FIRST DAY OF OUR FRIENDS NIGHT OUT....

WE HAD A BLAST!!! yep, we got togethre last night at salsalitos, 5 of us, and just had a BLAST! IT IS SOOOOOO MUCH FUN to go out with the girls for some fun! it always a blast to go out with my friends! we plan to make this a MONTHLY event where we go SOMEWHERE and just get a way for a couple of hours! next month we are planing to go for a pedicure!!! wooooooooo, i have never had one so it should be an EXPERIENCE....painful? we shall SEE!

i am doing a project for matthews 2nd birthday and i am soooooo excited about it! i hope that everyone likes it! james liked what i had done of it so....

i decided to write about the book at the end of my entries so that i can get thru the daily stuff at the begining....i read chapter 4 and that was interesting, saying that we were meant to last forever! that this is a temporary home and then when we die, we will spend ENTERNITY with GOD!!!!! oh....what a beautiful thought! this is just a staging ground for the REAL life!!!

FIESTA!!!

wow, we had a BLAST today!!! today, we went to FIESTA! with the boys and my mil & fil and had a BLAST! WE ENDED up downtown at the market square and we just walked around, had a couple of drinks and then sat down and ate some wonderful dinner! it was nice to go out there and it was NOT crowded! matthew had a blast with these maracas that they gave us and after alex woke up, he had a blast too! we were only down there for about 3 hours but it was PERFECT! we left RIGHT before it started getting crowded. we heard a cvouple of bands and saw some dancers performed....CUTE! that is what i LOVE about this town! FIESTA is such an AWESOME thing and culture about san antonio....big part! i think i have gone to fiesta EVERY YEAR since i was a BABY!!!! we hope to keep the tradition around for our kiddos!!!

matthew is still sick! we had to start another dose of oral steroids today...we are in a wait and see time right now PRAYING that he clears up soon! he is just junky! he still needs the OXYGEN at night when he is asleep! he is such a TROOPER! his pulmologist wants to monitor him and if he is still sick by monday, we have to go back in!!! :(

what a day!

well, today was a crazy day....yep, i did read chapter 3 but i don't think i will comment on this go around.
anyway, it was busy busy busy as it usually is on a tuesday! he had his morning therapies and then our afternoon one. but my poor matthew is STILL SICK, he can't seem to shake this virus. i actually called his pulmonologist because he was not getting any better even after a round of oral steroids. last night he was on 1.5 liters of oxygen just to get him at 94%!!! i had to put two pulse ox on him to make sure they were correct and they WERE! but tonight, i am watching his pulse ox and he is sat at 97% on 1 liter!! go figure! he likes to play with us i guess. well, we are going to start ANOTHER round of steroids tomorrow for 3 days and see if that can clear him up....i worry about all these steroids they are pumping into him! no WONDER he is such a big boy! but, his lungs are soooo bad that we will take it anyway we can!

we met a family today at VITAL STIM. it was a little girl A that this was the FIRST treatment. i got to meet with the family and talk to them about what a WONDERFUl therapy it is! they were impressed with the out come! matthe has done soooo great! anyway, the terapist was asking why they were able to get nursing care when the little girl was not that bad off. the only thing she had was a g-tube! she was wondering why i couldn't have nursing care too ESPECIALLY since he has oxygen and such?! i told her, when you do sooooo well, it bites you in the butt because they KNOW you can do it so why do you need nursing care? anyway, just interesting how they were albe to get nursing care thru tricare....hmm....'

tomorrow we are going to go to GUARD FIESTA and i am really excited! just another day out as a family! always a party!

HAPPY 23rd MONTH BIRTHDAY, MATTHEW!

wow, ONE more month untl matthew is going to be TWO years old!!! GOD WILLING!! i am soooo excited!

now, i did say i was reading the book, didn't say it would take me the 40 days it should due to so much going on!! i just hope to FINISH the book!!! :) anyway, this one is about "YOU ARE NOT AN ACCIDENT!" wow, when i first started reading this book, everything kept coming around to my son matthew....i saw it in my own life BUT matthew is such a BIG PART of what i do everday that i felt i was also reading it FOR him too!! this chapter basically says that you are here, in WHAT EVER shape you are in, because that is how GOD MEANT FOR YOU TO BE!!! he made us who we are and shaped us BEFORE we were born...there are no "oops" pg in life and all people are here because GOD wanted us here! he talks about the world and how "perfect" it was to put people on it and that GOD created it just for us! wow....he planned EXACTLY how we would look, be, who are parents are etc thru the LITTLEST DETAIL!! that is how i KNOW matthew is soooo perfect to me because GOD created him....now, i think somepoeple might say, "well, then why did you not leave him the way GOD created him and not do surgery to correct it"....hmmm...i think it is pretty easy to understand that GOD also created WONDERFUL doctors who LEARNED how to help kiddos..that matthew was suppose be LIVE and be here....and i feel that his surgen was placed RIGHT where he was because that is where he was NEEDED!! as i always said, GOD played such a BIG ROLL in our lives from day one and most DEFINETLY in MATTHEWS life because EVERYTHING fell in place for matthew....from having a repeat c-sect (probably would not have survived a vaginal delivery), to the ambulance dr (our buddy), to his surgen not leaving after his last case, etc etc...GOD was right there thru it all!!! anyway, i could go on and on about this!!! :)
i will have to post the poem from this book because it is soooo true!!

well, onto life, my little matthew is SICK again!! he was sick back on april 5th trh the 12th and needed to be placed on oxygen and oral steroids...well he was well for about a week and now we are back on oxygen AGAIN!!! man, i am soooo sad for little man! he has been MISERABLE for the last couple of days and we just went to his pulmonologist yesterday and had an RSV swab done and also a chest xray done at the hospital and my BIG BOY alex was with thru it all!! such a GOOD BOY he was! i was sooo proud of him! he sat playing his game during his appt and then when we ended up going across the tunnel to the hopsital to get the xrays he did sooooo well! he played in the waiting room and when it was time to take the picture, he sat in the little middle room where the techs were and he played with a game while i was inside with matthew!! soooo proud of him! but, THANK YOU GOD, he does NOT have RSV and/or pnuemonia but we have to put him on his oral steroids AGAIN and do his treatments....poor kid! and i KNOW he is feeling bad because he is just grumpy!! poor baby!

and to make matters worst, today we had to go to BAMC to have molds done on his feet for AFO's!!! soooo, they had to make casts of his feet and MAN he did NOT LIKE THAT!!! he SCREAMED and cried and just kicked up a FUSS!!! Thank GOD james was able to go with me to that one and help out....poor matthew! anyway, they should be ready in a couple of weeks and they will help support his ankles and feet when he stands and walks!! i ams excited!

so here is the poem by RUSSELL KELFER ( i might get this in print for matthew someday)
there is also an area i am going to bold that is sooooo important for matthew...

you are who you are for a reason.
you're part of an intricate plan
you're a precious and perfect unique design,
called God's special woman or man.

you look like you look for a reason.
our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
you're just what he wanted to make.

the parents you had were the ones he chose,
and no matter how you may feel,
they were custom-designed with God's plan in mind,
and they bear the Master's seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
and God wept what it hurt you so;
but it was allowed to shape your heart
so that into his likeness you'd grow.

you are who you are for a reason,
you've been formed by the Master's rod.
you are who you are, beloved,
because there is a God!

IT'S NOT ABOUT ME....

hmmmm..i just started AGAIN "A PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE" by rick warren. i had started up about 4 months ago but due to TONS of stuff going on, i kinda got away from it so today is day ONE of this book. i just know that what i read before was soooo powerful and made me have some "aaaahhhaaa" moments and i am hoping i can get back into it and FINISH it this time around! soooo, i will try to always have a section dedicated to what i learned from this book...well, today, being chapter ONE, the whole thing about it is that IT'S NOT ABOUT ME..and how true is that? GOD is the one that holds our lives in HIS hands. no matter WHAT we do, HE is the deciding factor in our lives and HE is what drives us and makes PLOTS our destinies. YOU EXIST ONLY BECAUSE GOD WILLS THAT YOU EXIST...how true is that! i learned that EXPECIALLY with our experience with my son matthew. the doctors had COMPLETELY given up hope on his survial...he was NOT suppose to survive...BUT GOD HAS OTHER PLANS for my son! so he lives TODAY and is now 22 months old! THANK YOU GOD!

anyway, whenever i read a chapter i am going to post SOMETHING about it...yeah for me!!! i hope i can do it this time around!

today, i got to go for my 6 month dental cleaning!! WOOOHOOO!! man, i HATE the dentists! my teeth are HORRIBLE! but since my last cleaning, she said i had VERY LITTLE tarter and the stuff i did have was in my last 2 back teeth! YIPPPEEE!! i also took matthew to his weekly VITAL STIM therapy and we MIGHT be discharged from that program because he is doing sooo well! now it is a matter of PRACTICING his eating!!!

HAPPY EASTER!

wow!! what a BEAUTIFUL day to CELEBRATE EASTER SUNDAY!! when i went to mass today with my beautiful family, i had SOOOOOO MUCH to thank GOD for that it is just not possible to name it all! the mass was BEAUITIFUL and it felt WONDERFUL to be back in the church again and seee soooooo many familiar faces around. it was great that we were still remembered and that we were missed! people knew that we were not around because we had to becareful with matthew and they were in AWE on how much he had GROWN since they last saw him! he is just ONE of the many reasons i am soooo thankful to such a GIVING, LOVING GOD! the sermon today was about JESUS rising from the dead to be with GOD....WOW...when matthew was born, we were told that there was a VERY SLIM chance he would survive...and i think they were being nice in saying even that much! this little boy has proven over and over again what a WONDERFUL GOD WE HAVE! what a TRUE MIRACLE that can be performed by KNOWING AND LOVING GOD. i gave my son TO GOD because thru it all, matthew was in HIS HANDS.....and GOD has such GREAT PLANS for this little one!!!

well, today, we just celebrated as a family such a GLORIOUS day! my MIL also had her birthday today and we did something for her too! the kids had SUCH A BLAST finding eggs and getting their easter baskets! after church, we came home and dad ran inside to hide the eggs...alex got such a KICK out of the "easter bunny" being here at our house and leaving eggs! and then when we came back inside, well, the easter bunny had left them a BASKET TOO!! they were sooooo cute!! as soon as i learn to add pics, i will! anyway, we had EASTER at my MIL house and had another egg hunt there with my 2 neices and 1 nephew. they even played in the pool that the bunny had left for them!!

what fun we had!!

today was GOOD FRIDAY and we got to celebrate mass today as a family on post! it was nice and we even took g-ma with us! i LOVE spending time with our family! we even bought all the other stuff we needed for easter! we are getting excited for the boys next easter!! WOOPPPEE!

today i had a conversation with a new friend of mine who also has a special needs kiddo....we were talking about traveling...this family has pretty much kept to home base because of the special needs if the precious little boy. but today, we talked about OPENING our world and not letting the specialness of our kids hinder or hold us back! these kids NEED that time away from home and to BE "normal". she had heard that we went out of town this past weekend to WICHITA FALLS, TX that is 7 hour dr with matthew on oxygen, pulse ox and repiratory meds because he was REALLY SICK and she said, "if she can, so can i!" and as we talked, i gave her some pointers on what she needed to MAKE SURE she brought with her and i offered her our playpen, so that her little one can sleep in....and guess what?! she decided to make a trip that she was originally going to do BY HERSELF with her FAMILY!!! that is AWESOME!! we take matthew EVERYWHERE!! very rarely do we stay home UNLESS it is during the winter months and it is rsv, cold and flu season...then, we tend to stay pretty close to home...but that is just SMART, YOU KNOW? anyway, the point is, we HAVE to take these chances with our special kids...if we keep them in a bubble all their lives, they will NEVER learn to LIVE!!! sooo, the good thing that came about is that we talked and she felt AT EASE taking her little one too!! that made me feel soooo good!

well, post 2 of this blog!!

today was a great day.....matthew had his morning therapy and then we had our afternoon therapy at WHMC....it was great and matthew ate well...just 7.5 cc of purreed meat but he liked it!! we also went to see matthews buddy COPPLIN who was admitted there at WHMC...he looks sooooo BIG!! he just turned 1 years old and USE to be tiny but seems to be stretching out some! great to see him again!

we did our easter stuff shopping today...we just got a couple of things for the kiddos and we also bought them their SUMMER POOL!!! it looks like soooo much fun! matthew should be able to sit in it because it has a wading pool area! really cute!! i can't wait to get some pics of them!!

anyway, all is well in my world! james just bought a power sprayer and it gets to get broken in tomorrow....we are painting the HOUSE!!! first time in over 9 years! should be interesting!!