Friday Friday Friday

So it's Friday.

This has been, by far, one of the longest weeks of my life. I have no idea why but it seemed like every single day was Monday...with the weekend nowhere in sight. The days dragged, the nights were intolerable. It was just a BLAH week. So I have to say that I am glad it is over.

Jennifer has gone to a Halloween party tonight and tomorrow she heads to George Street for Mardi Gras. She wants to dress up as a peacock tomorrow so I have been tasked with making her headpiece. I have all the materials and Mom and I are going to get together tomorrow to make it...I'm actually looking forward to it :) I'll be sure to take pictures actually...I missed her tonight because she left too fast, I didn't have time to grab the camera...but tomorrow I will be sure to get some pics for my 365.

I need some wine. I think I have some in the fridge actually. Yeah...wine would be nice.

My funny William

I have to write this down because you know me, I'll forget it next week.

William had his first English test this week. He had to know 6 short stories and the author of each, all of his literary terms and then he had to answer three questions on an unseen short story. I was a bit worried because this is his first time actually doing a "real" English exam and I wasn't sure how he would handle the time pressure and whatnot.

So we studied together and I quizzed him and we talked about how to answer the questions yada yada yada...

He comes home and tells me the test went well. Next day I asked him if he had gotten his test back yet and he said:
"No,but Mr. Mercer told us that most people did really poorly and that only two people actually answered the questions the way they were supposed to be answered and he read out one person's test that was the ideal way to answer a question...the one about conflict in the story"
"Oh man, William", I say "how do you think you did on that question then?"
And completely deadpan, not even a smile and with a shrug as he is pouring his milk, he says: "Well I suppose I must have done alright seeing as it was MY ANSWER he read out"

And he came out with a 94% - second highest mark in the class...and he was rotted about the fact that the "other guy" got a 95%

LOL!!!!! Gotta love him eh?

Birthday week!

Yes thats right, it's been the week of Jacob's SIXTH birthday. I know that we all say this every year but holy moly...WHERE has the time gone?? I have to say that a part of me is so relieved to have gotten to this point. It hasn't been the easiest six years, we have gone through so much emotionally, physically, financially. Jacob has been a wonderful, frustrating, amazing, sweet, maddening challenge. But I think we are at the light at the end of that long tunnel. After six years of wondering WHERE the hell we managed to find someone as spirited and headstrong as Jacob, the time is finally here that we can look at him and say "THERE'S our boy" :) I am so ridiculously proud and in love with him, I wouldn't trade him for the world :)

So on Sunday past we had his party with the family. We offered him a party with his classmates and friends but he decided that he would much rather go out to eat and then come home to have the house decorated, his cake and all of the family here. Excellent! So thats what we did...and it was SO much fun. He got sooooooo many presents and he was thrilled with every signle one of them. The best by far was the wrestling ring that Neil, Sheryl, Corey and Amanda gave him. He opened it and looked at it and was in complete shock. He hugged the box and said "This was SO EXPENSIVE. I NEVER thought I would get THIS" and then he shook his head and stared at it and whispered "I'll never beat this up" LOL!! James got all teary eyed and had to leave the room LOL!!

His actual birthday was Wednesday the 17th and he came home from school all excited because he was the days "Birthday Boy" and he got a present from his teacher AND they sang happy birthday to him TWICE AND "you're not going to believe this Mommy, but in gym during announcements, Mrs. Elkins (the Principal) said my NAME and Happy Birthday to Jacob Moore who is in Grade 1 and is six years old today. Me Mommy...she said MY name!!" LOL!!

So it was a good week.

Oh, I almost forgot, I had Jacob back for his follow up appointment about his throat and it is STILL infected so more antibiotics. And I have it now too. Lovely. Both of us with strep throat. Thank God its not too bad now, by Wednesday's birthday we were both on the mend :)

Two new layouts!

I have been in a bit of a scrapping slump lately. I found a new website called Scrap Shanty and so far I am loving it there. there is no store, no kits, nobody trying to sell anything and best of all...no one has any advantage in cybercrops or whatever because they are kit subscribers. I REALLY like it there and it has inspired me to scrap more. SO...here are my latest pages...the first is a scraplift challenge and the second is based on a sketch :)

Jacob on Topsail Beach




And our baby Hallie, sleeping like an angel

On the mend

The hospital called us this morning...Jacob's lab results came back positive for strep throat. Which REALLY pisses me off because I TOLD them at the hospital that he had an infection and they didn't believe me. So he was 24 hours without antibiotics. SO not right...the poor little thing suffered so much...and he is still not very stack there. He is still screaming at night and he won't eat hardly at all. If he is no better by Monday then I am marching back up to the Doctor.

In other news...we have our new beds!! WOO!! I have been wanting a new bed FOR.EVER. Ours was springy and old and lumpy and it hurt my back every single night. Last week Cohen's had a sale on so we bit the bullet and bought a Queen size bed for us and a single bed for Will and for Jacob. Three new beds!! We can't afford it really but holy crap what a difference it is making to our sleep. So in the end, I guess they are worth it :)

Neil came by this morning and took Jacob with him to the dump. He dragged all of the old beds out and piled them in his truck and then bundled Jacob up and took him for a ride. he was thrilled! so now Jennifer is out shopping, William is on the computer and Mom is in the living room coloring with Jacob. That reminds me...I must take a picture of that :)

This is my night last night. at the emergency Room with Jacob. He has a throat infection and I KNEW it was going to get worse so James and I bundled him up at around 9:30 p.m. and off we went. Luckily it was empty and we got in right away. Unluckily, they said that his throat would be fine and never gave him anything....so right on schedule we go to bed and are awoken at 3:00 a.m. by Jacob's screams. *sigh*

He stayed up almost the rest of the night. By 4 he was throwing up and by 9:00 I had him right back to Dr. Button. He was so sick that I had to sit on the floor of the waiting room with him in my arms because if he sat alone in the chair he would topple over. Thank God Dr. Button saw us as soon as he got in and he was ROTTED because Jacob's throat IS infected and he could not understand why they didn't give him any antibiotics last night at the hospital. So now he is pretty concerned about the pain Jacob is having. It seems to be on the middle and right side of his belly. Right side meaning appendix area...not good. So now we have to watch him like a hawk and if his fever goes up (already it has) and if he can't walk ( I wouldn't know because he won't actually get up to try) AND, and this is the big one...if he has what is called "Rebound" pain after you press his right side (press his side it hurts, let go and it hurts WORSE and so far, that isn;t happening) then we have to go straight back to Emerg.

So he is sleeping right now...he hasn't thrown up since 2:50 and it is now 4:02. So he is keeping his medicine down in him anyway...while he is asleep I am popping online to update a few things and then I am back to my continuous watch of his every move.

Sick kids...I swear...there is nothing worse.

Yawn

*YAWN*

It's 10:43 p.m. and I am tired. Its been a long day for me. I had a meeting all morning and then at lunchtime I did a "Wednesday at Noon" teleconference presentation with a Dr. friend of mine on smoking cessation. Its a pretty cool set up...like an hour online course where docs link in and they can ask us questions and stuff. But man was it ever tiring...

So I get home, pick up James, head to Walmart, decide to get Mickey D's for the kiddos for supper, set one foot back in the house and look at my Jacob who has gone white and is complaining about a sore throat. Check his head - Damn a fever. Off to the Janeway we head...luckily we were only in there for about an hour. Not bad at ALL from start to finish. Diagnosis of a virus with a possibility of strep...so they swabbed his throat and now we are home. NONE of the children are asleep yet as I am fairly sure Jacob is going to be home tomorrow. Thank God Mom and Dad can babysit :)

But it is now 10:48 and I am dropping...so it's time for stories and cuddles with Jacob, a nice goodnight to Jennifer and a rippy roary eyed fight with William to PLEASE FINISH your homework for goodness sakes and GO TO BED!!

LOL!! What a fun life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's turkey day!! Well technically, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day but we celebrate on Sunday because it is easier to cook a big turkey on Sunday.

I however, will be cooking no turkey as we are all headed over to moms for a feast this year (and well...every year, Christmas, thanksgiving - always at Moms...but I digress). I have decided that I am going to eat breakfast and then try to not eat for the rest of the day because I want to positively gorge myself tonight....let's see how THAT goes shall we? LOL!!

So it is 8:20 a.m. and Jacob has already been up for over an hour....even though he didn't drop to sleep last night until almost 11. I swear that child just does NOT need much sleep. Must be nice - I am sitting here falling asleep sitting up. Will is still in bed and Jennifer was out to a wedding last night but she has to work at 10 so I assume I will hear her puttering around soon.

Right! Off to fill myself up on breakfast...I wonder if there is any bacon left in the fridge....??

Saturday blues

It is 9:00 a.m. and already this day is shaping up to be a bad day. Sigh...I wish that I could have one weekend where I do nothing. Just scrap and play online. Drink lots of coffee in the day and wine at night. I wish I could have a weekend where I did NOT have to go shopping, clean the house, cart children around, break up fights, run errands, do laundry or even visit with family. Well that last one I love doing so its not that bad...but STILL!

Over the next two days we need to get the oil changed in the car, go all the frig way out to Costco because James won't buy Halloween candy anywhere else, clean the house, wash clothes, bring Jenn to and from work twice because she gets an hour for lunch and the poor child has to eat, go to Walmart and get things that we need, buy groceries, go out to Corey's with Mom tonight because she is sitting with Willow while Corey and Amanda are in Montreal, visit the baby because I have not seen her all week and I am having withdrawal symptoms, go swimming with Jacob AND at the end of it all..finally sit to a lovely Thanksgiving feast prepared by my mom. No turkey in my oven this year - thank GOD.

Damn its a busy life. Sometimes I wish it would slow down a little. But then again, if it did...wouldn't I be bored?

365 photos

On one of my online sites I have started doing a 365 photo challenge. basically every day you take a picture having to do with your life...so at the end of it you have 365 hopefully meaningful pictures for your memories. I'm really excited about it and so while I am posting the pics on that site I also started a blog to keep them all in one place and have them easier to navigate.

So I am now the proud owner of TWO blogs...lets see how this one is going to work out LOL!!

Melissa's 365

Special and heartfelt thanks to my friend Cheri who designed the title banner. I wonder if I ask nicely would she do one for here too??

Dusting off the cobwebs

Soooo...right.

Back again :) This summer was so busy and things were a little crazy there for a while so I let the old BLOG slide. Now that the kids are back in school and things are not so hectic during the day and night, I think I will start this baby up again. At least I am going to try...I've never been much of a journaller. I always think that I am much too boring and really don't have a lot of interesting things to say. But you know...I'm going to try to use this to record some memories and thoughts and feelings. If nothing else, it will be fun to look back on in a few years and remember what I was thinking at this particular time.

SO...new things with me in a nutshell:

1. JAcob is in First grade and he LOVES it. He is staying in for lunch every day and he LOVES it. Enough said. :)

2. William is in Grade 7 at IJ and HE loves it (who ARE these children??). I am still treading very carefully around saying that they are doing good because as soon as I say it outloud then all hell will break loose. So I am not saying they are perfect, but we are getting there.

3. In June we lost my mother in law to COPD and cancer. It was a difficult time for us all - she was ill for such a long time and the end came as a blessing. Jacob is handling it quite well, very maturely and matter of factly. I fear that James has not really come to terms with it yet but he is such an introvert that it is difficult to get him to talk about it. So we'll have to see how things progress...

4. Jennifer is in MUN and she hates it. LOL!! No seriously, she is doing Science courses and has now discovered that she HATES science. Ah well...better for her to realize it now before she is in a faculty or something. Next semester will be all arts courses for her and I predict that she will be a much happier camper.

5. We have a new baby in the family!! Neil and Sheryl had Hallie Elizabeth on August 9, 2007 and she is the most gorgeous thing you ever laid eyes on. I am completely in love with her. I will post some pictures up soon.

6. I have recently discovered Facebook. And in turn...my PARENTS have discovered facebook. Mom is too much a wimp to get her own account so they spend alot of time in the day going through my account and watching all the videos people send me, looking at pictures and just generally catching up with family. So its all good. Funny mind you...but good.

Aaaaannnnnd thats about it. Everything is staying the course and not changing a whole lot. See why I have such trouble keeping this thing up to date?