Giovanna and the ear infection....

My sweet Giovanna gets so sick by such the slightest things.....She now is just getting over upper respiratory infection and now has a NASTY I mean NASTY ear infection. It started towards the middle of last week, with the grinding of the teeth (usually does this and within days she has ear infection or upper respiratory infection) and then rubbing her ear...over the weekend we noticed the outer ear was totally red, and scabbed up... By yesterday she was actually telling me "boo boo" so today we headed off to the Dr's...me and 4 little girls! The Dr said she had a REALLY nasty ear in and outside infection, and eye infection and upper respiratory! Oh what FUN!! LOL She really is a trooper though...she doesn't ever complain..(that is the one thing I HATE about Down Syndrome...they just don't really feel the pain until its too late) She is now on 3 different meds, for ears, eyes and antibiotics for the infection..my poor baby!


All the girls did well at the Dr's. William showed up just about as we were done, and they went wild. They love their daddy! He had a dental appointment so he dropped into ped's to see us. Once we were done,I had him pick up all the meds (being in uniform gets you to the front of the line) and I headed upstairs to get some shots! Oh was Lily happy...NOT! She needed her last shot so she can start kindergarten in the fall, and Bella needed another shot as well. So Daddy got to hold them all down. So glad he showed up! I then loaded everyone up and headed north to the house, we stopped at Wendy's for a hamburger and then home to eat.

Crazy day but overall a good one!

Michael left this morning heading back to FL. He always hates to go...Lyndsey will be back up here for the 4th...but I think staying at her friends....


Im trying to decide what to do with the girls this week to have some fun...anyone have any ideas?

One year ago today....

Two little orphans from Bogota Colombia became US citizens, and introduced to the rest of their new forever family! Here is a photo of our second night home, all 4 little ones had gotten a bath together for the first time.

To watch the video REMEMBER to go to the bottom of the right hand side of the blog and turn OFF the music.....

The video, its of our dessert time the second night home...Its so funny to hear Lily talking then and to hear her today.... What a difference a FAMILY makes! When we come home Lily was just shy of 4yrs old and Gabby had just turned 5 yrs old, the day we received them.

WE love you Gabby and Lily!

My oldest two kiddos....

I was looking at their myspace and come across this pic of the two of them together just a few weeks ago.. They had come home and picked up their friend and headed to Atlanta. Mike and his friend went to see Jimmy Buffet and then the next day the 3 of them went to the aquarium in Atlanta and then that night went to the Braves game.... I cant believe my "Babies" are grown up. I know we have the typical parent child issues but I am still SO PROUD of them both! They amaze me with their being ....I am PROUD to be called their Momma!


I love you Lyndsey and Michael!

Signing Time CD winner is......

Mommy & Peepers

Congratulations to Mommy & Peepers for winning the Signing Time CD. I wish I had several to give away.....Send me your mailing address and we will get it right out to you.

I am feeling better.....

thanks to the wonderful medicine the Z pack... I am feeling better, just still alittle tired. This too shall pass though....

Thanks for all your prayers.

Thank the Lord for air conditioners......

Well our compressor went out in ours....and after many hours being VERY HOT and HUMID.....and a few thousand dollars...we are back to being comfortable!!! Wow, I dont know how folks in the south go without air....I hope I never have to find out again!

YUCK!!! Strep it is!

I still feel so bad, but this too shall pass. It was nice to go to the Dr with just myself and not 4 little ones. The babysitter came over again tody for 4 hours for me to go...and then had to sit in line for over an hour for a new military ID card...oh what fun!

Get home and guess what??????????? Our air conditioner has gone out....the compressor is gone.....they cant come until tomorrow and we are about to die here!!! Talk about hot, sticky and humid!!! Oh looks like tonight is gonna be fun!

The house that we were going to put a offer on....

WAS bought by a couple from MY CHURCH! Oh, MY!!!!!!!

Only ONE DAY LEFT!

until my girls draw the winner to the contest for the signing time cd. so get to entering...leave a comment of why we should pick you.

check this out.....

http://thesecretisinthesauce.blogspot.com/

another fun contest.

My Throat......

is killing me!!! I dont know if this is brought on by stress or what....but I do believe i have strep again....LOL of Susan!!! See, when we went on vacation back in April I also had strep , and this is the same feeling I had then..ITS KILLING ME! Im trying to eat popsicles, but after the cool wears off its back to the stinging throat....

If Im not feeling bettter in the morning...off to the Drs Im going!!!!!

Any tips on how to sooth a major sore throat????? I dont drink tea of any kind, so warm tea is OUT of the question.

Yard Sale

Went good..not as big of a turn out than normal, but still did well. We sold alot and took a whole Suburban truckload to the goodwill. Now, its time for me to slowly start getting my fall things ready for the consignment sale....it takes forever to do that with the girls.

We hired a girl from church to come stay the day with us...and she was here from 9-6....what a huge help and after we got everything done, william and I actually went to the movies together while she kept the girls.....Oh that was nice!

Gotta run get the girls settled down for the night...

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST FOR EMMA

Per her mom:

She got 1/2 dose of Morphine because the Ty w/ Codine wasn't working enough. Now when she has made it to sleep twice her hr has dropped from the usual 95-125 down into the 50's. I've woken her up each time, but she NEEDS to sleep. That is dangerously low for her and her SATS were dropping with it. Please say a prayer that the morphine's effects on her heart will be short and she will be able to rest comfortably tonight! Her HR is in the 70/90's right now and SATS are in the 90's so she's ok right now. She's awake tho...


Lord God, We love you and we know you love sweet Emma. Please touch her precious body and make it whole. You have such mighty plans for her, we have seen such a remarkable change in her in just the few short months she has been home...she has touched many lives and totally enriched the lives of her family, please give her the strength she needs to overcome this illness right now. We trust this in Your name and Your name only...AMen.

The Yard Sale is ON BABY!

WE are once again gonna go for the yard sale...last Sat we didnt do it due to rain...but looks like in the morning will be the perfect time.....so wish me luck! LOL

My friend Emma's daughter ive been posting about...here is the latest update...

We have a HEART surgery date!
August 14th, 2008 will be a big day for lil' Miss! Emma is having her heart fixed!!! It's a bit later than we were hoping for but when you've got a great surgeon and he's booked up, you WAIT.

We are so excited to have a date on the calendar to know when we'll be doing that for her to be able to see the "other side" of that date!Unfortunately, this is going to mess with school, etc. for K and E because school starts around that time. Also, it means Emma won't be able to start school until mid-October (I know, technically she could go back earlier, but MOMMA says no school 8 weeks post-op. That was what we did for Brianna with nursery, so it only makes sense that she not go to school until she's outside of the risk period.)


One last thing- the MRI of her brain is the only thing that might have them call off the heart surgery. PLEASE pray tht it comes back clear!! We won't hear anything on that front for a week or two since her surgery is so far out. I don't think they're going to 'hurry up' with it since she's not an immediate surgery now.


Thanks for those that asked about Micah. He's doing MUCH better! His runny nose has all-but stopped (just a little run not 10 boxes of tissues/day) so he's all clear to stay and play. Kristopher complained of a sore throat last night but then has been fine today, so who knows.


Emma's much more comfortable now, chewing on a bib rather than grinding her teeth, and hopefully will decide to nap soon. She's REALLY tired! Still no drinking...

house showing....

FELL THROUGH!!!! THEy never showed up!

Our First offical house showing....

Please pray for me, to finish (well as much as I can) getting my house cleaned and showable...because tomorrow is the first offical Realtor showing. They called and will be here between 1:30-2:30. William took tomorrow off, so we could clear out and get ready for the garage sale on Saturday.....I hope this doesnt ruin it for us!!! WE need to be able to work in the morning....looks like a late night and early morning for us!

Lyndsey and Mike sure wish you were home....could use 2 extra sets of hands!!!

We have a babysitter lined up to watch the girls on Saturday during the yard sale and then we hope to as well go see some houses! Will let ya know!

IM STILL VERY UPSET ABOUT THE OTHER HOUSE DEAL...AND BOY DO I HAVE SOME NEWS TO SHARE WITH YOU ALL....BUT WANT TO CONFIRM IF ITS TRUE OR NOT....STAY TUNED!

New update on Emma

PER HER MOM:

Emma's sitting on my lap and although a bit pale she's doing well. She likes taking the pulse ox off and playing with the light. She's obviously well-drugged but otherwise is doing great. She was SITTING UP on the gurney coming down the hall :) We skipped ICU and are waiting for a room on the floor of the surgical unit for tonight. Not drinking much yet.

Dr. O said the tonsils were wall to wall and that he expects her sleep apnea to be MUCH improved. Also, lots of gunk in the ears so he's sure her hearing should improve now. Also, the sinus swab will be back in about a week and we'll find out whether there's an antibiotic resistive bacteria in there and if so we'll know what to put her on to clear it up.That's all for now, just snuggling my girl! Keep praying that she recovers well!!

Update on Emma

Her mom wrote:

She's Done! We haven't gotten to go see her yet, which it has been a little long, but they said that the surgery itself went fine. Hoping to go home tomorrow, but we shall see.



I will update again when i hear more....keep praying!!!

Please pray for Miss Emma Hope

Please stand in prayer with many of us today for sweet Emma. See, today is the first surgery for her to be on the road to a lengthy life. She was born in Ukraine and spent the first 5 yrs in an orphanage with little to NO stimulation. She was born with a very severe heart condition and it went untreated until her forever family brought her home to the US in March. I had done a blog about the Cornish family several months back while they were in Ukraine, trying so hard to get their children.....so her story may seem familiar to many of you.

Today Emma will have her tonsils and adnoids removed, and then when she heals she will have open heart surgery. Emma having the T & A surgery today, are in hopes for better breathing and oxygenation and that it will improve her chances of a having a sucessfull open heart surgery.

If you click on the above picture of Emma, you can follow their story! So please pray for Emma today. Her surgery is scheduled for 9:30.

See Contest post a few days ago....

WE need more entry's into the FREE signing Time CD contest....come on...spread the word!!!

What to do to STOP nail biting???

My 4 1/2 yr old adopted from Colombia one year ago is a MAJOR nail biter. How do you stop it? She bites them so far back they bleed, and she even bites off parts of her skin. She does this to her toes as well!!! She usually does this when she is totally ingrossed into the TV, laying in her bed etc......I have tried putting hot sauce on them, in her mouth, taking toys away, using the STOP BITE for her nails (which she peels off ) AND even done the REVERSE method and tryed rewards....she doesnt do nail polish, she peels it off within NO time flat, doesnt care about special treats...nothing seems to matter to her ....she is in a daze .....so I am at a TOTAL LOSS!

What do you do? She said she does it just because......hhhmmmm....well how do you get her to stop. The other 3 get chocolate treat when Daddy get to pop pop their nails and Lily gets to sit at the table without her chocolate because she bites her nails....chocolate is one of her favorite things, and it doesn't seem to make her stop biting her nails.....


HElp!

IM SO BUMMED!

Our realtor just called and said that this morning the house that we OH SO WANTED....got 2 different offers! The only thing we can HOPE for is that they totally LOW balled them! BUt Im sure one of the 2 offers will be acceptable for the owners and we will jsut have to keep looking!


WE are gonna get ours posted in the MLS system, so they can start showing it. There are a few more we want to look at but NONE of them, are EXACTLY what we wanted!! So please pray for us, that we will find the PERFECT house for our little family!

Fun Contest!

New in Shrink wrap Singing Time Music Cd: Come sing with US! Vol 1-3 songs This CD has over 20 songs on it that you and your children will just love!

Since my girls LOVE LOVE LOVE Singing Time DVD's and music....I thought this would be a perfect give away. Here are the contest rules..

1. For ONE chance to win: Post a comment about your child's love for signing time or if you dont have any yet, your desire to teach your child sign language. Make sure you leave your blog addy.

2. For another chance to WIN: Post this on your blog along with a link back to my blog...this will give you a second entry into this contest. You must do #1 first.

I will let my girls draw the winner on June 23rd...so you have ONE WEEK to get those comments in and spread the word.

I am also a authorized Singing Time Retailer...so if you want to place a order for any of the DVD's, books, blashcards, music CD or anything else just let me know. I give discounts and the web doesnt so please place your order with me.

I will ship this to the winner as soon as I have their address.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY BABY!!!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY TO THE WORLDS MOST AWESOME DAD EVER!

WE LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!

LYNDSEY, MICHAEL, GIOVANNA, ISABELLA, GABBY, AND LILY!

AND FOREVER.....YOUR WIFE!

new house....

Well several people keep emailing me asking about the house offer....well it is still NOT finalized. I think the latest news is...we should have some kind of plan by Monday.

I went to Walmart today and bought signs for the yard...so our house is offically FOR SALE! Depending on what we hear the first of the week, we may list it with a real estate co that you pay to basically just get it in the MLS. We did this with our last house and it worked out just fine....so it will save us thousands of dollars doing it this way...........so we will see!

William picked up his father's Day gift today....a new pressure washer. So looks like our house will get a good ol cleaning on the outside and the driveway as well. Over the winter things start to look alittle yucky out there....so this will give it a new facelift.

Anyone looking for a good very reasonable house to buy?? 4 br 2.5 ba and 2300sq ft...good price!!!WE ARE selling very cheap, to basically get out of this one and into the new one...so the start price is only $147,000.

Have a great night! WE were gonna do a yard sale in the morning, but it may rain, so i think if its pretty, im just gonna get up and JUST take out the big toys and furniture and try and get rid ot them...

ok, here is the girls with Aunt Karen and Joey

William's sister Karen and one of her boys Joey come to stay a few days with us last week. Here are two pictures of them with the girls....They love to have Aunt Karen come to play....

WE miss you already!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

The girls have gone to their preschool VBS last week and now our church this week. They are having a BLAST!

I am looking for one during the day to help break up our long hot summer days.....

YARD SALE

hopefully this Saturday...we have so much stuff to get rid of...so if your local please come and buy something....280 Daffodil Ct in Millbrook....Grandview pines subdivison!!!!

The new house....

is still up in the air....

The realtor threw something out there to us, that we had never heard of before....trading houses. She said that with the price being so much higher...over 100k for the new house, that the owner may very well, buy our house, so we can buy his house, put our current home back on the market for sale and be saving several hundred dollars a month just in intrest....so they will come over Thurs night to take alook and see if they want to do that....so hopefully by Friday we should know what we are doing! Im so ready to make a decision one way or the other!!!

so pray that the Lord will show His plan in amight way to us this weekend.

Sorry ive been MIA~

My sister in law Karen came up on Wednesday to visit so ive been having fun with them...William had a 3 day drill so he left on Friday... Lyndsey and Michael come home in the WEE hours of the morning Thursday and then left again aroun 10 am heading to Atlanta. They went to the Jimmy Buffet concert Thursday night and the Braves game on Friday....they are home now. They will hang out with us and leave Sunday afternoon heading back to FL for work on Monday. I will try to take a picture of all 6 kids again and post it. Lyndsey and Michael are getting so dark from being at the beach or pool everyday. UGG....Im just too totally white!

Still no news on the house.....we meet with the other Realtor tomorrow afternoon to discuss a few things...so no news yet. IT is driving me crazy though..I want to know...are you moving or are we not! Im ready!

Today, Karen and I got up and went to a few yard sales........OH IT WAS SO HOT!!!!! My favortie find of the day.....get this.....we went by this one house and out by the road was a large wooden set from Toys R us....its been outside for a while, but it still had the rock wall, the large yellow slide, the teether swing, hanging bar and a swing....guess what it was FREE! He said his grandkids were too big and they wanted it out of the yard! I had to stay and guard it, because while we were in the road about 4 cars stopped and wanted it!!!! PRAISE THE LORD. WE will have to add on to it, because he said a guy had stopped and took the ladder and 2x6x12 pieces of wood that the ladder, and swings go on for their tree stand......oh boy....but hey for FREE....Im happy. Giovanna just noticed it sitting in the back yard and all she can say is "WOW, cool" so i guess Daddy is gonna have to get it fixed and fast!

I will update with pics soon again...hope you all have a great weekend!!


!

This is fun....

Hey I just found this blog and they are doing a fantastic contest.... check it out...

http://thesecretisinthesauce.blogspot.com/



RITA

Well its only taken a year.....

Here is a sweet conversation between Lily and I just the other day...I forgot to blog about it..

I was sitting downstairs folding clothes and all 4 girls were playing in their rooms...

Lily: Mom, I love you
Me: I love you too Lily
L: Will I always be your Lily
Me: Yes honey, you will always be My Lily
L: Will I ever have to fly on a plane again
Me: (Trying to figure this one out).. do you mean to P.....(her orphanage)
L: giggling...yes momma
Me: Well we dont have to go on a airplane to P..... again unless you want tooo
L: But I will always be your Lily
Me: of course you will....even if we ever do go on a plane again, you will always and forever be my Lily
L: when Im a big girl like Lyndsey we can go to P and take them toys and bears...
Me: yes we can do that....
Lily: ok momma bye!


So sweet, I guess she was just sealing it, that she was always gonna be with me forever.

Im so glad the Lord blessed us with these girls...even though the beginning was ROUGH, HE brought us through it and here we are one year later!!

God is Good!

Well we are gonna make an offer.....

Plus for all you local people out there listen up:

WE are gonna list our house for sale...4 br 3 ba 2300 sq ft tri level home. 2 mastor bedrooms, 2 reg size rooms, nice fenced yard, larger yard as we are in a cul de sac, SMOKE free! carpet and hardwood floors, nice large covered back porch with 2 fans....we are listing low so we can just sell and move on...asking only $149 K

Also, I have TONS of girls clothes, toys, sand and water table, mini pool, double jogging stroller, twin front and back stroller, house hold stuff....lots im ready to sell!!! So if your local, please call me..im ready to MAJORly CLEAN HOUSE! I could definitly have a yard sale every weekend...

Let me know if you are looking for any paricular size girls clothes and what season, and i will see what i have...i think its a sin for us to have as many clothes as we do, but with wonderful friends who pass along, my terrible obsession of yard sales, my love to sew boutique fun things for the girls, consignment sales and my love to BARGAIN shop....we do have plenty!

Monday oh Monday

Well the girls all started VBS last night at Glynwood, and loved it! However, It is way passed their bed times. Bible school is from 6-9 pm....and our girls go to bed no later than 730.... so needless to say, they were GRUMPY today. For the next two weeks, they have night time VBS and then in the morning, we have to be up, dressed, fed and out of the house downtown at the school for our MAKE-UP speech sessions by 9AM! So can you tell, we dont have a happy momma right now!

WE will see how it goes for a few days, and we may be forced to make some changes in the schedule.....


On a much happier note....we went to look at a house yesterday and will go back tonight while the girls are gone... It seems, just like what we have been looking for. It has 5br/3ba 3400sq ft, tile, harwood floors and carpet, 2 stories, 2 car garage, extra rec room off garage, inground pool with total fencing that locks around it, plus fencing totally around the whole backyard, Mud room off dining room between the house and garage, nice HUGE gazebo type area out back with fans, lights built ins etc.... The only downfall is...it has lots of wallpaper in it! WE both hate wallpaper wo that will eventually have to GO! It is on about 1+ acre lot.....We will see. This will be the first time that we would have HAD to sell our home BEFORE buying another so when we make the offer, it will be contigent on selling ours....but we will be putting a much lower price on it than what we know we could get if we waited it out,,, just to sell!!! So hopefully it wont take long. I am so praying that this will work for us...I will post pics of it once we have our offer in and its accepted...dont want to jenks it! I am EXCITED that IF we get the house, I will have my OWN scrapbook and sewing room!!!!! Oh I cant wait! IT will be BUSY BUSY BUSY for us if this all goes as we are hoping.....


Lyndsey and Mike, dont feel left out, you will still have a place to sleep when you come home. :) If you wanna see the house call me and i will tell you where to look.

So please pray with us, that this will work out favorably for us! We will have a workshop area and huge covered patio off the main house as well.... LOTS of room for company and FUN!

I will fill you in later on if we make a offer tonight.