OUR WONDERFUL SPRING BREAK!!!

well, we had a GREAT spring break last week and we were sad to see it END!! let's see, we left to DALLAS, TX on tues....we chose a hotel with an indoor pool and we spent our evening there in the pool on tues after we got there....the boys LOVE the water and matthew goes a bit crazy!!! such a cutie!

HERE OUR MY BOYS IN THE POOL!!


and the on wed, we were going for MATTHEWS appt at OUR CHILDRENS HOUSE at BAYLOR univ...we were there for an FEEDING EVAL....he did WONDERFUL!! he ate about 5 bites of food and he did GREAT with the OT eval and basically he was ACCEPTED for the program!! :) we just don't know how things will happen because it will be EARLY FALL when they think an opening will happen!!! i will definetly have BABY G by then so i don't know how that will play into everything!! anyway, we will leave it in GOD's hands!! we had a great day and spent the rest of the day at the pool!!!

MATTHEW & ALEX as we are eating some GOOD BBQ...check out matthews FACE!


HERE IS MATTHEW and his BABY BACK RIB!! HE LOVED IT!


I FINALLY GOT A PIC OF HIM MUNCHING OUT ON HIS RIB! HE REFUSED TO LET GO!


we came back on thurs evening...did i mention that our boys are GREAT TRAVELERS?!?! they did sooooo well on the long trip!! THANK GOD for DVD players in vehicles!! :)

well, on friday, bright and early, we went to pick up the RV at the dealers...we were SOOOOOOO EXCITED!! it was SOOO AWESOME to get it FINALLY!! it was just sooooo exciting! we are RV OWNERS! part of elite group of families! and we LOVE IT! we have been looking at the campgrounds around here and there are sooooo many! we plan to stock the camper with the usual and try to keep them there so it can always be ready! anyway, check out the earlier post for pics and details on our FIRST FAMILY CAMPING TRIP!! can't wait for MANY MORE, GOD WILLING!!!

well....we are BACK and what we are excited about is...

WE BOUGHT AN RV!!!!!!! yep, we are now in an elite club of RV OWNERS and we are sooooo EXCITED AND HAPPY about it!!! we first started talking about getting a POP UP TRAILER for a couple of years and then when we REALLY said, let's go get one, we went out looking and decided that that was NOT for us (we needed soooo much more because of matthews medical needs) so we started looking at RV's. we didn't like the totally enclosed variety because we wanted to STILL be able to dry camp (not use electricity if we didn't want to) but with the totally enclosed kind, there was really no AIR FLOW because the windows were not that big! so we started to look at the HYBRID variety and we KNEW that was for US!! the hybrid RV is basically an enclosed RV BUT the big thing is that the BEDS EXPAND and fold down like a pop up tent....sooo, when we want, we can open all the sides of the beds (like tents) and the air flow comes in!!! we had been looking at a 19ft type of RV but when we were ready to buy it, there was more wear and tear than we wanted, even though it was an 2006...sooo, while we were there, the sales man said that he had a unit that was USED and on consinement and it was PERFECT!!! it was in IMMACULATE condition and the owner had been a older couple that her hubby had passed away soooo she was selling it...it is a 23ft 2005 AEROLITE CUB 23TT (look for the 1st trailer (cub 23TT) 3 rows down and that is our floor plan)....it has SOOO MUCH ROOM!! there are 3 queen size beds, the sofa slides out giving us more room and it is also a double bed then the table can turn into a bed too! SOOOO THERE IS PLENTY of room for at LEAST 10 people, but of course it would be crowded!!! there is a microwave, oven, stove top, refridge, a tv, a bathroom with a tub and shower!! VERY NICE!! there is AC & heating too! there is also an pull out PORCH awning on it that is SOOOOO AWESOME!! anyway, we LOVE to camp and have always done it until we had kiddos....and ESPECIALLY after matthew was born, we couldn't do our usual tent set up so here we are with an RV!! it was nice! here are some pictures....we took it out this weekend and we had a BLAST....we picked up the RV on friday and drove off that afternoon.....definetly HAPPY we have a V-8 expedition because it is pretty heavy. james swears he will not get angry or upset with those slow drivers with campers after this weekend! but we had a BLAST and alex just sooooo ejoyed being outdoors, which we KNOW because he is always outside! and matthew, well, as long as we kept him from EATING DIRT & ROCKS he did GREAT!!!! we sooooo missed camping out! it was nice to be back!!! we actually went to FT SAM REC AREA at canyon lake and it was sooooo nice! we GRADUTED from camping at the bottom near the lake to up at top where the RVs were!! NICE!! and the people there are just soooo nice! there was tons of retired people there and the area HOST actually helped us set our site up and set up our RV for the first time. and it was soooo funny because EVERYONE knew we were brand new RV owners and this was our first time out. we had sooooo many nice people coming over and asking how we liked our first experience and that they were really soooo proud of us starting out with our kiddos camping and enjoying ourselves as a family....that was the REASON we wanted an RV so that we COULD go out camping with our family....they all offered suggestions which we soaked up!! we also asked TONS of questions and everyone was really nice and helping us out. they also waived our camping FEE because they said since we were active duty first time RVers, it was a ONE TIME experience!! soooo nice!! HERE ARE SOME PICS.....

HERE IS A TOUR OF OUR TRAILER!! :)

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

well, what is that old saying....

two steps forward one step back?!?! or something like that....well, it has been a VERY stressfull days here at home with our little matthew!!! he has gotten more SICK....on friday, he was really huffying and puffying in the AM and we took him for a regular pulmonary check with his pulm dr and well, we got there at 0830 and didn't get out of there till 1200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he has been REALLY CONGESTED and just junky and coughing and needing oxygen....they ended up using a PRECUSSOR VEST on him!! that was way intense!! what it does is it inflates and starts to basically POUND HIS CHEST to help to loosen up the mucus in his lungs.....and during that time they were giving him an ALBUTEROL TREATMENT....his sats STILL didn't go up more than 92% even on over 1 liters of oxygen!!! they also suction the HECK out of him!!!!! and just junk after junk kept being pulled out! poor baby!!! so, we went home on additional oral steroid (3 more days), omnicef antibiotic for 10 days & and we came home with our own vest to pound on him here at home!! it is sooooo traumatic for him!!! but like they said, HOPEFULLY this will keep him OUT of the hospital!! i think they were REALLY THINKING of sending him in but we will do our BEST here at the house and GOD WILLING he will not be sent to the hospital! here is a video of him with the vest on at the drs office....he was SOOOOO TIRED (past his bedtime) and he was starting to fall asleep with it on!!

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

soooo, GOD WILLING he will turn around SOON! he is SICK AND TIRED of doing treaments and getting suction and having oxygen!!!!! and i broke down last night because it is SOOOOO HARD to have your little one crying because you are suctioning him and he is just not HAPPY!!! and you make his nose bleed and he is just screaming his little head off but you HAVE TO DO IT!!! you have to get his nose and DOWN his throat making him gag and cough to get that PHLEM UP!!! and soooooo much is coming up!!! and james doesn't like to do it sooooo it is up to me to do it....which is HARD TO DO when you feel bad yourself (i have been sick since monday!! and since i am PG i will NOT take anything for it!) ANYWAY, i cried and just prayed that my baby would have a GOOD NIGHT and THANK YOU GOD HE DID!!! he did have his oxygen but he did SOOOOOOO GOOD and didn't set off ANY alarms all night long which is just a MIRACLE OF GOD because i KNOW how sick this little one is!!! but GOD gave me a nice night of SLEEP to get ready for whatever comes next!!!!! and his heart rate DROPPED last night which puts us on alert for a sz........i just keep PRAYING!!

well, today is a BETTER DAY!!

slowly but surely he is getting a tiny bit better.....he did have to be on oxygen last night and he is still REALLY JUNKY but i think that it is breaking up and he just needs to get it out of his system! his blood work came back as ABNORMAL WHITE BLOOD COUNT (LOW) due to the virus....anyway, he is doing better and is getting bigger and cuter every minute!! :)

on the 21st of march we will be traveling to BAYLOR UNIVERSITY in DALLAS TX so that matthew can be evaluated for the feeding clinic there!!! it is a VERY INTENSE feeding clinic geared for g-tube kiddos and it goes on for 6 weeks....sucess rate is them coming out 90-100% gtube free and the rate is 90% or more!! sooooo, his is behavior at this point because we KNOW he CAN eat but just doesn't want to!!! soooo, we are off in a couple of weeks!! i am excited...all they can tell me is that he is not ready for it but i KNOW he is!!! whatever GOD decides....

well, we ended up at the drs & hosp....

on monday!!! yep, he got SOOOOOOO BAD!! he started on sat night and by sunday he was congested, coughing & running a temp of over 102.5 and breathing REALLY REALLY HARD AND FAST!!! but his o2 sats were fine! then by monday, he was needing oxygen and everything else!! so off to the drs we went and he thought it might be pneumonia and he sent us over to the hosp for xrays (i am so use to NOT being pg and doing xrays with him that when it was time to do his xray at the VERY LAST MINUTE i freaked out and said, "WAIT, I CAN'T DO THIS, I AM PREGNANT!!" it was a classic, i forget i am pg moment!", blood work and a shot of an antibiotic to cover all the basis and then started him on prednisone for 3 days...and of course the treatments!!! anyway, he has been really sick...he just laid there all day yesterday and on top of this he had diahrea!!! soooo, he is one sick little boy!! we had to give him pedialyte because he is not tolorating his feeds....this little one is just not feeling good!!! today, tues, he is doing much much better....he had oxygen all night but today just still junky, diahrea and not tolerating feeds but MUCH BETTER!!! :) still have not heard back from the dr!!! i guess we will try again to get a hold of him....


i also got WONDERFUL news on my results form the blood work and NT SCAN and they all came back NORMAL (THANK YOU GOD) and she said that i just have the "normal" risk but she said it looked GREAT!!! and at 20 wks i will be doing a FETAL ECHO on the baby!!
soooo great news!

wow, we had a BUSY weekend!!!

james had guard duty this weekend so we were on our own!!! and we had ALOT TO DO! we had a total of THREE BIRTHDAY PARTIES to attend!!! yep, we went to all of them but we had to pay for it with matthew picking up something from the first day of parties!!! i don't know exactly WHERE he picked it up but he had been congested on sat night and by SUNDAY he was REALLY coughing, congested and running a fever and just not looking good...i am going to take him to the dr this am....i am PRETTY sure it is just a virus he picked up and he will just send us home with treatments (we are doing them every 3 hours) and maybe some oral steriods.....we shall see! anyway, we had a ROUGH night with him but GOD WILLING it will run it's course without him getting any worst!!!

anyway, wow, i am in my 2ND TRIMESTER!!! just amazing!!! i am 13w4d today....wow! i have not heard back from the test i took last week...GOD WILLING all will turn out "normal"...i have just been ENJOYING this pg because it has gone sooooo well considering!! i often forget i am PG!! :) i can't WAIT to feel this one move around! a good friend of mine just had her baby this weekend!! a beautiful little girl to add to her 4 boys!! soooo exciting! i have not heard if there was any defects but i am guess NOT because i am pretty sure she would have mentioned that in her email with all her cute pics!!! SOOOOO CONGRATULATIONS BEKKI AND FAMILY!!! i wonder what she named her after all?!?!?!

today was my aunts funeral...

we offically had my aunt NENA's funeral today. she was my great x ?? aunt that took care of me from when i was born up until i graduted from high school! she lived with us that whole time......she lived to be 92 years old and i am soooo happy that i was able to go visit her a week ago on monday...i was able to talk to her and although at first she couldn't remember me, she finally remembered who i was (she had not been able to recognize anyone) and i was able to talk to her for a bit which was nice.....she also got to see a picture of the boys...unfortunaly a week later she passed on......she is now in heaven with her daughter who i am named after....where she wanted to be at the end....she kept asking to go home.....

my thoughts and prayers are with the family that was sooooo close to her, my neighbor who was my aunt and her family....they are pretty shook up about it...

wow! i got to see the BABY!

awww!! it was a GREAT experience!! i had the whole family there, dh and the boys and it went REALLY WELL!!! i think we were able to see about 30+ mins of baby!!! it was REALLY NICE!! i can't say i was not worried because I WAS!!! with my 2 bleeding episodes and not having ANY symptoms, i have been a bit nervous about it all....seeing the baby REALLY made me FEEL pg!!! it has been a GREAT PG with virtually NO SYPMPTOMS!! i have been saying if i didn't KNOW i was pg, i wouldn't have a CLUE! the 2 doctors that did the scan said that everything looked "normal" and no cause for concern! BABY G was asleep for a bit until i had to eat something to get the baby going!! it was sooooo awesome to see how BIG the baby IS!!! WOWOWOWOW!! this little one has GROWN sooooo much! and i actually don't have to go tomorrow for a dating scan because they did it this time around and my new due date is 9/6/07!!!! and i went from today being 11w6d to being 12w5d!! almost a WHOLE WEEK OLDER!!! hehehehehehe! i am sooooo excited to be moving onto the 2nd trimester in a couple of days and not even KNOWING IT!! and this due date actually coincides with my FIRST ultra sound done on 1/18....the one done on 2/5 had me a couple of days BEHIND the original one!! soooooo almost dead on with the first prediction!!! i think the first one had my due date at 9/9.....it was sooooo awesome to see this one suck their thumb and everything....wow, i am ALMOST out of the 1st trimester and i can OFFICALLY stop the progesterone!! good thing, i actually stopped last week (james was gone so i couldn't take them cause i get up several times a night with matthew)....


anyway, just had to share my GREAT news!!!

today, is a BIG DAY....

well, today we do our NT SCAN that i was soooooo excited to be getting!!! i wasn't sure if we would get it or not because i will not officially by 35 when i have baby g but i guess they made an EXCEPTION!!! :) anyway, it is a normal sono that you have BUT they are looking for a fold in the neck that will tell them if baby g has down syndrome or not and other defects....i will also be getting a QUAD SCREEN during this time....it will HOPEFULLY be fun since i will have the whole family there! yep, kids and all! just turned out that way! anyway, it should be nice!! i just PRAY that all turns out well and there is nothing "worrying" about the scan or the blood work!!! just PRAYING!!! i will have to write after i finish up today! also, i go tomorrow for a DATING ULTRASOUND....i hope to get some good pics from it all!! at least i will FINALLY know my DUE DATE!! hehehehe, going on 12 weeks without having a clear pic of it! funny!


well, unfortunatly, matthew had a seizure today during nap! it got me worried because he was NOT responding and i was SCARED that we would end up in the hospital!! but after about 2 mins, he FINALLY and i do mean FINALLY started to open his eyes and look at me!!! THANK YOU GOD!! it has been over 2 MONTHS (dec 16) since we have had A BIG ONE and i just keep thanking GOD everyday for it!! i think that has been THE LONGEST since MAY that we have gone without one!! just THANKING GOD over and over again!!!

got some GREAT news....

well, first, we are ALL DOING GREAT so that is always GREAT NEWS!!! :)

but i also got news that on tuesday 2/27, i will be getting the NT SCAN!! that is exciting because i was not sure they would actually get that for me or not!! so, we get to see our little one on that day!! and hard to believe but i am 11 weeks along now!!!! THANK YOU GOD!!! we are also having a DATING scan on 2/28!! sooo, TWICE is oooohhhh soooo nice!!! AND james gets to be there at both of them!!! acutally , the WHOLE FAMILY will be there for the one on tues!!!

then james gave me AWESOME news!! he has been out of town since tues and will be getting home tomorrow but he got to talk to his COMMANDER for his recruiting/retention area and he told him that he would NOT BE GETTING DEPLOYED this time around, not to worry!!!!! THANK YOU GOD!!! soooo, as of right now, JAMES SHOULD BE HOME FOR THE BABY BEING BORN, THANK YOU GOD!!!! of course, afterwards there is no guarente! i was REALLY worried about it because i will be having a scheduled c-section and that would mean i would not be able to carry MATTHEW for over 6 weeks!!! so, picture that, not being about to take care of your special needs boy!!! and although we have nurses, they are not 24 hours a day and they are not on during the weekend!!! we probably would have LIVED upstairs during the time i had no one and then he would have had to sleep with me on the futon, not his crib because i would not be able to pick him up!!! BUT THANK YOU GOD, WHO ANSWERS PRAYERS, james will be HOME, GOD WILLING during that time!!! i am sooooo happy!

anyway, just wanted to share my good news!

on a little weekend away.....

we don't say the "V" word in our home but we went away for a couple of days to austin....wow, who knew that AUSTIN is soooooo beautfiul!!!??? what i know of austin is only down 35 going into or out of san antonio....this city is just AMAZING!!! we are here because they are having a FLW fishing tournament here at LAKE TRAVIS and we got here yesterday and have just been enjoying our day. we were SUPPOSE to take the boat out today BUT the wind was KICKING!! seriously, there was WHITE CAPS on the lake!!! so there was no way we could go out there!! but as we were getting ready to leave the park, who should come out of the lake but JIMMY HOUSTON (if you don't follow fishing, he is a tv celeb that my hubby LOVES!!!!) anyway, so we stopped and james got out and went to talk to him, which i thought he would either run SCREAMING like a groupie at him or start stuttering when he was talking to him@!!! just kidding!! anyway, he talked to him for a bit then he went and got a picture of him with him....and then mr houston did a VERY nice thing and gave james 2 trading cards of himself and signed them for the boys!! awwww....

anyway, so far so good!! we are getting ready to leave to go to the WEIGH IN today!! :) it will be at the convention center! that should be really nice! they have a bunch of booths set up and everything!!

something i HAD to share that was kinda cute....when james backed the boat into a parking space here at the hotel, he went and put big rocks in front of the wheels so that it wouldn't roll...so alex, who was outside helping him, he grabbed some pebbles from the flower beds here and put a little pile in front of the tire and he said, "there, that will stop it!!" TOO CUTE!

MATTHEW WON'T EAT FOOD BUT HE WILL TRY TO EAT LEAVES!!! :)

sad day in my family....

this past week, my wonderful cousin and her family suffered a LOSS as no one should ever lose..they lost their almost 6 month old baby boy JOSIAH suddenly when he stopped breathing on Monday the 12th of feb....as i know it, it was in the middle of the day and she ended up having to peform CPR on the baby....i can't EVEN imagine what she must be feeling or going thru....this was her 2nd baby boy...her first little one is almost 3 years old...we went to the ROSARY on the 14th and to see the little casket there....just heart wrentching.....again, it makes you realize how FRAGILE and UNPREDICTABLE life really is!! how things can CHANGE in just a blink of an eye....where your perfect world can be just turned upside down and shattered....for us, this happened when matthew was born but we ALWAYS remember that things can ALWAYS happen to change things....you just NEVER know when....so we always live life to the FULLEST.....and THANK GOD everyday for being BLESSED that we had another day to live...

my cousin and her family need loads of prayers right now......any would be APPRECIATED!!

remembering a dream....

ok, this is funny because as james and i were driving to the RODEO yesterday, i VIVIDLY remembered a dream i had told HIM about a LONG time ago.....probably about a year ago or so. this same stretch of highway was were i told him too!!

the telling to james went:

i remember driving down this highway and telling james, "don't get mad, but i had this dream." james was like, "ok, what dream?" i said, "i had this VIVID dream where GOD told me that i was not thru having children and that he showed me i would have a total of 2 boys and a girl!!" by this time, james was VERY ADAMANT that we were THROUGH having CHILDREN!!! NO MORE NO MORE!! so, he laughed and said, "well, i don't know WHERE you will get this girl because we are NOT HAVING ANYMORE BABIES!!" and i remember saying, "i don't know, i still feel like we are MISSING someone." he just laughed and was just saying, we are THROUGH!!


SOOOOO HERE WE ARE!!! we ARE PREGNANT and it was thru NO way trying or our TRYING to get pg like all the other times....JUST GODS WILL! i just believe SOOO MUCH that GOD did tell me we were destined to have ONE MORE BABY....now we will see if my destiny is a GIRL or BOY (although in my dream GOD told me GIRL!)!! i would probably pass out if it was a GIRL because then it all came thru! after i reminded james about the dream he was kinda freaked out! he said, 'well, i guess it DID happen and you were RIGHT! BECAUSE we sure didn't "try" for this baby like all the others...."

AND something else, james use to just look at me whenever i would KEEP certain things (i personally think he was humoring me with it all)...i kept from my other pg some maternity jeans, shorts, a couple of outfits, a dress etc (and i had a garage sale and SOLD alot of the really old maternity stuff) and then i also kept some baby clothes (just everyday stuff nothing SPECIAL) and also some equipment that matthew was WAY TO OLD AND BIG to use but i just COULDN'T get rid of it!! just a feeling huh?

results are in for the sleep study....

well, we FINALLY go the results back from the sleep study done in jan!!!

well, let's see.....where should i BEGIN?!?!?! it WAS determined that he STOPPED BREATHING 33 TIMES during the 6 hours they measured!!! WOW!! but it was not BAD considering that his oxygen levels only dropped ONCE to 91% so they were ok with that (not putting him on bypap or oxygen at night)....soooo, then he had several episodes of SHALLOW BREATHING (which we figured cause sometimes you can't even tell if he is BREATHING or not!!) and once it lasted for MORE THAN A MINUTE!! THEN....he also has RESTLESS LEGS ALL DURING THE NIGHT....he moved his legs more than 200+ times during all that time!!! and then he said that it was probably caused by LOW IRON (we went to a WIC appt and they told me his iron was LOW and there you ARE) so we will be starting supplements SOON! he said that it was not that he didn't GET enough in his nutrition it was just that his body was not ABSORBING it! THEN he told me that he NEVER went into REM SLEEP(DREAMS).....i was concerned about that but he said that it was probably due to his meds....see and that was what got me that he was ALWAYS moving soooo much even DRUGGED the way he was!!! now we have a REASON(iron) for it! on the scale they use....a child normal is 1 and a adult normal is 5.....MATTHEW WAS 7!!! sooooo he was WAY OVER the "normal" limits which is NOT good! soooo, they dx him with OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA and will be sending him to an ENT really soon! don't know if it is his tonsils... they just told us to WATCH him and see how he does....


sooooo there you are!! and also matthew gave us a SCARE on wed during his nap when he had TWO seizures....one lasting 5 mins and the other 3 mins....LITTLE STINKER!! but we are NOT going to change his sz meds which are FINE BY ME!! i think he is at a GREAT dose! we just continue to WATCH HIM!!!

appointment today!!!

hello everyone!! well, i had my appt today and all went really well. i had my wonderful PAP smear that i have just looked forward to FOREVER (not!!!) and there was no more old blood there!!! and i had to get all my prenatal screen bloodwork done.....

well, as i was talking to the dr, i found out i was concidered ADVANCE MATERNAL AGE.....YIKES!!! i am not even 35 yet!! (ok, i miss it by like 2 weeks from when i am due)....so first we are going to do ANOTHER DATING scan (YAY!! ANOTHER chance at seeing this little one) and then, she said that she was going to go ahead and schedule me a for a nuchal translucency screening test BUT she was not sure if i would "qualify" for it under their guidlines since i am not TECHNICALLY going to be 35 when i have this baby!! but since we had matthew born with a CHD she might be able to get it!! :) then she said she would send me over for a quad blood work to go along with it....and should i NOT be able to get that screen, then she would put in for the triple screen test at my next appt and then do the level 2 ultrasound soon after. i told her i did not want an amnio done on the me and she said that was fine since regardless of the outcome i would be having this baby no matter what!! she said that they would probably be having the echo done at about 28 weeks or so....

sooooo, we are set!! i am just waiting for them to give me my date of the next sono and then i REALLY HOPE and PRAY that we get that Nuchal scan done!!! it would be reasuring if they were able to see if there was anything YET on heart defects....

so, my next offical appt will be 2/27 and still not sure when my US will be...probably next week sometime!!! thanks for reading!!