I moved the dining table in the formal dining room so the boys had that entire room as well as the Wii room to sleep in. Donte and i escaped to the living room and tried to watch TV but that was a bust the boys were so loud that we couldn't hear it. After a little while had passed I decided that their food was settled and that they could go ahead and play the game that I created. Now you all know that at 9 they don't play games right..........I thought long and hard and came up with a movie game. We picked 12 movies and came up with clues. For example Fantastic Four was Super X 4, and Elf was Spaghetti and Chocolate pop tarts. I taped a letter to each of the movies and hid them in our collection. I then cut out numbers and put them in a baggie. All the numbers were the same color except for the 6, it was red. The red number was the person that would get the first chance to guess where the prize was. After they guessed all the movies they spelt out China Cabinet. Then I told them a riddle of where in, on or around the cabinet the prize was, it wasn't long before they were all throwing out guesses. I had hidden their treat bags under the China Cabinet and hid them with a throw. The goodie bags were stuffed with Mad Libs, Cards, Pencils that were half pencils and half colored pencils, and of course tons of candy. They were thrilled and tore right in. To my surprise they wanted more riddles....WOW......I was so glad that they enjoyed it. After that it was game on with a Call of Duty 4 tournament and lots of eating and farting.....it was lovely I tell you. Finally Donte fell asleep on the fat boy chair and I tried to sleep on the couch. At around 2AM I went in and got the final two to settled down.......they were all up by 7AM. I fed them a healthy breakfast of donuts and juice and they all headed out to play basketball. We were all outside in our Jammies playing basketball and making a ruckus until all the boys went home. They were all gone by 930Am except for one that hung out for the day. We hurried up got dressed and went to Donnies football game. One of Donte's soldiers and his family showed up and followed us home. We again were outside enjoying the great weather for a while. They left at around 3 and we went inside. Dannies last little friend got picked up at around four. I looked around at my house and decided that it could wait. I crashed and when I say crashed I mean I crashed!!! Now here I am suppers on the stove and we are all sitting in the living room, rested, relaxed and awaiting the premier of Heros.

I wish I had a pause button.

Let me tell you how my weekend was.....in one word HECTIC in a little more than one word......Friday was a teacher institute day so I went in super early and got off at one. I hurried up picked up my boys and headed out to the stores to pick up the last minute birthday supplies. We rushed home, unpacked the car and loaded Mr. Murphy up to get his rabies shot. For those of you who do not know Mr. Murphy has allergic reactions to his shots and has to not only be premeded but post meded....sooooo much fun NOT!! He got his 2year rabies shot that covers him until 2010, and we waited our half an hour, got the meds for the post med and came home. I let the dogs out, hollered at the ids to get ready for practice, and watched as the minutes ticked by way too fast. I did a quick once over on Murphy and put the dogs up before we left for practice. Now I am tired already and am annoyed with Donte's coach because the man changes practices every week.....seriously I could scream but whats a girl to do???? SUCK IT UP I KNOW. So practice finally finished and we head home. The boys shower and we get the house decorated for the party, streamers galore, football Dr. Peppers and tons of fun stuff for 9 rowdy boys. I checked on Murphy one last time and put the dogs to bed at about 9pm. At 9:30 Donte gets home and Murphy has thrown up and his face is so swollen that I can barely see his eyes. I shove benadryl down his swollen little throat and give him the coldest water that I can get my hands on. I immediately get him outside into the fresh air and am praying to God that this little fart does not croak on me. 60 min later his swelling is down and I have about 100 more gray hairs!! I got to bed that night at around 130 AM. I am awake at 330 AM to give him his next dose....I swear he looked annoyed with the fact that I had woken him up. I don't even remember getting back into bed but I did and then the alarm went off at 8 finished the house, confirmed the chilis platters and we all headed off to the games. After the game we headed to chilis, picked up the food and rushed home. The boys jumped in the shower and I set out the food, by this time kids started arriving. Thank God for my friend Terri that picked up 4 pizzas at the great price of $6 per pizza....yummy, huge, just right pizzas.........cont, tomorrow I am falling asleep writing this.

Rain Day?

I guess that's what you would call it. Last night at around 8PM as we sat around the living room, after a hectic day of doing whatever Daniel wanted to do, the phone rang...bbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiing. I looked at the caller ID because everyone that would have called for his birthday already had and it said that it was the school......uggggghhhh Well to my surprise it was the director of communications and the blurb went like this.....

All District schools will be closed tomorrow, Monday, September 15, 2008 because of significant flooding over numerous key roads and areas around the district following this weekends rain. However, all 12-month employees and principals must report to work if possible.We are concerned that this flooding will make it difficult for bus drivers and parents to safely transport students to and from school. This decision is being made in consultation with the Police Department and Emergency Management Agency. The National Weather Service also expects the DuPage River to rise another 18 inches to two feet before Monday afternoon, which could further flood area roads.

I have never heard of a rain day and I honestly don't know if this is what they call it but it's what I am going to call it. The boys jumped for glee when I told them. Daniel said it was his birthday present from the school and they...all three of them.....yes my husband to commenced to playing the 360. I went upstairs and had opened the windows about 2 hours earlier because we finally had a bit of a break from the rain and my bedroom felt heavenly. It was cool and my linens were nice and crisp. I had the fan on and the breeze in the room was fantastic. I turned the fan off and snuggled deep into my down comforter and promptly started to count sheep.

Now today I have finished the laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and started to cook a huge pot of beef curry. I have done all that I have to do for the day and guess what it is 1:45 and I am still in my Jammie's as are my two children, my hubby on the other hand is bathed and dressed....hahaha not me I am staying this way at least for a couple more hours.

Chubba Bubba.....AKA Chubs

I vividly remember sitting down with Donte as we discussed having another baby. Donnie was about 7 months old and was the easiest little person to have around. Surly if we have another baby he or she will be just the same....since they would be coming from the same parents right. Donte was thrilled and just knew that the next one would be a girl but we had the out look of as long as the baby was healthy we wouldn't care.

I went out and bought a pregnancy test and placed it in my upstairs bathroom's drawer. I didn't work at the time so my days were spent with my precious little Donnie. We would start the morning with breakfast and big bird. Oh how he loved "Elmopalooza". I bet I still have all of those songs memorized. Sometimes we would meet up with friends. The highlight of the day for Donnie was when Donte would come home for lunch. It was a glee full hour that he could run after his Daddy and get all his energy out before nap time. for me it was a perfect time to get a little cleaning done before I got Donnie down for his nap.

I had a few complications after having Donnie. After 17 1/2 hours of labor, I had to have a C-Section, and after I thought that I had recovered from that I went home and my incision promptly opened up again. Not a great situation to say the least and made it hard for me to do anything. I was breast feeding as well .....it was a lot coming at me but every time I looked at my little boy I knew it was more than worth it....I also knew that there was no way that I would do this for anyone or anything else other than my sweet little bundle of joy.

In my own mind I thought that I would get pregnant easily. Maybe 2 months at the most. Donte and I started trying immediately and I was counting the days so I could gleefully pee on that little stick. I remember the first time when I got a negative result...Oh well....I will be preggo next month. Well needless to say next month came and went and still only one little line...I wanted there to be two. Months went by and still no luck so I said to myself it will happen when it happens.....if it's meant to be.

We were busy planning Donnies first birthday party when Donte found out that he was leaving for PLDC in 3 days....3DAYS. Donnies birthday party was in one week. He would miss it. Luckily PLDC was in Graf and we lived only 30 or so minutes away. That morning I packed up some cupcakes, a wrapped birthday present, and bundled up my newly adorned one year old and headed through the snow to Graf so my baby could spend at least a few moments of his first birthday with his Daddy. We had a little Gray Nissan Sentra and when we got to Graf Donte joined us in the car. Donnie was ecstatic that he was able to escape his car seat and we sang happy birthday to our one year old with a candle lit in the middle of a yummy chocolate cupcake. He then got to open a present from Daddy. Donte had to get back in to his barracks and I had to get home to get the party started. What a great party. The house was full and in true military style, everyone chipped in to help me where needed. Heavy presents were carried for me and there was virtually no clean up. We were all a little family over there.

PLDC lasted roughly a month so at least Donte would be home for Christmas. Of Course him being gone put a damper on the whole baby making progress but I had already pushed that to the back of my mind. I was blissfully happy with Donnie and if God felt as if that was the only child that he wanted to give me then so be it.

Finally December rolled around and Donnie and I were so happy to have Donte home. Unfortunately Donnie had caught a bug. He was sick as could be, my poor baby couldn't keep anything down or in. He was also teething so between the throwing up and the fever we took hi to the Doctor who prescribed an array of meds to help him out. Apparently a nasty virus was spreading around the post and he wanted to stop it in it's tracks. I took Donnie to the Doc on the 22nd and was so happy when he was doing so much better by the very next day. Unfortunately I was starting to feel nauseated and couldn't keep much down either. I figured I could take the adult version of what the doctor had prescribed for Donnie and I would be fine. Christmas came and went and I still wasn't feeling much better Donte was swearing that I was preggo but no honey really I am not. I have no preggo symptoms I have the gunk. I finally went to see the doc on the 31st of December and lo and behold I should have listened to my hubby I was preggo. I was so happy and so was Donte. We then explained to Donnie that he was going to be the big brother.

In the next 30 weeks I was violently ill, hated anything that had chicken in it, loved grilled cheese and foot massages, and loved every doctors appointment so I could see my little bean grow into a little baby. At my 7 1/2 month appointment I noticed that my doctor was taking a little longer on the ultrasound and I asked what was going on. Now let me explain that Germans are very blunt and there is no sugar coating....she said very matter of factly that she thought that my baby had spina bifida. She pointed at the screen and showed me the dark area which could have been a depression at the base of this little babies spine. I was devastated but there was nothing that I could do but wait until Monday to have another ultrasound, a 3D one that would give us some answers. I was broken and scared and was wondering what I could have done wrong. That was the longest weekend that I have ever had to sit through. Monday came and we went to the Amberg hospital and again the 30 min wait seemed like an eternity....no matter what the outcome we were in love with this baby and would deal with it. As I lay there on the ultrasound table and saw the gorgeous images I was praying that it was all a mistake. Please let it be nothing. After the ultrasound I got cleaned up and we waited for the Doctor who gave us a folder with all the info and advised us to go to our regular doc....are you kidding me. I thought that they would tell me at least tell me if it wasn't bad. Oh my God this is not happening to me. We sped over to Doctor Burg-Wurms and waited for an opening. I didn't care if we were there all night I wasn't leaving until I had an answer. She finally called us back to her office. I was so scared I felt like a child that had just lost everything that was stuck in a dark tunnel alone with no flashlight or glimmer from anywhere. These emotions were compounding inside of me and I couldn't hold it in anymore. I sat there with tears rolling down my face as I waited for the results. He was fine....just perfect....he was just tangled in his umbilical cord and was pulling on it...it was wrapped around his upper leg and hiney. She showed me the comparison from the ultrasounds she had done and the ones that were just taken and it was all so much clearer. I cried tears of joy and made her do another ultrasound just to make sure.

Fast forward to September 13th the day before my due date. I had slight labor pains for a couple of days and since Donnie was late I didn't want the same situation with Daniel. I went to the Doc and got the meds to get my labor started. It was hot and uncomfortable that day so Donte grabbed my fan, Donnie went to my girlfriends house and we headed to the hospital. After all of that they say that no I am not ready yet...um yes I am, and I want a room. They finally get us settled and I feel like I am dying. These aren't the same contractions that I had with Donnie. He was induced too so they should feel the same right? I felt like a fish that was getting it's backbone pulled out. Finally after laboring all night I went into surgery. I was knocked completely out again. When I woke up on Sept 14 I was back in the ICU and the nurses rushed to get my husband. Donte came in carrying a beautiful bundle of joy. I immediately unwrapped him and he was perfect. 10 fingers, 10 toes, a head fully of hair and as I gently rubbed my fingers down his back a perfect spine and two little chubby legs kicking away while his perfectly formed lungs were screaming to be wrapped up again. Welcome to the world Daniel Slade welcome to our family. We promptly nicknamed him Chubba Bubba. A little miracle born on his due date weighing in at 9 lbs exactly and 21 inches. We are complete a perfect circle of 4.

TIME

Time is such a precious word, it can be good and bad depending on the situation. I have had days where I think that time couldn't inch by any slower. I go about my business and feel as if hours have gone by but no it's only been minutes. Then there are the days where I need more time. I feel as if only minutes have flown by but hours have and I rush to cram everything that I can into my day. I often wish that the day was 32 hours instead of 24 and that our bodies would have already evolved into thinking that was normal. Imagine what you could get done in those extra 8 hours. My work day would stay as is and then I would actually have the time to get everything I needed to get done....DONE. I average about 2 hours of at home time where I am not sleeping. In those two hours I desperately try and get everything done...the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, and anything else that may jump out at me. My days are starting to blur together and I don't like the feeling of have loose ends everywhere. I still have that last load of laundry in the dryer that I should get out and fold before the wrinkles set in but I am too tired to drag my hiney off the couch to get it. I haven't blogged in awhile and I haven't finished a book that I have been trying to get through for the last 2 months....it's a good book I just can't seem to fit it in. I take it places with me but I end up holding it and gazing down with sorrow as I realize that I have to set it down to get just one more thing done. I have a pretty good schedule and there's no way that I would make it if I didn't. I have done much more than this at one time before but I have been spoiled this summer and need to get my mind and my body wrapped around my hectic life. I remember when Donte was deployed, I did everything, from finances, to taking care of the kids, the house, the dogs, the cars, making sure that the boys made their practices, their games, their school functions and their play dates, I was the gardener, the house keeper, the birthday party thrower and the doctor, I worked a full time job with sponge bob square ass and did it damn well if I do say so myself and to tell you the truth I know there was more that I did but it's all a blur now.....I am starting to feel as if I am juggling 50000000 balls at once......I also know that I am just venting and that it will all get easier soon. I am two weeks in to work, school, and football. That's usually my introductory period....I can't wait for it to all feel normal again....and at least this time in I have Donte here to take some of the load off when I need to chill out. **if only I would take the moments to chill**

On a good note I will be posting soon on BFF's and MFF's. Wondering what that's all about? Ask specifically for what you want and need and you shall get them. Don't worry about the people who have obvious issues, let them go and when you do the truly wonderful, funny, and trustworthy people will find you.....they sure did find me.

Just Another Manic Monday....Not Really ;0)

Here's my first born. So tiny, so small, so very perfect in every way.


Here he is this past Saturday. He's number 12....he's the one with the black under armor pushing some poor kid out of the way....he's also growing up way too fast.

Hey Copp...It aint happening dude.


No means no...your not getting through!


Victory.....12 to 0


Here's my little Dannie. Look at that little chubby smushed up, I just came into this world little face.


Look at him this past Saturday...words escape me. My baby isn't a baby anymore.

One of my BFF's (long and funny story for later) making sure my little man stayed hydrated.


Are you really going to try to get past me...have you not learned anything today?


BOOM....I tried to warn you.



Victory 28-0



Here we are on the first day of school. Man was it hard to get going that morning.

Sometimes after practice we play a little bball. Oh the joys of summer vaca.


I told the boys to pack everything but their drinks and sandwiches for school the next day. This is Dannies lunchbox.


This is Donnies.


One more of my first born. He really does amaze me.