Friday, February 26, 2010

After the Drought!

It usually pours, right?! Well that's how it is lately in my life. I have had ZERO time to do anything besides taking care of a sick house, including myself.

So, the last time I posted was 2/17 I think, and now it's almost ten days later. I'm horrible, what is wrong with me, lol? You would almost think I have a life. But I don't! So in that time span, a ton has gone on. CJ and Ella had a ton of playdates during President's week since CJ and his friends didn't have school. It was fun, that was until CJ got very sick. And then me, then Magellan and lastly Ella.

I blogged about poor CJ being sick, and his sickness lasted almost 2 weeks. Totally normal for him b/c all the viruses go right to his lungs and he coughs FOREVER! I don't remember if I told you all I got sick too, but it was rough. Especially with Magellan being sick, neither one of us wanted to do much, couldn't do much, but when you're parents it doesn't matter. It was a very rough week. Everyone in this house was miserable, and Ella's bottom molars have finally cut through so needless to say, it was a rough week on top of her being sick too! I couldn't seem to shake the darn cold either, and it made ever bone in my body ache. I had my MRI on Thursday the 18th I believe, and that was pretty weird. It was quite uncomfortable for my hand to say the least b/c it has to be put in this weird contraption and held very still for 45 mins. Not to mention the machine was very loud, beeping every few mintues as it took pictures. The techs give you headphones that play music, but it really negates itself as you can't hear any music over the sound of the damn machine. Even with all that being said, I'm pretty sure I was so tired I drifted off from lack of sleep at night. My sinuses get so clogged at night it is impossible to sleep. Magellan also had coughing fits every night right around 1am so that woke me up and made it hard to sleep. Plus he's so damn stubborn and won't take any nighttime meds. It's like he'd rather make everyone else, plus himself, suffer thru a sickness. Not fun usually.

But, back to my wrist...I won't know any results until my follow up appointment at the hand dr next Wednesday. My wrist is much better this week, but the last two weeks it was pretty sore. I'm hoping and praying that I get the good news all is healed and it was just bruised real bad. I'll keep ya posted, or try to anyways!

I'm finally on the road to feeling better. Actually I have to start feeling better or I don't get my surgery next Friday.

Yes, that is my big news I hard warned you all about last week!! I am getting a boob job! Yes, indeed I am, no joke. I've wanted it for a very long time, I'm not as big as I would like, and this will make me feel better about myself, especially as I get older. Surgery should be about 2 hours, I will be at the surgery center for about 3-4 hours according to my plastic surgeon. He's also going to remove some moles I have which I am very psyched about! I have a few on my chest that tend to itch and then I forget they are moles and I itch the heck out of them. I'm a bit nervous about the pain and recovery, but my gf just had one done and said it was better than she expected. So crossing my fingers I can handle it all! I am beyond excited!! Can't wait to have new girls! Bigger girls actually! Not that I will look anything like Pam Anderson or Dolly Parton, but it will be bigger than what I am. Probably a D, and I'm a bit smaller than that.

Ella has added 3 new words to her vocabulary this week! Cracker, stop, and clap. She has also learned a new sign, the sign for jump! She is doing fantastic, and growing like a weed. She has officially transitioned to 18-24 month clothing and even some 2T's. WOW, where did the time go? She still insists on doing everything herself, and has the worst temper I have ever witnessed in my life. She goes from 0 to 60 in literally and honestly 2 seconds!! She has no patience, and wants everything done her way, and right now it's quite comical to watch her throw a very dramatic temper tantrum. I just laugh and walk away. When I do that she usually starts stomping her feet which is even cuter coming from a pint sized ball of fire. She is a big ham, and so friendly, but still every bit the brute she always was. She is the most fearless in her gym class, and I caught her charging this little girl in class the other day. Just like a linebacker, LOL! Not to be mean, she was just trying to play with the girl, but she scared the daylights out of the other child! The other girl ran screaming to her mom, and my Miss Thang just threw her head back and laughed. How embarrassing for me! She's been very clingy lately, not sure if that's just b/c of her being sick and now she realizes she may just like being snuggly. She is still in love with Elmo, and her infatuation gets bigger every day!

I have recently added a new store to my preference for where I shop for Ella. My newest obsession is Janie and Jack. They have some of the cutest outfits, yet some of the most horrific. It's weird. One line I will absolutely be in love with (like the Ladybug one of course) and other's I just cringe and can't believe people buy that stuff. And it's super expensive. Nothing gets bought unless it is at least on it's 2nd or 3rd markdown and I have a coupon. Which is hard to come by these days. Mostly, Ella gets her Janie and Jack outfits from my best friend. Her daughter is exactly a year older than Ella and also born in the cold season so it works out perfect. She is my stylish baby girl, what can I say! Oh, and Ella is totally into beautifying herself lately too. If she sees me put makeup on, she needs some. If she sees me doing my hair, she needs to have her done too! If I put on my deodarent or chapstick, she does the same. It is quite comical seeing a 16 month old try to put deodarent on too! I also love it when she puts chapstick on Elmo, as long as it isn't mine!

So, I guess that's about enough excitement for one week!

Next week is a big week, it's my follow up appt for my hand and my boob job surgery. I can't wait for that b/c Magellan is on his own the entire weekend with the kids. Obviously no help from me, but no help from anyone else. He's really gonna get a dose of reality!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Wordless Wednesdays















Friday, February 12, 2010

Happy Birthday CJ!

It's hard to believe five years ago to this day I became a mom. And it's hard to believe how fast five years have gone by. CJ is such a sweet, caring boy. He melts my heart every day. He is so sensitive and in tune to everything around him. He loves all animals and bugs, and sports. Most importantly though, he loves me!

February 11Th I started to go into labor. My contractions started about 230am, they weren't painful or really consistent but they were there! About 8am I went to the hospital to get checked out, and although I didn't stay the nurses were certain I would be back in full blown labor.

I got home from the hospital with Magellan around noon, had some lunch and decided to take a nap. I sent Magellan to work since he didn't need to sit around and watch me sleep. I kept a log of my contractions and how long they lasted. They were still pretty inconsistent but getting stronger. I had called into my work to let them know how I was doing and everyone was very excited! They wanted me to stop into work b/c they had prepared a baby shower for me, but obviously that wasn't going to happen, LOL. I didn't even want to leave my bed.

About 4pm that day, my contractions were finally consistent and quite strong, so I went back to the hospital and was finally admitted. I was in quite a bit of pain but was managing it well. I was pretty determined not to have any pain meds (WHAT was I thinking?!), so I made it thru the pain by using different breathing techniques and walking around. They didn't have any rooms available when I first got there so I had to hang out in the triage area. Boy, that was fun as it was full by about 630p! Finally a room opened up, don't ask me what time it was, and I was able to get settled. I used the jacuzzi and that helped with a lot of the pain, but it really was pretty painful. CJ decided at the last minute he was going to change positions on me and turn sunny side up and I had some horrible back labor. I got bored in the tub and I needed to be checked anyways so I had to get back in bed. I was stuck at 3cm forever, so about midnight my Dr said I really needed to be on pitocin to jump start my body to get things moving faster. Obviously at that point it was highly recommended I get an epidural and get some sleep.

I was all for it by then! Sixteen hours of intense back labor and painful contractions was enough for me. I even remember I was in so much pain from the contractions that the epidural never even phased me. The relief was awesome too!

A couple hours later I finally got to about 6cm, but my epidural had worn off and I was in some serious pain. The anesthesiologist came back and told me the tube that the medicine goes into in my back must've fallen out of my spine b/c she was pumping the meds in and I was getting zero relief. So we made the decision to have that epidural taken out, and a new one put in. Didn't bother me in the least bit again. Relief was wonderful.

I slept a little bit off and on, and about 6am I was in transition and ready to throw up. I can remember telling Magellan to get me the bed pan and he had no idea what one was. I was so ticked, and trying to keep from barfing all over the bed, so I couldn't yell at him. Thankfully, the nurse knew exactly what I needed and ran for it. Lucky for me, I did not end up getting sick but I still remember how nauseated I was. Not a good feeling. Around 730a my OB came to check on me and said I was ready to start pushing. Thank goodness, get this kid out, was all I could think of. I had had enough!

My this time my epidural had completely worn off and I was in the worst pain I have ever been in in my entire life. No joke. But I wasn't one of those pregnant ladies who screams and grunts with every contractions. Nope, I was not going to do that. I had heard a woman earlier scream her brains out as she pushed her baby out and I was embarrassed for her!

I remember there were some issues with CJ's heart rate going down with each contraction, so after each push I had to turn onto my side. That in itself is hard to do as you are in labor. You really don't want to move. I also had to have oxygen b/c I was having a hard time getting enough breath and energy to push. I can remember saying to my mom, "Good lord, will he just come out already? What is the problem here?" It just seemed to take forever!! Yes, my mom was there in the room, helping me. And naturally Magellan was there as was his mom. Finally, after pushing for an hour and a half, Carl Jaxon Salatino was born at 909am on February 12th. He shares a birthday with my Grandfather and Abe Lincoln. He weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 21" long. He had the umbilical corn wrapped twice around his neck, which was why his heart rate would drop with each contraction.

From the moment CJ was born, he only wanted mommy. All he wanted to do was snuggle and be cuddled, and to this day, he is still this way. CJ was a very hard newborn. He had reflux and was very colicky. He hated to go to sleep at night b/c he wanted someone with him at all times. He rarely napped, and if he did it was never more than 30 minutes at a time. He was exhausting, but I loved him with all my heart. CJ was/is my world. I took him everywhere with me, and loved every minute we had together, as I worked full time when I first had him. Taking him to daycare every day was tough for me, b/c I just wanted to be the one to watch him grow. But, at the time it wasn't in the finances for us.

CJ hit all of his milestones right on time. He was way ahead of schedule when it came to talking and understanding English. He was speaking sentences by about 13 months and a huge vocabulary. His first word was "tickle"! Funny, huh? He had 16 teeth by the time he was 15 months, and was loving life!

So, that's CJ's birth story in a nutshell! Ella's was by far much easier! But that is for another day!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

What a drastic change

I really thought this week would go pretty smooth, but boy was I very wrong.

Starting with Sunday, it was a pretty good day. We had my niece's bday party to go to, and naturally I forgot my camera, so there are zero photos from the craziness! It was so fun to see Ella interact with all the little kids. There was this adorable, little two year old there and how funny it was that Ella was towering over her. It gives new meaning to my "little Giant". And although Ella did NOT nap, she was very good. So well behaved I could not believe it. Naturally she had a field day with all the food and snacks too! She gobbled up the pizza and cake, she had to have eaten more than me! We left around 4p and she left with a very full tummy. We had to stop at Walmart and get a few things and Ella sure got spoiled by Daddy! He carried her around the entire time, and loved every minute of it. I NEVER do that, I don't have the time, energy and she never stays still. But Daddy didn't do much but walk around and Ella loved it!

Monday was back to school for CJ. He had a good day and a good night, but around 4am he came into my bedroom crying b/c his throat hurt so bad. CJ is usually pretty good when he's sick, pretty mellow and doesn't complain much, but when he cries I know it's bad. I took his temperature and it was 103, so I gave him some meds for his cough and fever. I snuggled with him for a bit in his bed, but Mommy still had to get some sleep.

Tuesday morning was not much better for CJ. He was coughing up half a lung, and he sounded pretty awful. For those that don't know, CJ's sicknesses are always much worse than what the average person experiences because of his allergies and asthma. Some of you may remember this is why it was a PRIORITY to get the H1N1 vaccine for CJ, and the flu shot too. I can't take chances with him as any cold he gets immediately goes to his lungs and can do damage. I get pretty ticked off when people (ADULTS) go out with nasty colds or the flu and don't care that they spread their germs. I understand that a cold is a cold and it's just something to deal with in the colder weather, but I try to keep CJ as clean and healthy as possible, but something as simple as a cold kicks his butt pretty good. He did go to dance class, and did well and had fun but he passed out when he got home.

Wednesday morning he stayed home from school. He still had a very high fever, so I had to take him to my dad's with Ella as I had my doctor's appt at 11am. What a headache that was...the dr's appt I mean.

Parking is always a distaster at the freaking hospital. I never seem to find a spot and end up walking a mile to where I need to be. I got right in and had my cast cut off, and boy was it weird actually having my arm hit the air. But, my arm was gross! It was all dry and peeling. Thank God for the lotion in the office! I had a bunch more xrays done, and to be completely honest, my wrist felt pretty good. Of course, it was sore b/c I hadn't been able to move it in 7 weeks, but I was really feeling good about the xray results.

WRONG!!

My hand dr said he still saw the line on the bone, which could mean two things:
A) The fracture is taking it's sweet ass time to heal (totally common for the scaphoid bone)
B) It is just a very bad bruise at this point.

Either way, I have to have an MRI done next week. This gets a much more in depth view of the break and my dr will be able to determine if it is indeed just a bruise at this point or a fracture. If it is a fracture, I get another cast for probably 3-4 weeks. He did assure me that the bones are not displaced (meaning they are still within 1 mm of each other), so no surgery would be needed to place a screw in the bone. Thank goodness for that! I did have to have a splint made for my arm, and I was instructed to wear that just as if it were a cast. My dr doesn't even want me to take it off to shower, how annoying is that. Soooooo.....I am not wearing my splint. I did have it on for awhile, but it gave me a yucky rash and rubbed up against my wrist bone really bad it cut the skin. I think the therapist who made the splint made it way too tight and it hurts. Yes, I am bad and stubborn but I have strong faith that my fracture is healed by now.

CJ skipped Gym class last night b/c was doing pretty bad. Well, later that night he wasn't doing too good. I had gone shopping when CJ decided he was too sick to go class, so I left Magellan with baby sitting duties and I got out of the house for a few hours. About 815p, Magellan called to say CJ had woken up from his nap and wasn't doing too good. Like his fever was back up to 103 and he wasn't really acting right. Now, let's remember this is coming from Magellan who way over exaggerates everything! So, I rush home all worried, only to find CJ just as crazy as ever! Magellan swears CJ was really groggy and glassy eyed, but I think he just wanted me home to take care of the sick kid. Oh well!

Today is a quiet day around the house. No one slept well, even Magellan! CJ was having a hard time sleeping with his coughing, and Ella decided at 4am she was going to serenade us all. I'm not quite sure what she was singing, maybe just working on her words, but for an entire HOUR AND A HALF she sang at the top of her lungs. Then got pissed when no one came to her room so she started screaming bloody murder and yelling "MOM!" I gave her some milk and rocked her, but I was exhausted. I told her night night and she did lay down with a little bit of fuss, but not much. Sadly, the next round of sleep I got was very short lived as CJ came and woke me up at 7am to show me how he made his bed all by himself. Of course I had to go look, he was just so darn excited! But I did attempt to crawl back into bed. CJ goes downstairs by himself most mornings now, which he did today. At about 830a Ella woke up, so it was time for me to get up.

Needless to say, I am very tired and worn out, hopefully I get a nap in today. I even forgot to get something out for dinner. I have NO clue what to make, maybe we will just get pizza! I really don't feel like cooking.

Oh, and next week I have a little secret to share with you all!! Stay tuned!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

I feel busy, oh so busy

I often wonder if I keep the kids busy doing activities just to save my own sanity. Sometimes it does work though! This is a busy week for us coming up. Here's a quick peek into our week this week:



Monday - School for CJ and some grocery shopping for the necessities

Tuesday - Maybe a trip to the mall to return some things I bought, dance class at 5p for CJ

Wednesday - School for CJ, drop Ella off at my Dad's and a dr's appt with my hand Dr, and then Gymastics class at 630p for CJ

Thursday - A day off maybe? But I do have to bake a treat for CJ's VDay Party at school

Friday - School again for CJ, then a special dinner b/c its CJ's 5th Birthday

Saturday - Baby Gym class for Ella at 830a, CJ's birthday party at 1p



So this week brings many interesting activites. The most important one being CJ's birthday party. I can hardly believe my baby boy is going to be five! It doesn't seem possible. Five years ago I was big as a house and praying CJ would come at any time! He was a very active baby, even in the womb and literally tried to rearrange every part of my insides. I will blog more about CJ's birth story on CJ's actual birth day! It's an interesting one, stay tuned!



Ella's top molars are offically all the way in, thank God! Now she's just working on those bottom ones. I think one broke thru, but not the other. Her gums are very swollen, and she does have some really good days even despite the pain she may have. Her incision is healing nicely, not half as bad as I thought it would be. It actually looks good, all things considering! She looks beautiful as always. Ella has also officially dropped her morning nap and so far so good. She only had one really bad nap day, but I attribute that to her teething. She typically goes down around 1p, talks to herself for maybe a half hour while she winds down, and then she usually gets up around 330p. Its a nice break as long as she is down for that long, and wakes up in such a pleasant mood too. Of course that means she goes down to bed a bit later, like 7p but thats ok because then she sleeps till about 8am, which is WAY better than waking at 630a. As if you didn't already know, I am NOT a morning person. So the earlier I train Ella, the better we all are! She's still eating like a mad woman and learning so much every day. She has such a fun, sweet spirit, but boy she is a lot of work!

And my most favorite event of the week will be my doctor's appointment. I am very much looking forward to getting this darn cast off. Though I am a bit nervous of the outcome of my xrays I just can't wait to be able to bend my wrist AND most importantly, put some lotion on. It's been 7 long weeks since my arm has seen soap, water, or lotion. And believe you me, my hand has gotten pretty gross since the cast has been on. Relief is such a sweet thing.

Today we have my niece's 3rd birthday party and I bet Ella will have such a good time with all the other kids there. I will be sure to take lots of pics.

More later!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Wordless Wednesdays

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Tasteless Tuesdays

Better late than never right??

Today's Tasteless Tuesday is going to be a string of "naughty stories" by my really dumb dog. Although Star is a great watchdog, she lacks some things in other departments. But God bless her, I love her to death and she certainly loves the kids!

Magellan recently had this brilliant idea to take off Star's electric fence collar. Don't ask why, I had no clue he even did it. Well, Star stayed in the yard for a bit. One day I figured out why she wouldn't come right away when I called her....

I had just turned down our street after picking CJ up at school and saw Star rolling around in the ditch near the end of our street. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was. All I could see was some black and white patches, looked almost like a blanket, a cow blanket to be exact. Well, I pulled over to where she was and called to her and realized her "cow blanket" was really dead cow skin. She was rolling around in dead cow skin and carcass. Yup, so grossed out! She did follow me down the road and up the driveway tho. I immediately called Magellan to tell him my gruesome discovery. Wanna know what the ding dong's response was?

"Oh that thing is still there? It's been there for months!"

Apparently our neighbor had seen Magellan a few months back and told him there was a dead cow in the ditch down the road from our house. Now, no one on our street or near us has cows anymore, which leads me to believe that someone had a dead cow and ever so graciously used our ditch as a dumping ground.

That's good old Wayne County folk for ya! Good old country bumpkins'.

No wonder Star had been smelling like death the few times she came home before we discovered our lovely present.

More to come from Star the Gravedigger!

Monday, February 1, 2010

A day in the life of CJ and Ella:

For those of us who just hate to read sme days, here is a play by play of a typical day for CJ and Ella. Of course, I don't have such great pics of the kids running around like chickens with their heads cut off, but you get the point.