Trains, Planes and Automobiles (minus the Airplanes)

Yesterday we had more fun than we should ever be allowed.
Yesterday we visited The North Carolina Transportation Museum located in Spencer, NC.
This place had a lot of stuff including a large collection of Trains, train cars, Really old cars, and a lot of historical information related to the Southern Railroad. It was even more awesome to Jonathan who is fascinated by trains.
We got to ride the turn table. Here is the video.




Jonathan and Daddy


Daniel and Daddy


Kids and Daddy


Kids in front of a car


More trains


Be blessed

my kids

A friend of mine posted something that got me thinking about things. I was laughing and shaking my head because yes I felt the same as she did.

I have my own.

I just can't drop everything at a drop of a hat and be somewhere without my kids. I AM the chief caretaker. I need at least a week or more minimum to find someone to watch them that I trust. you need to extend grace when I need to drag my kids with me.

I couldn't care less what happened today at your office as I have 2 (bosses) kids who won't let me pee by myself, throw tantrums, and generally can't keep themselves safe from themselves and others. Not to mention they can't use the toilet for themselves yet. They both don't express themselves well yet and I don't think you can top that can you. If you CAN, maybe it's a sign it's time to brush up your resume.

No, my child ISN'T Autistic. This takes a Neurologist to diagnose an MD Trained in Neurology (the brain). I really don't believe anyone else is qualified and I don't appreciate your DIY diagnosis. He may have traits but if you see the whole picture... You'd say he DOESN'T.
He has developmental delays related to his extended and traumatic hospital stay after birth. We have been to every specialist we were referred to related to lungs(and allergy), vision, speech, Gross and fine motor skills, even a cardiologist. He is making more progress but not on anyone's clock. Please put your graph and books down... You'll only make standards for a sweet little boy he can't meet even though he is quite intelligent.
If you ever need proof I can get everyone involved in his care to kill some trees to prove this to you.(they already did this once. I've spent more time in waiting rooms and doctor's offices than one should ever be allowed so don't say I've never been. I can probably get there in my sleep (even the complicated one in South Park on the third floor)

one word that strikes fear and exasperation. Teething. Enough said and until you have a child or know one that is you will not understand this.

Don't look at me crazy when I would rather buy for my children than myself.

I really don't need your advice on kids (unless you are John Rosemond or a PAL Mommy).

Do not call me at 7 a.m. or after 8 pm (unless your one of my west coast friends or family)! I'm trying to keep the house quiet because a rested toddler is one that behaves better!

Yes having a 3 year old who is developmentally delayed(especially in language) is hard! God knew I could handle it, and I am THANK YOU!
I do not carry a universal translator (star trek) so a lot of what Jonathan says is still unknown even to me, unless he points to it and says it. Again extending grace and being patient with us is KEY.


Just because you look things up on yahoo or google doesn't mean I will not listen to you more than my pediatrician. A degree and experience and a license outweigh anything you can say. OK the only exception to this is if you are one of my PAL Mommy friends. (Private parenting forum on-line)

If I had to choose between taking my pediatrician's advice and yours(unless you're one of my PAL mommies), guess who I'm choosing? LOL

I want to keep what ever sanity I have left so I have my kids on a schedule. I may not keep it 7 days a week... But for at least one of my kids this makes life better.



Just because you let wolves raise your kids, doesn't mean I want just anyone to watch my kids. I've been seriously burned by impromptu babysitters I do not know well.

Yes my kids do eat a balanced diet, We have had food allergies so our diet was limited. However we still found a way to eat well. I've been told I'm a great food label reader and a food sleuth (for finding recipes to replace the allergy food). I

Yes my kids suck their thumbs. I'd rather have them do that then be 7 and still be sucking on a pacifier. (trust me I've seen it) My kids only do it at night or when stressed and eventually it will stop altogether.

My kids have Allergies.... some we know about, some we do not. Some are dangerous food/environmental allergies. some are just the annoying kind that make us miserable twice a year.

Jonathan has a skin condition called urticaria (or HIVES) we don't know exactly what causes this as he lit up like a christmas tree during his last skin test... so we are even more clueless.
I take great care of his skin and am currently working hard at transitioning him into taking showers. Baths were just too traumatic and full of 3 year old DRAMA.

I choose not to expose my kids to smoke, end of story. You can do what you want.

If you see me looking frazzled, tired, panicked or worried unless you know me and the situation please just pray and not judge too much by how things look... We run on Hoover Standard time... and have our own normal and according to our pediatrician we don't follow normal protocols.

be blessed

Tribute to the Daddy of my kids AKA Andrew

This is a Tribute to the man who is Jonathan and Daniel's Daddy.

He really is a good dad. He takes Jonathan with him to do some errands to spend time with him. Believe it or not This means the entire world to him. Jonathan LOVES it when he does this.

It made my heart absolutely melt when Jonathan told him I love you for the first time... Even if it meant that I had to pull daddy out of the cloud.
OK
Even if he isn't perfect...Andrew your kids adore you. So I do too. Hey you even put up with me when I'm hormonal or dealing with something.

I try at all costs to have Jonathan call his daddy "Daddy" but He already uses Andrew's name (kinda because I used it too much)... BUT he DOES use it interchangeably. (nervous grin OOPS)

He was in the Operating room when both of our kids were born by c-section... Much to his dislike... But for both of us probably it tops the greatest moments list (except for our wedding).
He was the first one to speak their names into their ears. He gave me a GIANT surprise when he told me he cut Daniel's umbilical cord. He made sure that he got to have some special pics taken of Daniel and I in the OR before they took him for observation.
He also put up with me while both of our babies were in the nicu... and took a million pictures although at the time I really didn't want there to be any pictures.

He put up with me during and after both of our miscarriages and I hope for all our sakes we never have to deal with one again.
Recently he put up with me wanting to move so peace could come in and my extra huge anxiety would leave.
We moved to a super small duplex instead of the huge house he WANTS.

All this to say Have a happy Father's Day Andrew
I know we are serving our tour of duty tomorrow in the nursery but thanks for all you do.

Blessings
Trina, Jonathan and Daniel

Week end...I swear it wasn't supposed to be that hard

Today was a great day. it was Saturday and this morning we got up early and headed up to IKEA. We had never been there before so before going I had gathered as much information as I could on what it was going to be like and how to strategise our time there.
We were going to go there and buy us a computer desk... we knew which one we wanted, only thing was we had no way of knowing where to pick it up.
When we got there we were hungry as we hadn't eaten yet. so we made our way upstairs on a super gigantic elevator and went to their cafe. it was great by the way. There were two floors... The second floor was their showroom. It had all of their product set up in rooms (so you could see it outside of the box) there were tags on everything stating price and where to find it in their marketplace(warehouse---if you asked me).
The marketplace was on the main level. they did have an as is corner...Andrew checked it out. he did not get anything there.
We went and grabbed our desk which came in two boxes. went to check out and after Andrew was hungry again. We stopped by the bathrooms again since Daniel has been struggling with his lower digestive track.
When we get the desk constructed in a few days we will take a picture and post it.
As I wrote the first part of this yesterday I was in a severe amount of pain that I couldn't pinpoint where exactly it came from. I had to step away from my blog and all I could do was sit in my bathroom and scream. I could not move and I was in so much pain every time I would move. I waited for Andrew to come home and he had to literally pick me up and was my crutch and moved me onto my bed. We spent the next hour or so trying to decide if he needed to wake the kids up and take me to an emergency room at the hospital. since the pain would subside if I stayed still and I was already way tired we decided to go to bed and revisit this if it either came back or check it in the morning. I had a great night sleep.
We spent today at church and at a friend of ours house and I am absolutely exhausted. Today was also Andrew's birthday... which meant we had to do the customary lunch out and have the whole place sing happy birthday to him. He turned 34 and asked me again how old he was. He thought he was 35... You might be laughing but about 7 years ago when he turned 28 he thought he was 30 and told everyone how old he was etc. He called, and was going on about it and I calmly reminded him he was turning 28. He was happy but embarrassed, but that certainly got him out of his funk.

Picture of Jonathan and "I Love you".
That's all for me.
Blessings

Jonathan's Doctor visit

Man, I just have to say how richly blessed I have been with Jonathan's health care team.
We went to visit his pulmonologist/allergist for his almost quarterly check up.
I am happy to report that Jonathan is doing great as far as his lungs go and as a result we will be holding off on beginning shots for his never ending environmental allergies. His thought and our prayer is that maybe he will grow out of the allergies. For now we will give it some time.
We changed his allergy meds to a different one because his hives are showing back up for absolutely no apparent reason. When we skin tested him something made him break out so bad that he lit up like a Christmas tree. even where I was holding him broke out... It was freaky.

I was able to tell them a little of what Daniel--- the little bro has had to deal with and he said he would be glad to see him. I am so going to call them tomorrow morning when I get a moment.

I am so glad that Jonathan is doing so well. It was at the last visit that the doctor told me that I was a contributing factor of how well he has been. We semi avoided everyone and got him all the help we could get him.
Recently Jonathan said the words that we had been waiting our entire lives to hear him say. "I Love You". That may seem like a very easy thing but he is only just starting to put phrases together and not only has it brought life into us and made our days super, but made us so proud. My eyes are so full of tears. Ahhh the joy.
He doesn't need pulmicort for the summer... and will be rechecked in the fall.
He did a super job and let the doctor examine him without freaking out screaming and running away in fear, I was so proud of him....
Later that day he just wanted to be the baby and be cuddled but that is okay with me if he wants to be hugged on.
That's my report for now from the Hoover newsroom.(actually it's my living room.)
Blessings

Stories I'll never forget

And the people who are in them that I LOVE.
A dear friend of mine (and I do say DEAR) Called me that I just happened to be thinking about, called me. That was in itself way more than awesome.
It was Darlene B.*have to use initials because I know 2 Darlene's*
Anyways I think God just has a way of putting me in a place where I can see them and see exactly where His hand has been. I Think God has a way of reminding me of what matters most to Him and in turn changes what matters to me.
Many have said that they believe that Friends are God's way of apologizing for family. I think that sometimes that is totally TRUE and I have the friends to prove that.
Darlene has been my dear friend for a long time... and I can tell you that I have a ton of great memories that happen to include her and myself. The mountains she would draw in choir that no amount of music theory could ever replace. Our theory... If the note went up the line would go up...Where we were sitting all we could hear was the altos even though we were pretty decent Sapranos... all that mattered was having fun.
She is the kind of friend that would help me move etc.. Andrew and I when we were engaged to be married, helped them clean up the aftermath of the water leaking disaster... It was such a joy to be a part of that.
When Andrew proposed to me Darlene was sitting next to me and was just as shocked as I was. She was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding almost 12 years ago (gasp).
I love thinking about all of the giggling we did about the way people were acting and missing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we had when we joined the Billy Graham crusade choir when they stopped through a city we lived nearby to.
Truly a taste of heaven singing and the sound still resonates in my soul. There were about 1,000-5000 in the choir. That was AWESOME and seeing lives touched was all it took to totally BLESS me..
I am so glad to have known her. I hope the people around her see her as a jewel in God's crown.
I am not trying to just say that for I know she just loves Jesus and sees the gift that life is and isn't taking anything for granted.
All of my friends are jewels... some are diamonds, some are rubies, some are GOLD, some a precious silver.
I just want all of my precious friends to know that you are precious to me and the memories we share, the good, bad, sad, happy, the grief , the pain it is all precious to me and I am honored to share it with you on this road called life.
Be blessed and I love you Dar. ;)

This time of Year

Oh there are several reasons why I contune to hate this time of year. This could trigger those recovering from post Nicu stress.

I totally get triggered by the Children's Miracle Network Specials. I have 2 babies and at least one was helped in a nicu that is in a CMN hospital. I have some very traumatic memories there BUT I am super grateful for what happened there and not a day goes by that I don't realize that without their help Jonathan wouldn't be here today.
This is also the time of year thatI remember what it was like to bring Jonathan home from the NICU with monitors and Oxygen. It does get better. I was reading a friend of mine's blog and she has just brought her preemie home from the nicu and is really Raw from the experience. Please pray for Kim as my heart broke for her. She was recounting about the Big Bird Yellow- plastic gowns they have and how you are totally washing your hands till they hurt. As I read that I was actually smelling the hideous antibacterial soap and the smell of the gown and the sweat that would happen when you put the gown on.
I hope she continues to talk about her experience. I think she thinks that she has beat that into the ground. I say NO. She'll feel better as time goes on about it. TRUST me.
I hate the RAIN that's especially making what ever in the world is making us all so miserable FLOWER and creating pollen. Normally this happens twice a year for us. This year it seems to be constant because of the amount of rain this area has gotten.
Everyone but Andrew is on allergy medication wither over the counter or perscription.
I took Andrew to Urgent Care yesterday because he seems to be fighting off something that seemed akin to a really BAD flu. When he first got it he wouldn't go to the doctor because he was afraid that he had the swine flu because of the many undocumented workers working on the shipping dock that he deals with day to day.
Result: He has bronchitis. Probably as a result of the long hours he works. He has no choice but in 2 weeks he worked over 110 hours. Just over 30 hours in overtime.
He has gotten very little sleep and has been going in at all hours even when the managers he works for don't themselves go in until at least 830 and leave at about 4 pm exactly. I live with a zombie and this scares me. This is now effecting his health.
Other than that we are doing awesome. School just got out. Trying to figure out what to do for the next two months. Already I have had enough of watching trains of all sorts on Youtube. I need to get out and get some sunshine..
Jonathan said the words we have been waiting for him to say all of his life. It was "I love you". This might not mean a lot to you and seem normal, but this kid has had trouble speaking at all anything intelligible. We were and are over the moon. This is a glimmer of hope for us and lets us know that he is really happy.

Thought for the week. Try finding something small to be grateful for that maybe you've missed or taken for granted. You'll begin to see the miracle of the ordinary.

Blessings