New territory

Let me explain. Work has been SUPER busy since this time last year. Today, I was piddling around becuase my work basket was empty. Why didn't I help someone else? We were all pretty much taking our time to finish up the work that we had. You can tell that we're not used to being "caught up". Every few hours one of us would go to the other office..."anything new in your basket, is there anything you need help with?" No and no. Now, I am sure tomorrow will be different. My boss will have had plenty of time to think up some stuff that needs to be done and my day will be crazy once again.

Ben will be home tomorrow night. 20 days gone....I don't recommend it.

You may not have known

I thought that Iwould post something a little different today. Here are some little things that you may not have known about our little family.

• We have enough pink/red/purple clothes to fill 3 loads of laundry every week.
• one bath tub is cluttered with Barbie/Princess toys
• one bath tub is cluttered with boats, ducks, and squirt guns
• we load and unload a FULL dishwasher once every day
• I buy 2 gallons of milk a week
• little kids are in bed by 8, big kids by 9

Happy trails

My days of working at home are at an end. Regular scheduling will resume tomorrow. It was nice being at home. I was able to stay home with Alexander and take care of him while he was sick without stressing out about the work that was piling up on my desk. I took the kids to school in the morning, and I was able to get them dinner before we had to get to their activities in the evening. I know, I know! A lot of you do this every day. I did to; for a while. I guess the thing that I am most thankful for was the option to work or not work while I was here. I snuggled and played with my baby boy. I rubbed his back when he was startled awake during his nap. Those are the things that I miss the most when I go to work.

xoxo

Working from home

This is my second day home from work. Alexander has some sort of little virus that gives him a fever. I was home with him yesterday and when we were at the doctor's office he didn't even have a fever! But, as soon as everyone went to sleep for the night he was burning up again. He had a restless night and woke up really cranky and hot. So, anyway I called in to work again and asked if I could be set up to work from home. I am not sure if I like it or not. I like it because I won't have to try and catch up once I get back into the office. I like it because the connection from home seems faster than the one at work. I like it because I am in my pajamas! I don't like that I don't have all of my information here with me. I don't like that I have to flip back and forth from the image to the worksheet. I wonder if I will be able to work from home part time and go into the office part time. It would definitely save me money on gas and daycare expenses. I just don't know if my boss will go for it or not.

Time to run to the grocery store, lunch, and then get back to work!

Back to normal...for now.

Alexander seems to be back to his normal happy go lucky boy. He has to adjust how he eats since he doesn't have his two big teeth to take a bite. He is slowly moving things over to the side once he realizes that it's a faster way to chew.

Haley is doing well in school. Not too many talking problems. I think he teacher is great! Rebecca is learning the creative writing process and it seems to be harder for her now than it was in Kindergarten. Go figure. Madison has realized that if you stay organized and current with your schoolwork, school is a lot easier.

Ben will be in Atlanta until the 20th. Blech.

I am crazy busy at work. But, I will be at home with the kids during their winter break. Just have to keep my eyes on the prize, and it won't seem so bad.

Wii are going to have a great Christmas! :) Happy Wednesday y'all.

Another first for Alexander

It was about 6:45 this morning. The three little kiddos were ready for the day and all I needed to do was get dressed. I went into my bathroom to change and as soon as I got my pants on and my pj top off I heard a shrill scream. I hurried to put the top back on and as soon as I opened the door to my room, Rebecca was there holding Alexander. The story is that Haley put Alexander into his wagon and when she started to pull him he was jerked back and fell out of the wagon and onto the floor. Face first. Once I got him from Rebecca he had stopped crying and smiled at me. Then, the bloody spit ran down the sides of his mouth. The dentist said that somehow Alexander has managed to vertically fracture his front tooth and that it would need to be taken out. This means that this one tooth managed to take the full force of the fall. If you were to look at the tooth it would look like someone split open a seed and a little kernel was inside. The roof of his mouth was swollen which meant that the nerve was damaged and was causing blood to pool up around the tooth. Also, not a good sign. So, we gave him meds to sedate him and an hour later the dentist had to dig his little tooth out. It was worse than he thought. The tooth broke and was pushed up into the gum. There was a lot of blood, Alexander was screaming, and I got to hold his arms and legs down. Towards the end of it all I started to get sweaty and then the nurse was handing me a soda. I didn't feel woozy but they said that I needed to drink it before I could go. Once the stitches were in and Alexander could move he was fine. No crying and no screaming. I picked him up and he told them all bye bye before he put his head down on my shoulder. He was ready to go! I gave him a little bit of ice cream when we got home and then he went to bed. He's not supposed to suck on his thumb, but I don't know how to keep that from happening. I am supposed to keep an eye on the stitch and make sure that infection doesn't set it and the adjacent teeth don't start to discolor. If either of those start I have to bring him in immediately. So that's our Tuesday, how was yours???

FYI- If you happen to knock out your permanent teeth, you have to put it back into the gum immediately. Don't put it in milk, don't scrub it, just put it back in and go to the dentist right away. There's a good chance that it can be fixed if it is treated within the hour. There's nothing you can do for baby teeth that are knocked out.

His first haircut.

Yes, I cried more than he did.

IT'S HERE!!!

For my birthday, Ben bought a new computer for me to use! I am still learning how to use some of the programs and icons. I guess the computer came with the new Windows Vista, which I have never seen before, but I like that the computer starts up without freezing.

I will be able to faithfully blog again. I will be able to keep up with my friends and family.

I am super excited! I will be able to add pictures to my blog without switching out plugs and you guys will be able to keep up with the kiddos and me. :)

Happy, happy, happy

Hello??

It's OCTOBER! Guess what that means? The Texas State Fair and LOTS of birthdays.

Ben is working in Orlando and will return home on October 9.

Rebecca will be hosting her birthday party at Putt Putt. I am not sure what spurred the idea, but she was adamant to have the party there. The invites are out and she has gotten a couple of gifts in the mail...which she can't open yet!

Madison will be on a weekend camping excursion with her GS troop. They have teamed up with another troop in creating a "Fairy Camp" for Brownie troops to attend. They created a crafts, activity, and meal schedule. She is really excited to see how everything turns out considering all of the planning and time that they have put into this. It's nice to see her whole troop move from little girls to big girls with more responsibility. She's also making all A's on her report card so far. For those of you who keep up with the family, you know that it's been a LONG time coming for her to realize that if she stays organized and up to date on her work she can make good grades with minimal effort. I think I should also mention that if she makes all A's for the entire school year, she gets to start high school equiped with a cell phone. We found something that would motivate her. :)

Haley was home sick yesterday. She started vomiting early in the morning and into the afternoon. Poor girl. She felt much better this morning but was afraid to eat anything. She had some toast and water and was able to keep things down until school started. I think the play doh party at school motivated her recovery efforts.

Alexander is walking and talking like mad. His newest words are "look" and "thank you".

"What's going on with Diana" you ask?? Well, I have started on a new meal plan. It's for people who are pre-diabetic. Now, I have not been diagnosed as pre-diabetic but with it so prevalent in my family history it doesn't hurt to take precautions. So far so good. I feel better, and the emotional eating is WAY down. Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy Friday!

The time of change.

There are a lot of changes going on at work. I hope to slowly bubble to the top.

A lot of changes at home. I am slowly clearing up clutter and piles through out the house. Birthdays are coming up, holidays are coming up. We are storing up for the winter. Got to get back into saving.

Personal changes. I bought an exercise ball so that I can use it intermittently when I can't go to the gym. Every day that I carry this excess weight adds to the unhappiness I have with myself. Another year gone by, another birthday, another anniversary. I need to wake up and make a heartfelt effort to change or everything will unravel. I need to be happy, and confident again. I need to be a good and healthy example to my kids, and especially to the girls. I don't want them to focus and struggle with their weight as much a I do. I want it to be "normal" for them to eat right and to be active.

I am here, really!

I am blogging from work. You heard me, from work. During my lunch break of course. Well, school has started and so have the activities for the kiddos. The two big girls have girls scouts, the two little girls have church choir, and all girls will soon be dancing their hearts out. We all have Sunday school classes before church. Thank goodness they don't have baby groups to go to. Or maybe I should be glad that there aren't baby groups that I know of. :)

It's had for me to believe how fast this year has gone by. The kids are already talking about Halloween parties and costumes! Hopefully, the weather won't get too terribly hot again and we can officially have a fall season. I am looking forward to going to the pumpkin patch with the kids, and sitting outside in the evenings with Ben. I am reading a lot more now, and I am scrapping pages when I get a chance. I am slowly learning how to make time to do some of the little things that I enjoy rather than working, cleaning, or doing something all the time. It's nice not having every minute of your life scheduled for something. I want to get a jump start on Christmas presents this year so that it isn't so much of a strain on our time and our budget in December. I am ordering some stamps so the kids and I can get started on our card making. In the evenings, I am trying to finish up Haley's Christmas stocking that I bought before she was born and get started on the one for Alexander. THEN, everyone will have one made for them. I miss all of my friends. I just don't get a chance to get out and visit with them. Ben will be in and our of town from now until Christmas. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he will not travel as much after the first of the year. Say a little prayer for us. Managing four kids alone is very stressful, and I miss having him home all the time.

xoxo

S.O.S

I am getting some blog time in on Ben's laptop. Our family PC is on it's last leg. I am in a panic to get all of my pictures onto an external hard drive before it completely gives up. Sometimes I have 20 minutes to work on it, sometimes only 5 before it freezes up and restarting won't work. I don't know if we will get another PC or a Mac. At this point, I don't care as long as it works. I feel sort of sad about the death of our computer. We have had this one since we were living in the ghettos of northeast Arlington. (since Rebecca was born almost 10 years ago) I think we have had a good run and it's time for something updated, reliable, and FAST. ;)

When I have more time and access to my pictures I will do a photographic update so that you can see what we have been up to! There will definitely be pictures of Haley's first day of Kindergarten. She is soooo ready to go to schoo on Monday. Happy weekend!

Situation... NORMAL!

I got a call from the nurse today and she says the xrays didn't show a gap. Everything on his arm is back to normal again! My little man is up and moving on his own. He can walk across our living room without stopping and he doesn't let himself fall. If he feels out of balance he will sit down and take a minute before he's up and walking again. I am so proud of him!

On Saturday, I had an appointment at the salon to get my hair cut. So, I did. 8 inches to be exact. It feels like I have no hair now, and it is so much cooler than my long hair was. Don't get me wrong, I will grow it out long again but I am enjoying the shorter length. I will post a picture if I can get it uploaded. Our home computer is dying a slow and painful death. We will definitely have to get another one very soon. Right now, if I make any sudden moves it freezes up and we have to reboot.

Getting ready for school little by little. The next weekend will be clothes and shoes, tax free of course. AND I won tickets to the Rangers game on Saturday. This week will be the calm before the storm. This Friday all the summer interns will be leaving and next week we have two people out for the week on vacation. do you know what that means? It means that I will be doing everything from start to finish. I am not exaggerating. I plan on being there by 7am, working through lunch, and leaving right before 6pm. AND next Friday is my last Friday off on the summer schedule but I will be working it. Nice, huh? Good thing I am not doing it for free. :)

Happy Monday people.

ZUMBA!

Have you heard of it?? I love it. It's a class I took at the health club. Basically, it's salsa dancing with a lot of hip shaking and some basic aerobics exercises built it. I went during my lunch hour and by the time I was finished I was sweaty. I know, not the best way to go back to work but I have to say I really enjoyed it. Tomorrow is regular pilates and I am anxious to give it a try. I took a class a few years ago, but I am sure this will be different. Especially since I have had a kid since then.

Alexander will be going back to the doctor for his x rays on Friday. We will see how his mock pox are doing and see if his shoulder is back to normal. He is moving right along in the walking department. He can take about 8 steps without sitting himself down to crawl.

I will be down to one little kiddo this weekend! Hooray!

Ain't nothin' but a thang

Having been doing much lately, wake up drop kids off go to work pick kids up. I left a little bit early yesterday because I got a call from the sitter saying that Alexander has a rash from head to toe. Literally. He got a chicken pox shot at his last check up and the doctor says that it's a mock rash. He has a rash and it is itchy, but it isn't contagious and it isn't really the chicken pox. Nice, huh? He is a little irritable but fine for the most part. We bought school supplies for Haley and Rebecca, and some basic supplies for Madison. Over the next few weeks we will be sorting through clothes to see who can fit what. We will buy backpacks and shoes on the tax free weekend. With four kids, it is finally worth it for me to get out during that madness. We will start early, and get it over with. Ben is in Mexico City for work. Despite the armed escort, the WHOLE truck carrying their equipment was stolen. The scenario is right out of a movie. Since the Mexican President and a former US president will be speaking at this conference, their is a HUGE investigation under way. Some idiot unknowingly stole from the president. No matter how crooked the police are there, someone is going to get a beat down for it. Anyway, Ben and his crew are safe and sound for now. When I talk to him on the phone I can hear the shots from the gun fights in the street. I would prefer that he NOT go there again. Either way he has been asked to look for blue glass. Evidently, Mexico City is known for it so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

The pictures are done!!!

These pictures were taken by a friend of mine. She is a very creative person, and I just knew that she would be the one to go to for our baby's first birthday pictures. You did a fabulous job, Melibelle. I am so thankful that you were there to capture the little moments of our family and friends who came together to celebrate with us.

www.photographybymelibelle.com

It's almost over!

Yesterday was great! Ben and Haley were on the road by noon, and arrived in Oklahoma at 6pm. After two hours, Haley asked Ben to turn around and take her home because this trip was taking too long. :) She makes me laugh! They should be leaving today at noon. Madison is out with her Aunt Cindy for one last ride and some barn work. Ben and the girls are enjoying home made biscuits and sausage gravy. Yum! Yum!

Yesterday I got all of the laundry washed, dried, and sorted so that the kids could get everything put away next week. I also made a 20 page 8x8 birthday album for Alexander's party pictures. I am so excited, I can barely wait to get my hands on the pictures to put in it. Alexander and I went OUT for breakfast this morning. I am enjoying our time together. He is such a happy and easy going little boy. While he is napping, I am getting our things packed to go to mom's house for a swim. We have some quick little errands to run before we go out there, but it shouldn't take too long. Then, we will be home by 6 to meet Ben and the girls with dinner.

Peace and quiet

Happy Friday!

I am glad that I am able to participate in the extended work week. While I do have to work 45 hours in a week, it means that the next week I can have a three day weekend. Today is the first day of my three days off. Tonight I am heading over to my friend Staci's house for an Uppercase Living demonstration. It's a neat concept, and I am anxious to see what they can do for me since you can customize your order. Other than that, the only other scheduled event is a haircut for my Haley Belle. It won't be a drastic cut, just some layers on the bottom to lighten the load on her little head. She gets sweaty at the drop of a hat and she needs some relief. Plus, she wants to go to the place I go to and I wanted to treat her since she hasn't gotten to do a lot of the things that her big sisters did this summer.

Tomorrow Ben and Haley will drive up to Oklahoma to pick up the two big kiddos. Everyone will be home together on Sunday. Rebecca has been at camp and then straight to Grammie's so she hasn't been home for three weeks. I think she is ready to be back. What will I do while everyone is gone? Whatever I want!! :) I am going to try to sneak some scrap booking in while Alexander naps, and we are definitely going to swim in the pool without anyone bothering us. This boy LOVES to be in the water. I am amazed at how well he gets around the pool. He is in a little ring and as soon as his feet hit the water they are kicking up a storm. He tootles around the shallow end without a care in the world and at the end of the day you don't hear a peep out of him because he is dead tired. Then, it will be time for me to do more scrappin!

A lot of you have asked me about the bank account. Yes, they have given us a credit for all the money that was stolen. We are supposed to go in and talk to our branch manager tomorrow to ask about the investigation and whether or not we need to file a police report. There hasn't been any more money taken out of the account, thank goodness. The grand total was $715 and change. We would have been really screwed if this had happened to us a year ago. Thanks for the emails, it made me feel loved.

On Tuesday Ben called me right as I was heading out of my office for home. He asked if he could take me out for a date that night. I was so surprised! I called mom and she said to drop the kids off and they could have dinner and swim while we were out. We went to see the new Batman movie. It was a late night, but it was so worth it. I was happy to be out with my love, we saw a good movie, and got to talk to each other about something other than budgets,kids, or work.

Still going

$700+ so far, let's see if anything goes through the account tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed that we're done...

Fraud alert

I got a call from the bank this morning wanting to verify that I purchased gas at a station in Duncanville. Ummm....

NO I DIDN'T!


I was on the phone for over an hour with the fraud division going over my bank account. Yesterday I had noticed that there were a lot of debits out of our acount from gas stations, and the amounts were all for $100 even. Who goes anywhere except an ATM and get an even amount due?? I wanted to make sure Ben didn't get money out during the past weekend before I made a claim. It turns out that all of the locations are gas stations along I-67. So, needless to say I am on my third debit card due to theft. It is such a pain having to cancel my card and wait almost two weeks for a new one to be issued. I have so many things on auto pay that I have to cancel, and I have to carry cash until I get the new card. Why can't people use the same amount of energy in finding a job and making their own money instead of stealing other people's money???