Clean bill of health??

Lately I have been feeling like crap. That is outside of all the viruses we have contracted in the last two months. I sleep all night but yet still am exhausted in the morning and cannot seem to wake up to get out of bed. It has been going on for a while now. Plus my feet ache to the point sometimes that makes it uncomfortable to walk. You would think I had been on my feet for hours. It is actually when I have been sitting or laying for a long period of time and gets better the more I walk around.

I decided to break down the other day and head to the doctor. All this time I had been stressing about all of this thinking there was something really wrong with me. I dispise taking medicine and just knew there was something wrong that was going to require me to take pills for the rest of my life. I had put it off long enough though.

So, I got there and had explained all my symptoms. They took some blood to check my thyroid levels and sent me home with a list of vitamins to take. I thought, "wow, who gets to leave the doctor with just vitamins as a prescription for health"? I was shocked and as happy as could be. I still had to wait for the results of my blood test but that was no big deal. A couple of days later I got word my test was normal and I could not have been happier. There was only one problem. I have been taking the vitamins now for a couple of weeks and I still have all of my symptoms. I am tired all the time and my feet are still bothering me. What am I to do now? Make another appointment? Just live with feeling like this? Try another doctor? I was so excited to be left with a vitamin regimen. I felt like I had left with a clean bill of health just lacking a few necessary things. That is obviously not the case and now I am at a loss.

Operation Diaper Free

Victoria has been potty trained for a good while now. I still had her in "night time" pants because I did not feel she was ready. Lately she has had several mornings where she woke up completely dry. It got me thinking maybe she was finally ready for the final step in diaper freedom. I also figured the best way to get there was to just do it and work through all the accidents. Two days ago I went out and bought a plastic cover for her mattress and I got some extra sheets. She was so excited and picked out some new panties to celebrate. There is no time like the present so we decided to give it a go. This is the second morning and so far we have not had any accidents. I think this is a really good sign. She is such a big girl now and she has been so very proud of herself. I too am very proud of her. Hopefully we will have many many more dry nights. Now I just need to get her sister potty trained and we will be completely diaper free.

Get your paws out of my garden missy!

A lot of hard work goes into creating a great garden. For me it is a lot of fun though. I was excited to share the experience with Victoria. She had a lot of fun helping me (making a mess) plant. I wanted to teach her all about growing our own fruits and veggies. We spent one afternoon last week getting everything together and getting the plants in the ground. All the little plants were getting settled in their new homes when an unsuspecting character happened along. She happens to be the newest addition to our home. Her name is Zoe and we really have enjoyed having her around. Until now that is. Okay well maybe we still enjoy her but right now she is literally in the dog house. I went out to check on our plants only to find all the rapsberry bushes missing. On top of that, the strawberries were disturbed and I am not sure how many will actually survive. I was hopping mad. I walked around my entire backyard several times looking for my poor defenseless raspberry plants. All the while scolding Zoe for her shameless attack. I managed to find two of the plants and got them back in the ground. They were a bit chewed up so I am not sure they will make it. I am not sure exactly how I am going to solve this issue. I thought about putting up a fence but I am just not sure how I can pull that off in the current location. I did some research and found that there are certain smells that dogs do not like. A couple of them are coffee grounds, moth balls and vinegar. So, now I am on a mission. I have all three items on hand so I am going to give it a go. I hope it works and my plants can now be safe. Anyone else have this same issue and have a solution?

Bottle Wars

Aside from the constant snot and vomiting that has been going on around here there is another battle that has been brewing. A battle that is proving to be one of the toughest yet in the war of the strong willed. Maybe she is too much like me. Strong willed. Stubborn. Okay down right obstinate. I have an advantage and definitely the upper hand here. I am older and a lot more stubborn. I have had many more years of practice at this. Let's face it, I am pretty damn good at it and quite the master when it comes to holding my ground and not giving in. She has met her match. The bottle is on the way out the door for good. Sippy cups are all the new rage and all the cool kids are using them.

Izzy Turns 1

My little one is growing up what seems to me like faster than her older sister. Time really does fly by so very fast. She is so big now. She is on the brink of walking. She has taken some steps on her own but has not yet found her confidence. Her birthday was a good one overall. She did catch a virus and ended up with a fever of 103. She took it like a champ though and really enjoyed her cupcakes. My sister and her kids came over to share the day with us. I am so very proud of her. She is growing up into a beautiful and wonderfully loving little girl. She is so incredibly smart. I cannot wait to be there for all the years to come.

The Crazy Life

Things around here have really been completely insane. I feel as though I have not had a moments peace for over a month now. It all started out with all of us getting a nasty cold. Having sick kids is bad enough but when you are sick too it seems like it is a thousand times worse. While on the road to recovery we had some family come and visit. That was a lot of fun but sure did seem to be hectic. I think the worst part of this last month was really all the sickness. I think the fact that my kids have not gotten sick in years caught up with them in full force. The girls were non stop taking turns passing stuff around. I cannot even remember the last time I actually got a full night sleep without having to tend to one or the other. I spent more money in doctor copays over the last month than I have in their entire lives. Just when I thought we were out of it something else would hit us. I am hoping that I am not jinxing us but I think it has all finally passed.

All the while, I kept thinking of all the things I needed to get done that were not getting done. I had decided to take on the crazy task of doing our taxes. That normally would not seem like a huge deal but starting last year ours became a really big task and one I was afraid to tackle. I paid a fortune in fees last year to have someone else do it for me. I decided that it was time to tackle that beast myself so that all the money owed to us went into our bank account. I spent a week getting my business in order before moving on. I spent another week trying to decipher what was done last year. I decided it was time to start punching in the numbers and see where i would end up. I had nothing to lose except my sanity. I went slow and it took me several days to figure out each piece and feel comfortable with it. When it was all done I was certain it was messed up but I was so happy it was really over. The next day I received a call informing me of a minor mistake I had made. I was shocked and stunned. More importantly I was so incredibly proud of myself. It was definitely difficult but I stuck with it all the way and got it done. It was an awesome sense of accomplishment.

Once it was all done I suddenly realized I had all this free time. Kids seem to be healthy for now and the taxes are done for the year. I think those two things have taken over my life for this last month. It is so great to not feel the pressure and being able to just sit back, relax and enjoy my girls.