iPhone

I kept hinting that an iPhone would be a really awesome Christmas gift but alas, my cell phone died last week and I got the ok from the hubby to just go and get the iPhone already. You don't have to tell me twice. Yesterday morning I dropped Hannah off at preschool and off to At&t I went. I had already picked out the cover for the phone so this was a pretty quick buy with only one standard iPhone color to choose from.

I noticed my 2 year old, Mady , get that far off stare that children do when they are about to go # 2. I proceeded to tell the salesperson that this better be quick because my daughter has a present in her pants and you REALLY don't want to find out what it looks like. As he is finishing the sale which of course cost much more than I had anticipated. Because you HAVE to buy the apple warranty and also MUST buy the car charger. Apple is very clever. Walking out much poorer than when I entered I left the store in a much stinkier state that it wouldn't surprise me if there was a NO toddler allowed sign in the window next time I walk by.

I spent the last two days loading on contacts & schedules, music, and apps, preparing my mini-computer for action. I will never buy a different phone again that isn't compatible with the iPhone. i
It's not be because I don't love it (which I do) but because I never want to waste this much time again loading info onto my phone, ever.

If I can get it to work I am going to try to post pics I took of my kiddos. It's going to take some getting used to. Blogger is not iphone friendly. I guess no pics today.

This blog was 'sent from my iPhone'

2009 cont... and 2010

This was a post I never published from the beginning of this year. 2009 sucked, and the beginning of 2010 was even worse. Now I know why I never published this post, it's so depressing, but really just a journal entry from my life at the moment. Right after this journal entry below at the beginning of january 2010 I got the flu so bad that I lost like 10 pounds, and then of course I got my vertigo and headaches again, which continued to go on, and on, and on forever, until February 1st, 2010 I finally had to see my physician. I refused to go to the ER, even though my neurologist brother told me to go. I was lossing my mind, my headache was so bad I couldn't eat or sleep for three days, nothing helped, I was literally going crazy. Smells made me sick, food made me sick. Imagine that you have all of the worst symptoms of a pregnancy of everything makes you sick, smells, food, you name it, than have an incredible migraine on top of it that you don't know how to fix. Know I know why we need sleep, it is very important. I went to see my doctor, with my pediaylte in one hand, and my vomit bag in the other. I was in a very bad place, I had what they call a "status migranosis" which is basically the worst headache ever, and can induce a stroke or other very bad things if not treated because the blood vessels in my brain were working overtime. I was finally able to get the attention and treatment from the right doctors who could not ignore my symptoms anymore. It was a mixed blessing in disguse that I hope to never go through again. Before this, I had not been able to get the right treatment because my symptoms were all over the place and they didn't know how to treat me. It is nice to be able to talk about it know, it wasn't until July I can say that I am back to normal. I still have migraines all the time, but my meds are helping tremendously and I will probably have to take them for the rest of my life,or else suffer from migraines daily and vertigo.

It has been 2 and 1/2 years since my first vertigo attack that has changed my life for ever. This is my new life, and that's ok. I know how to deal with it now, and knowing that I will never have to suffer like I did the past 2 and 1/2 years is very comforting in itself. I was starting to get some anxiety from the fact that I never knew when my vertigo was going to strike and keep me down for 6 weeks. I never have to miss out on life again. Yeah!! No more anxiety, I just carry around my meds with me. I had a migraine yesterday, and possibly having one come on today, but I know that I can receive treatment and medicate myself to stop the migraine, vertigo, or both, or lessen it atleast. Thank you to modern medicine, I love you, i love you, i love you!!! I can finally say that life is great again, it's a great feeling. By the way I was offically diagnosed with Vertiginous migraines, meaning I have vertigo and I have migraines, that may or may not happen at the same time. I could have told them that. But I didn't realize how nice it would be to have an official diagnosis, it only took a dozen doctor visits at Mayo Clinic with neurology, ENT, and multiple specialist in both areas, lots and lots of testing, and $10,000. But hey, now I know, and knowing is have the battle. I am such a stronger person because of all this, if I can survive that while trying to care for my kids, I can do anything.


Original post 1/12/2010:

Well we have had some great things happen in our family, and some not so great things. 2009 has by far been the toughest year of my life. I had several reoccurances of Vertigo that have just rocked my world. Most of 2009, beginning in January, I have been ill with Vertigo and had severe problems with my eyes, that I would say that I am so happy to see 2010. I hope that this year things will be better. I don't understand what is going on with my no-name illness that I just call"Vertigo". The first half of the year I spent sick to my stomach and very weak due to so much vertigo, just to be replaced by a rediculous nonstop horrible headache the entire second half of 2009. Lets just say I will never go on a rollercoaster again if I don't have to. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster this whole past year and at the moment I am glad to be off. I really count my blessings and am so grateful for my health when I feel good, or really, when then the world isn't spinning. My family has been great. There have been good things to come out of this. My children have been somewhat forced to learn to take care of themselves when it comes to it. Brecklen is so sweet. He is so proud of the fact that he can make lunch for our family when I really need him to. He is such a sweetheart.


I had a neuroconsult last January and an MRI in February. That was a scary time. I was trully afraid that I may have a tumor or something. But my MRI was clean and to be honest the neurologist didn't really know what to tell me. I can't belive that was a year ago.



Most of my time is either spent sick , getting over my vertigo and the affects of it, or planning for the next one since I have had them so often. I hope that I will have some more free time this year to actually see my friends and pursue a hobby even. I really just need to clean my house.


I think the hardest thing about the vertigo has been that I just can't take care of my kids the way I would have hoped. I have fallen short of my expectation, and through many tears and conversations with my sisters and mom, I am still trying to cope with the fact that I am only doing my best. I miss my mom dearly when I just need an extra set of arms. When things are good, I try to make up for it, but this really weighs on my conscience. Taking care of Madelyn has been the single biggest trial. We have survived. I don't know if it has neccisarily made us a stronger family, I hope so, but we have all learned how to help one another when in need. For that I am grateful.

Happy endings...

I saw a quote today I liked :

"Every story has a happy ending. If your not happy now, then your story isn't over. " :)

2009

2009 seemed to last forever and fly by at the same time. I haven't done much blogging in oh 9 months so here are the highlights of our year:

Madelyn has gotten bigger and bigger. Really she's actually just gotten taller. She's a tiny little thing (16 months), with a cute little tiny head. It has been fun for the whole family to see her grow up from rolling over, sitting up, to crawling, to walking and even turning one year old in September. Her favorite word and pretty much only word is "MAAM" which she likes to yell loudly when I am out of arms reach. I wish her hair would grow, but alas, she has grown a baby fem mullet, which I sadly decided yesterday that I must cut off. I hated to cut what little hair she had, but it had to be done. The fem mullet is not a good look for anyone, no, not even a baby of mine. Mady loves chasing Brecklen and hannah and joining in their play, and doesn't love it when they smother her in love, but I do!

Hannah turned three, started preschool and is still as cute as ever with her big brown eyes, the cutest voice that makes you laugh when she speaks, and is usually seen in a princess outfit. Hannah has most notably cut her hair twice in 2009, which we are still growing out. Honey, lets go for zero haircuts in 2010, ok? She is my little helper and we love to hang out. Everyday she asks me if it's a family day and I say "yes, it is." She claps and cheers when we get to hang out, as we do everyday. I love her enthusiasm. She is quite the fashonista and loves to wear a dress everyday, or atleast be very sparkly and girly.

Brecklen turned 6 and started kindergarten and is reading so well and is my big helper. He lost his first tooth, and the replacement is starting to grow in. He is an amazing big brother and a very caring and sensitive person. His prayers are always outstanding, and even brought grandpa to tears this past christmas. He is very concerned about the poor and homeless this winter and wants everyone to have a home and food to eat. He is such an amazing example of christ and I so get it when the scriptures say to be more like children, they are so humble, and caring of others. On a different note, Brecklen really wanted a camera, so santa got him his very own camera for christmas, and when we got home from visiting grandma and grandpa Murphy after christmas, Brecklen and Hannah each got to pick out two fish. So we now have 4 fish, that are still alive, and it's been a week. I am very proud of myself.

Aric graduated medical school this past summer and started his fifth year of residency (only a year and a half more... I can't contain my excitement), and completed not one but two triathalons this summer. Such an amazing accomplishment,I am so proud of everything Aric has done.

Me, I turned 30. Yeah, not so fabulous, but not horrible either, I feel more secure and sure of myself that now I understand when people say 30's are the new 20's. No? don't they? Well, I am.

We finished off the year by celebrating our 10 year anninversary on December 29th. It's amazing that the past ten years have gone by so quickly. Here we are living in Minnesota, have 3 kids, own a house, and Aric is almost done with residency. We are grateful, I am so grateful, to have such a wonderful family, and wonderful friends.

I wish I could have been more faithful in blogging these wonderful memories, and I will probably be posting pictures at some point of these times. I am so excited to actually be posting something, I will continue with 2009 on a different day. Happy 2010 to all of you, may it be all you are hoping for!

Today is Aric's 32 birthday. Happy birthday dear. I love you!

The sweetest husband in the world

I have been a little under the weather lately. Sunday I had another Vertigo spell, during church actually. Aric took me home as soon as he could to get me medicated promptly. I slept all Sunday and dreaded Monday morning because Aric will essentially be gone all week, lots of overnight call and long days in between. Atleast he is delivering babies, I think that would be a fun job to have. The patients are happy to be there (or atleast after birth) and getting to witness so many little miracles would be awesome.

I get weird during my dizzy spells. I still don't have a good term. Any suggestions?

I slip into a dark mood. I am cranky, moody, my body is exhausted, and I just want to sleep for a week solid until my body has recuperated enough to function, but I have 3 little ones who have enough energy to keep the world spinning. Actually they keep me going. They give me a reason to smile, to laugh, and to cry over the spilled milk that I would truly rather leave on the floor than clean up.

Then there is my sweet husband who gets so worried about me when I'm sick and calls to make sure I'm doing well and I know it kills him that he can't be there for me 24/7. He runs to the hospital to get me the medicine that we hope will actually make me better instead of just treat the symptoms. But instead the meds pretty much knocks me out so I can't function which would be great if i didn't have to be functionable.

Today I just had a meltdown. I am tired, cranky, sick of being tired and cranky, and want to be better. I want to be me. Now I know how two years old feel when no one can understand how they feel. My poor husband text pages me to see how I'm doing, and boy does he get it! I will not disclose my colorful text, but I'm crying, he's perplexed, and we are both apologizing. We rarely ever fight. Thank goodness because I hate it.

I had to go to an eye appointment this afternoon and told my doctor I need some good news because it's been a crappy week. We are pretty much on a first name basis after 4 or 5 appointments in 2 months. Well, my eyes are not better and have to see him in yet another week. My eyes have "infiltrates" in them (whatever those are- annoying?)and I have to stay out of my contacts for probably a few more months. I am beginning to wonder if he's just making it all up.

When I get home there is a lovely message saying someone wants to deliver flowers. Flowers? Well alright come on over! I told the kids someone may be coming by and Brecklen is my little look out. "Mom, there is a human in our driveway, and he's really old with white hair!" (see blog on humans below for my child's definition of 'human' if ya don't get it).

My beautiful bouquet of flowers. This picture just doesn't do the flowers justice. I love daisies, they are one of my favorite flowers. They just make me happy. My kids are super excited about the yummy chocolate that came with it. Me too. I love chocolate, especially anything with mint or carmel, and there was plenty of both. Yummy!

Frankly I didn't deserve the flowers and immediately started crying because that is one (of many) of the sweetest things he has ever done, and I didn't deserve them. But I'm glad he sent them because they did make me happy. I text paged Aric with a big thank you and told him I HAD to see him tonight, if possible. I missed him so much. He was gone all day, and going to be working all night so I wouldn't see him until afternoon the next day and I couldn't wait that long. So I round up the kiddos and we drive down to the hospital to see him for 5 minutes in the car. It was worth it.

Hannah and me fighting over the last chocolate carmel turtle. Wait for it...

wait for it....

And the winner is.....Hannah. At least she let me have a bite.

It would not surprise me if she ends up being an actress.

Brecklen trying to give Madelyn a bite of chocolate. Don't worry dear, you'll be hooked soon enough.

This is for you Aric.

Thanks for the wonderful surprise. I love you.

This is a 'shout out' ( is that acceptable for a white person?) to all my friends who helped me, watched my kids, and brought dinners yet again. For your thoughts and prayers, and to those who will be angry with me for not calling and telling you I'm sick. I love you all and am doing much better. Don't worry, there will always be a next time.

Here is Hannah digging into the goods about a second after my friend left today. I should have taken pictures of everyone's awesome dinners. Thank you all again. I don't know how I would literally survive without you. Hannah would probably find the scissors and cut all her hair off, her dolls hair, and move on to Brecklen who probably wouldn't even notice that his hair is gone because he has playing XBOX all day.

Love you all and enjoy the rest of your spring break!

Hannah's new do

I guess I'm catching up on my blogging today.

Last Thursday Brecklen had a project for preschool. I thought I would let him write out the words and cut and color the whole thing on this own. I gave him the scissors and the crayons to do the project. Brecklen asked me to print something off for him, so I went downstairs to our office (he was upstairs in the kitchen).

I could not get the printer to print. I have no patience for these types of things. I fiddled around, but it still would not print. I had this thought in my head that the kids are being good. It's so quite, maybe I should work on the computer down in the office more often. I am rarely on the computer because as soon as I get on children swarm around me asking when it can be their turn.


I got tired of messing with the printer. I go out to the playroom and I see Hannah. There is hair everywhere!! all over the ground, her pants, It is just falling off in clumps. I run to get the camera. This is what I first see. I all I could think of is: OH MY GOODNESS!! WHAT THE....

I surprise myself because I am so calm. I think when "big" accidents happens I am too stunted to be mad. I am still freaked out, and so sad.

Here are some more pics:

She cut the hair off up to her ear, both sides. She now has la fem-mullett

Yes, she cut that big chunk to the scalp!

another pic. of the fem-mullet

This is most of the hair I collected from around the house

Thank goodness her hair doesn't look too bad in this picture. But don't be fooled.

Here's the kids before they went out side to play bubbles in the freezing weather. Hannah spilled two containers of bubbles before coming inside. That's my girl!

Upon further investigation I ask Hannah why she would do this. Her reply : To be a big Princess! (with her beautiful smile that melts your heart. How can I be mad at her?)

So I sit down Brecklen and try to ask him what happened.

Me: Brecklen, what happened?

Breck: I don't know.

Me: You don't know?

At this point I notice that he has hair all over his shirt. I look at his hair and he has Hannah's hair hanging over on his face. I pick off the hair and he knows he's busted.

Me: So you had nothing to do with this?

Breck: I can't remember.

Me: You can't remember?

(I am on the verge of laughing. Now I know I how my parents felt when I lied about something. Do you think I'm stupid?)

Breck: Well, I did cut a TINY little bit. BUT Hannah did the other side (meaning the bad side).

Me: Did you realize that maybe you shouldn't be cutting her hair?

Breck: No answer.

Hannah, Brecklen, and I had a conversation about not cutting hair. Scissors are for paper and only when supervised, not hair.

I am kicking myself because I NEVER leave scissors out unless I'm around.

When I text paged Aric that Hannah cut her hair, his reply was "atleast she didn't cut her ear or nose." Well, he has a point. We are lucky she didn't hurt herself, but did she have to cut her hair? I guess It's a rite of passage when your a kid. I shouldn't talk. I let my younger brother cut my bangs off. Really, my bangs were like a millimeter long, and I was about 8, not 2.

We haven't trimmed her hair yet, Thankfully it looks ok pulled back in a ponytail with lots of barretts. Well, I'm glad I got pictures so I can show her when she's older.

Humans

A week ago Hannah started to get on this kick of calling strangers "humans." Almost as if she is talking about aliens. It may not sound too weird until your at the mall and your 2 year old daughter starts yelling "mom, that human is blocking my way. I can't see the purple purses!" In my embarrassement I just pretended to not know this child or what she is talking about and hoped that the woman doesn't speak two-year old.

The next day we went to McDonald's for lunch. We pull up at the drive-thru and order and then procecced to the cashier. "Mom! Did the human get my chicken nuggets?!" Yes dear I ordered what you wanted. At this point I can feel my cheeks getting red and hope again that the man did not hear what my daughter just yelled from the back seat. Over the course of the past few days she was contantly using the term "human", even to the point that Brecklen was using it. I have no idea where she got this, probably from some movie.

Me: So who is "human?"
Hannah: daddy and Breckt (what she calls Brecklen)
Me: so what are you?
Hannah: A princess!!
Me: So what am I?
Hannah: A princess!!
Me: So everyone else is just a human besides you and me?
Hannah: YA!!

Okay that sums it up. I guess I'd rather be a princess than "just a human." Now if only I could get one of the humans in my house to do the dishes...