New Year

Christmas is over and a New Year is upon us. I can't believe how fast time flies by. I haven't been able to get my Christmas cards out yet, but rest assured they will come. I am looking forward to 2009 and hopefully it will see improvement in Addison's health, finances, peace in our family and the World. I am going to be positive that as we continue to do what's right the Lord will bless us. As we start this New Year I wanted to express my gratitude for : My family- all of them!, for our friends that continue to extend friendship and goodwill to me and my family. I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for all those people out there whether of my faith or not that are good examples to me and my children. I am grateful for a home to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear and a body that lets me do all the things that I am blessed to be able to do. I am grateful that my husband has a job that is secure and I am able to stay home to take care of Addison. I hope and pray that this New Year will find us all a little better off then this last year left us. May we all work together to make this a better and more successful Year.

Christmas Handouts

I wracked my brain this year for something to give to neighbors and friends. I wanted something different then the norm. I thought about things we had received and things we had given out. I had my mind set on giving out the yummy Gourmet homemade popcorn (see "Life is to be enjoyed blog"). Then when push came to shove that idea didn't really hit me. Addison and I were at Big Lots the other day and came across miniature Christmas Trees. I decided to do a handout about the meaning of the Christmas Tree. The trees were $1.00 each , but on sale for 1/2 off. So for fifty cents even better. We loaded up our cart. All we needed was a trip to the scrapbooking store for just the right paper and wha-la, a Christmas Handout.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

This has been a very stressful Christmas for us this year. I haven't even gotten my Christmas lights up outside and probably won't this year, Sigh! I have fallen behind on housework, Christmas shopping and Christmas wrapping, just to name a few things. Thank Heaven for little girls, or should I say big girls. Addison has wrapped every single present for me this Christmas. She has spent many hours and spent lots of time thinking of just the right wrapping paper for each person. I feel a whole lot of stress off my shoulders. I of course will get to wrap her presents. I will have to make sure they are wrapped extra special for her.

Movie Review

I have two movies to review this time. The first one is Bolt. I took Addison and my nephew Jackson who is 7 yrs. old. We watched it in 3D. I have to say it was pretty entertaining. I think if you watched it on a regular screen that it would still be great. So I give it a total thumbs up. The next movie is Australia. I went by myself to see it and it was totally worth the 2 hr and 45 min. I thought it was a beautiful movie. I don't think I would normally describe a movie as beautiful but this one qualifies. If you didn't like Hugh Jackman before you should watch this movie and it will change your mind. He is so sexy. I thought the acting all around was terrific. It was well made also. So make sure that Australia is on your list of movies to see.

Nine words women use

I "borrowed" this from one of Clint's cousins blog. I just think that this is hilarious, but so true. I am going to print this out for Clint so he can have it to refer back to at any given time. Men always say they are confused by what we say or they don't know why we are so mad. I think this is right on the nose to help them with a few of the secret messages and meanings that women have. It is so funny because another women knows exactly what you mean if you say one of these, but men still have NO clue even after 15 years, duh!!!!!

NINE WORDS WOMEN USE

1. FINE: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

2. FIVE MINUTES: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

3. NOTHING: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Argume nt s that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

4. GO AHEAD: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It! (<- LOL!!! This one is so me... I say it's ok, but it's more of a test then anything. I'm so bad :)

5. LOUD SIGH: This is actually a word, but i s a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

6. THAT'S OK: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

7. THANKS: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . that will bring on a 'whatever').

8. WHATEVER: Is a woman's way of saying a bad word to you!

9. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.

Christmas Tree

I finally was able to decorate MY tree. I have had it set up in the kitchen by the front window for about 2 weeks now. The Christmas buckets sitting in the kitchen finally got to me enough for me to take some time to decorate the tree. I always have my own tree. I started this a long time ago when my kids were little. That way they can decorate theirs how they want and I get to do mine all by MYSELF. Every year I do a different theme. I choose between: Santa's, snowmen, silver and white, red and gold, a last year after Christmas I stocked up on red and green. I am still hunting for a bigger tree after Christmas but I have not found just the right one yet. So I still get the smaller tree which is fine because then I don't have to buy quite as many ornaments. I love to use anything weird or different. No traditional Christmas decorations for me. I absolutely love everything about Christmas. We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends.

Guitar concert

Last night we were able to attend a guitar concert put on by Jarom's guitar class. He loves his class and really enjoys learning how to play guitar. I am so grateful that something has caught his attention other than video games. It was fun to see him play and he did a great job. He is such a good kid and I am so blessed to be his mom. I enjoy spending time with him (even if it is watching him play gruesome, gory, violent video games). We usually end up having a good talk together.

Addison Update

Tuesday was a very busy day for us. I started out at Addison's Junior High at 7:45am. I met with her counselor, nurse and all her teachers. We finally decided that at least for the rest of this quarter the teachers are going to fail Addison (because she is SOOOOO far behind in her work). But combined with her first quarter grades she will end up passing all her of classes. So we are all hopeful to start out fresh next semester. Then it was off to her G.I. appointment. The GI nurse was concerned about Addison not eating or drinking (because it really made her stomach hurt). So her feeling was that we should admit Addison into the hospital to give her fluids and nutrition with IV. She wanted to reconfirm with the GI Doc. so we waited to hear back from her. Then we were off to the Psychologist that is helping Addison try to cope with this illness and everything else that goes along with it. We heard back from the GI Doc that yes they want to Admit her into Phx. Children's Hosp. to rehydrate, etc. and also re-scope. Well Addison was not too happy about that. Then we were off to see the Allergist. We were hoping for some good news about the results of her patch test, but with all that is going on with her the Doc. doesn't want to add anything back in right now. Sigh!!! He didn't really agree about re-scoping Addison, but didn't feel like he could really go against the other Doc. So pretty much another wasted trip and co-pay. Yesterday we were able to meet with the Homeopathic Dr. It was about a 2 hour appointment and she asked all kinds of questions. She has a Bachelors degree in Psychology as well as a MD in Naturopathic (?spelling?) medicine. She seemed hopeful that she will be able to help Addison, but said it will take a long while to get everything functioning right again in her body. We feel pretty good about her and Addison liked her and was comfortable with her so we are going to give it a shot. We are going to hold off on the whole hospital thing for right now, unless Addison gets worse again. We go back to see her again next week and she will ask more questions (after doing research for this week) and do a little physical on Addison. Well Addison is in the bath again, getting impatient for me to come get her out. Better go because she is "freezing". SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long night

We had a really long night (or REALLY early morning) at our house today. Addison woke me up around two in awful pain. After many baths, lots of prayers and plenty debate around 6 am I finally called Phoenix Children's Hospital and talked to the on call G.I. specialist. His opinion of what we should do is wait until the Dr.s office opened and talk to our own Dr. OK!!! Why do they have Dr.s on call to help when they are about worthless. So we waited until 9 am and left a message, of course, and around 10:15 the nurse finally called me back. "Go in for another x-ray" she said. Then she managed to find a nurse practitioner to fit us in tomorrow. That helps!!! Maybe you have to become callus when you are a Dr. but when a mom continues to call the DR. about their child being in terrible pain and they send us for another x-ray and a Dr.s apt. days from now, what else is a mom to do? So we finally decided it's time for the Homeopathic route. Clint's brother takes his little boy to one that they like so we are going to try it out. Hopefully they will be able to help us.

Patch Test

Addison went back to the Allergist yesterday and had the patch removed. They looked at her back to determine what food reactions there were. The big scab is where the garlic was and burned her skin and made a sore. So for sure no garlic. The other ones that were irritated were: almonds, beef, turkey, and cinnamon. We went back again today to have them look again and all but the garlic ( of course), almonds and the cinnamon were better. We go back again next Tuesday for the final look and the results. Last time she had this done wheat, potatoes, corn, etc. showed up. So we are hopeful that since these didn't show up this time we may be able to add some back in slowly. I guess we will find out on Tuesday.

Patch Test

Today was filled with Doctor appointments for Addison. Yesterday she had an x-ray on her belly. Today she started the patch test. A patch test is done at the allergist to see what foods you are allergic to. She had one done last year to determine all the foods she couldn't eat. This one was done on the rest of the foods that are on her SPECIAL diet, which aren't many. We included onion and garlic among many other things, and let's just say you don't want to get to close. I can't image what the chicken, beef, onion, and garlic will smell like two days from now. So she goes back on Thursday for the Dr. to take the patches off and read the results. Then back again on Friday to read again. Finally she will be able to shower after that. Then we go back again on Tuesday for the finally reading and results. We are trying to figure out what is causing her so much trouble and pain. If too many more foods are restricted she will have to go on a hypoallergenic liquid diet. Not too much fun. Hopefully she will get good news and she will be able to add back in something. We will just hope and pray for good results. then back to the GI doctor in a couple weeks to try to determine what else we can do for Addison. She is going on missing 3 weeks of school this week. It makes it a little tough when you are in seventh grade to catch up.

Tag

One word tag: (tagged by Natalie)

Where is your mobile phone? purse
Where is your significant other? sleeping
Your hair color? brown
Your mother? wonderful
Your father? generous
Your favorite thing? family
Your dream last night? scary
Your dream goal? wealthy
Room Your In? kitchen
Your hobby? reading
Your fear? sickness
Where do you want to be in 6 years? vacation
Where were you last night? sisters
What you're not? patient
Where you grew up? Maryvale
The last thing you did? sewed
What are you wearing? clothes
Your TV? nothing
Your pets? sleeping
Your computer? awesome
Your mood? exhausted
Missing someone? no
Your car? parked
Something you're not wearing? shoes
Favorite shop? Target
Your summer? flaming
Love someone? everyone
Your favorite color? red
When is the last time you laughed? today

If you are not sure what to blog today- do this tag. It's easy and fun.