The breakfast of champions!

Today I am just not in the mood to cook breakfast. Jace saw the M&M's and well, the rest is history.

Call me a bad mother if you will. I can only take so many fits and so many breakdowns.

He has teeth coming in, they hurt, he is confused.

He has no idea why he has all this pain and he can not figure out who is causing it.

These teeth better be perfectly pretty when they arrive, they have sure caused us enough heartache in this house. I know 15 month old children go through a battle of wills with their parents, I am more than aware of that, however, over the last week it has tripled in intensity. Either I am screwed (for a lack of better words) or his teeth are causing him to be worse than usual. Oh how I pray it is the latter.

Why am I up do you ask? I decided to let my hard working husband sleep in today. The poor man gets up every morning at 4 or 5 and works until 6 or 7. I know he is tired because even when he tries he can not sleep late. He is sleeping through Kara babbling on, Jace slamming toys and the dog barking at both of them.
Nylin and I planned on sleeping in- things change I guess.

here are some pictures of my son enjoying his "breakfast".

Lots O' Stuff

Well my life has once again proven to be CRAZY! If it is not one thing it is another.

The past few days have been pure hell for me. Monday and Tuesday I was so sick I could barely get off the couch.

Yesterday I did not get off the couch.

I am feeling much better now but I am looking over at the couch wishing I were asleep on it!

I slept almost all day yesterday then went to bed at 6:30PM. I woke up at 7:30 AM and felt like I could go right back to sleep. Thanks to McDonald's Iced Coffee I am actually functioning today. My head is pounding though so I am not sure how long I will last.

On a much lighter note--- We went to the Lake of the Ozarks this weekend. We took Sadie with us to help with the kids. I am so glad we did that. Going to the water park was much easier with her. Nylin and Sadie went down the water slides AT LEAST 30 times! Jace was not feeling too good so Jason took him back to the room so they could both nap, lol. I think Jason needed the nap just as much if not more than Jace, lol.

We stayed at TanTarA Resorts. It is such a nice place! My employer pays for all the local employees to go there for 2 nights. They provide entertainment and breakfast. We are so thankful for this mini vacation every year.

Every year our accommodations are better than we could imagine. We always stay in the chalets (in the estates section). This year we had an awesome lake view, a full size kitchen, 2 couches and a separate bedroom.

I forgot to bring my camera every time we left the room. I did not take one single picture (I know BAD MOMMA!) It was actually really nice not having to worry with it the entire time we were there!

here is the awesome water park!



here is the resort

This chick is TALENTED!

If I had 1/1000th of the talent this woman has I would be SUPER COOL!

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Summer by the Lake Swimsuit GIVEAWAY!!!!

Nylin needs one of everything on this site!!!!

Summer by the Lake Swimsuit GIVEAWAY!!!!

Me = Bad Blogger

Needless to say things have been hectic.

Sorry I have not posted any updates. I have about 4 seconds until my kids pull up and will be ready for snack. Here is a quick run down...

Kara is doing great. Her leg is healing wonderfully. She does not even cry when I change out her bandages. She is such a trooper. I am so very proud of her.

Jace is a little handful the last few days. His world was basically turned upside down last week. I have been with him every waking moment of his short life. He was very confused by the fact that I was gone all last week and all weekend. He has a few teeth coming in also. This is causing him to give me a run for my money.

Nylin- I thought she would be the one to act out. The last time I was in the hospital with Kara she scratched my wood table with a key! She was much better this time. I am so proud of my big girl!!!!!!!!!

The kids are home, I have to run. Jason and I are doing well, just stressed.

Random Answers

There have been MANY questions regarding everything that has happened over the last week. Every time I see or talk to someone new they are telling me that so and so is asking questions or they have a million and one questions themselves. I tried to give as much info as I could at the times I gave them but a lot of time I did not have a lot of time ;)

I am going to take a minute or two and explain some things a little better. Hopefully this will ease some peoples minds and hearts as they are reading about us.
If there is ever anything you want to know, leave a comment. I will get around to answering it. I do not hold back much and do not have a problem putting it all out there. Just ask.

1. How long are you going to be in the hospital and why oh why are you still there???

We hope to be discharged today (Monday- August 18th).

Over the last few days they have been pumping a very Strong antibiotic into Kara every 6 hours. They hook it to her IV for 1 hour and it pumps right in. They were doing a blood test to determine how much of the antibiotic was in her system before and after each dose. They were not satisfied with the numbers after the dose, so they kept upping her dose. In order to test again she had to have 3 more doses--that is an automatic 18 hours. Finally yesterday at 5 they tested her and were happy with the numbers. She has had 2 more doses since then.

When te doctor came in this morning she said everything looks good and we should be able to go home today. As she was walking out the door she said she would see me this afternoon, ergh. I was hoping to be home in time to pick Ny up from school but it looks like I will have to wait yet another day.

2. Have you been there 24-7?

No. Here is a breakdown.

Wednesday- we brought her into the ER around 5:00 PM. We were admitted around 10ish.
My sister and my mother came up but they left around 9ish.
I stayed the night.
It was terrible. Kara could not sleep and was only comfortable in her car seat.

Thursday- I was here until about 7 PM. I left and went to John and Margo's and put the kids to bed and then headed home to sleep.
Alicia stayed the night here.

Friday- I returned to the hospital at 7 AM. They took her for surgery and I was here all day and night. Kara slept much better.

Saturday- I was here all day. Jason brought the kids up and they stayed for a while. We had lunch in the Cafe'.
I slept here. Kara slept MUCH better. She only woke up when the docs came in.

Sunday- I attempted to leave around 1:30 PM, I went out to my Jeep and the battery was dead. It took about an hour to get it started.
Dad and Alicia stayed here with Kara till about 4:30.
The nurses and a PCA came in and played with Kara and took care of her.
I went bowling and took Jason home. I got back around 10:30.
Kara slept until about 3:30, took a bottle and went back to sleep.

Monday- Doctor came in around 6 AM. They told us we could leave today.

6:30 another doc came in and gave instructions on how to try and prevent this MRSA from coming back in anyone in the house. She prescribed medication for Kara, Jason and I to prevent this from happening again. Nylin and Jace already have a script from Dr. W.

6:45- Dr. W came in. He agreed that we could leave today. He is putting Kara on a 10 day antibiotic.

7:00- nurse Mary came in and we gave Kara a bath. Nurse Mary also showed me how to change the packing and keep the incision covered.

3. Did the cultures ever come back? What did it say?

Yes the cultures came back.

Her blood test came back negative. Meaning the infection did not go into her blood stream. This is VERY good!

The wound culture came back positive for MRSA.

4. What is MRSA?

Definition: MRSA infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — often called "staph." MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It's a strain of staph that's resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. MRSA can be fatal.

Symptoms: Staph skin infections, including MRSA, generally start as small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. These can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining.

Causes: Staph bacteria are normally found on the skin or in the nose of about one-third of the population. If you have staph on your skin or in your nose but aren't sick, you are said to be "colonized" but not infected. Healthy people can be colonized and have no ill effects. However, they can pass the germ to others.

Staph bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body through a cut or other wound, and even then they often cause only minor skin problems in healthy people. However, staph infections can cause serious illness. This most often happens in older adults and people who have weakened immune systems, usually in hospitals and long term care facilities. But in the past several years, serious infections have been occurring in otherwise healthy people in the community, for example athletes who share equipment or personal items.

If you are interested there is more information on rick factors etc on this site, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735

5. Is Alicia out of Rehab?

Alicia is in a transitional facility. She is there for 90 days. She participates in group therapy, life skills classes and parenting classes.


I HAVE MORE TO POST BUT WE ARE BEING KICKED OUT, LOL
I will update this afternoon.

Not much to report...

We had a fairly easy night. Kara was up a few times but nothing major.
She is feeling MUCH better today.

We are waiting on the cultures to come back from the lab to determine when we can leave this place. I AM SO READY!

Do not get me wrong, this place is nice and all but I just want to sleep in my bed and see my kids. Seeing my kids first thing in the morning is so wonderful. Nylin, Jace and Kara are all morning people, I am not, until I see them.

I will report back as soon as I know something.

A couple of updates

Well Ms. Kara had her surgery this morning. She is doing really great. I am not sure how much liquid they got out of there but I am sure it was a lot.

When they wheeled her out she was really out of it. She has now come to and is playing. They have lots of really neat toys here. I am so thankful to this place. Sometimes wires get crossed but all in all we have recieved wonderful care. Kara wants or needs for nothing. They are very attentive.

She has had a little bit to "eat" since her surgery. 8 ounces of yummy Apple Pedialyte. >insert yuck face<

Dr. W says we will be here until at least Sunday morning.

UPDATE: The nurse just came in to inform me that someone from infectious disease will be coming to talk with us. During the surgery they got some green pus out of the area. They are coming to talk to me about what that could be. I am assuming they are having it sent to the lab also. They are also starting her on a SUPER antibiotic to hopefully kill whatever else is in there.

Please everyone who reads my poor little blog---keep us all in your prayers.

I do not have any update pictures of her leg. They have it all taped up and I am not about to mess with it. I do however have some photos of her, she is so cute I could not resist taking pictures of her.






SO during all this my little Ms. Nylin started Pre-Kindergarten. Mommy had to miss so she could be with Ms. Kara. That is okay, according to Nylin anyway. I was informed that she is a big girl now and can handle it by herself. LOL

My wonderful Mother and Father in law have been caring for her (and Jace) the last few days. They are a true blessing! I hope they know how much Jason and I appreciate everything they do for us!!!!

So my wonderful Mother in Law, Margo, took a million and one pictures of her starting her first day of school. I do not have any of those but I wanted to share a few of Nylin the day Kara came to the hospital. Nylin came to the doctor with me thinking we were going to be in and out. We were goofing off in the room waiting for Dr. W to come in. I know we are goofy but we were bored, lol.






This is her Karate Chopping at me- I could not stop laughing!

Update from the hospital.

Kara and I are still sitting here in the hospital.
Alicia and my parents came up for a while too. Alicia is back.

Basically she is miserable. She has not eaten anything since 6 this morning when she had 2 ounces of Pedialyte.

Someone came in and said she would have surgery today then someone came in and said she would not, then someone came in and said she would, then someone came in and said she would have an ultrasound, then someone said the ultrasound was cancelled, then someone came in and said no surgery today.

So now we are waiting for someone to come in and tell us something else that someone else can tell us differently later.

I am tired. We did not get much sleep last night. She was up almost every hour. We managed to get about 2 hours of sleep in around 4:30 this morning.

I am ready for some answers. Some straight answers would be even better.

I am tired, cranky and aggravated. I just want to know what the H is going on and what WILL go on.

ERGH!

Here are some pictures of her today.

Another trip to the doctor

If you know my kids and I then you know we like to hang at the doctors office. Well I guess Kara was tired of being there, or maybe the doctor was tired of seeing the kids and I--because now we are at the hospital.

Kara started with a pimple like bump on her inner thigh Monday afternoon. Now she has a HUGE abscess there. She has a fever and is in tons of pain. The only way she is comfortable is in her car seat--strange I know! It is basically a skin infection. It could be staph they are not sure yet. They will be running some more tests in the morning.

They did an ultrasound tonight and it came back that there are no major pus pockets (ew gross). The infection has not liquefied yet. They will do another U/S in the morning to see if they can surgically drain it. If not they will just let the super antibiotics to take their course.

We are at a GREAT hospital.They are so attentive and make sure we have everything we need. The rooms are nice and they gave me a yummy box lunch since I mised the cafe dinner time.

One downside though---I get a TON of questions on who I am in relation to Kara, what my rights are pertaining to her, and why I have those rights. Some are nicer than other about it. Sometime I just want to tell people to mine their own business. Most are doing their job but some are just being nosey.

All they need to know is that I love her, I am here for her now and I have the right to make medical decisions. The rest is none of any one's business.

Stay tuned for more info on Kara. For now if you are easier grossed out close this page now.
This is a picture of it at 3:30 this afternoon, while waiting for the doctor to get in the room. It is ever bigger now. It has some nastier color to it now also. I will try to take a picture later but I am tired and I want to try and get some rest before they come in for rounds in an hour or so!

Here is a close up of it. Like I said, it is worse now than this pic.



here you can tell how big it was earlier. She has been sitting with her legs open like that all night. You can tell how much bigger her right leg is than her left.

It is the little things in life...

Jace made me so proud this morning.

This is a little silly but to me it was a huge accomplishment. As a mother little things like this can change our entire day.

We have a basket that we keep shoes in by the door.

Everyday I tell Jace to get his shoes.

Everyday he comes back with one of each kind.

They are always his but they are mismatched. EVERYDAY I walk back over there and show him he needs the SAME shoes.

Today he walked over and picked up one croc, I thought for sure he would pick up something else since the other croc was buried. He moved stuff out of the way and found his other croc. He was so happy. I clapped and he was laughing so hard he could barely stand it. LOL

It is the little things in my life that make me so happy. Who would have ever thought a child finding matching shoes could make me so happy? It is so amazing to watch each of them grow and learn everyday. It is just as amazing to know that I am the one that is helping him to grow and learn all these things.

Now I am getting emotional, over a shoe find.

Here are some silly pics of the little man, enjoy!

MMM Cookies

So we bought new Suburban a few weeks ago.
We love it. We can fit the whole family in it PLUS some! It is very spacious and comfortable.



Damn Hollywood Motor Company sent us some cookies as a thank you. ERGH.
THEY ARE AWESOME! They are from Dad's Cookie Company. http://www.dadscookies.com/
They must not have seen the size of my butt when they decided to send these cookies. OR maybe they did and decided I would be a good canidate to recieve such a large box of cookies. They knew they would not go to waste in this house. between the kids and I this box will be gone before the weekend. LOL

Box 'O Cookies



LOOK AT ALL THOSE COOKIES!



Can't have cookies without milk.

Today is the day.

Today is the day that I join the wonderful world of blogging. I am not sure if I, a simple wife and mother, have any thing interesting to say but I guess that is for you to decide. I have recently been checking up on some old friends via their blogs. I have to say I was inspired to start one of my own.

I think that blogging may help me to get out some much needed stress, share stories of my rather boring life and maybe people can learn a thing or two about juggling responsibility. We shall see how often I am able to update-- as I have already mentioned, I am a mother and a wife, both are more time consuming than one would imagine.

I am not the best speller in the world, nor do I remember every single thing I learned in English/Grammer 101. I will try my hardest to make this an easy thing for you to read. I will try and keep you interested but I can not make any promises. I will try and post pictures as much as I can, but I will have to figure out how to do that first.

Bare with me folks and if you have any advice, I will glady take it!

Here is my first attempt at adding a photo--HERE I AM!