PCS update

Well, with the packers coming on July 11 and us moving on July 18, my days in Valdosta are quickly coming to an end. I thought I would be really excited now, but I am still extremely stressed. We have a list of different houses that we want to see, but are not going to commit to anything until I see it in person. it is easy to make something look nice in pictures! We will have about 10 days to decide where we want to live before Rob has to report to work. I am the type that when I see something I know if I like it right away, so that will be a positive for us. I have also made a very detailed itinerary of our entire trip. I also have looked up the best rest stops along the way, so that the kids will be able to get out and stretch a bit. We have done a ton of traveling with the kids, including a trip to San Diego last summer, but that was by plane. We do the drive to Tennessee and Miami to know the max hours the kids can really take. We will not push more than 4.5 hours a day and really want to take our time and try to make this a stress-free as possible. It seems like an oxymoron to say a stress-free cross country move, but I am attempting to be extremely optimistic. I am also looking forward to all the landmarks we will see along the way. We will leave Valdosta and from here go to Athens and Nashville to see family and friends. Once the real trip starts we will slowly make our way to the West making overnight stays in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally making it to California. We will be stopping at some pretty cool Route 66 landmarks as well! Every time I see cars, I get excited about the trip!  Cadillac Ranch is one of the things I am super pumped about as well as the London Bridge, yes it's the actually London Bridge! We will detour and go see the Grand Canyon, since it only adds a couple more hours to the trip. when you are putting in all these miles and hours a few more won't be a big deal. Overall, I have to look at this move as a once in a lifetime experience. The kids won't remember, but I will take a ton of pictures for them!




Here is Cadillac Ranch, You are allowed to spray pain the cars, I will be doing the kids names and taking a pic of it!

                                         The London Bridge at night time!

Busy Mama

Last week Rob was out of town all week, imagine that right? Well that left me and the rug-rats home alone! The first day/night is always the hardest for Preston. He wonders around the house yelling "oh daddy" and when that doesn't work he says "Rob"! It's very cute the first few times but it gets annoying very quickly. The rest of the week was very calm. I don't sleep much normally and when Rob is gone it is even worst! Every noise wakes me up and I swear someone is going to get me, I've seen one too many movies! We went to the pool a couple of times and watched a ton of movies and of course did a ton of dancing around and singing. Preston also is doing amazing with the potty training. He now says when he has to pee and yucky! That makes me a very happy mommy. I always heard how hard boys are to train and so many negative comments about starting at such a young age. I knew he was ready and he has proven that to be true. Savannah also decided that walking forward is not enough. She now can walk backwards and likes to be chased. She is almost "running". Rob made it home early Saturday morning only to have to go back out of town. He will be taking Monday off which means Colbi time. When I have the kids by myself for a long time it's crazy, but I get to see every single milestone. I know how many moms that work outside the home who would trade places with me without hesitation. The upcoming days are going to be super busy, 20 days until the move and even less until the packers come box up the house. I am very excited but very stressed. There seem likes so much to do and just not enough time. So many people I want to see and the time is just not there for it. I am trying to stay as calm as possible and just take things day by day....

Update on Preston

Friday Preston had his appointment with the nephrologist. Rob was still out of town so I knew I would be doing this solo, which did not make me happy. I always end up having to take the kids to the appointments by myself because of his work schedule and the amount he travels. Well, I guess Preston had a flash back of getting all his lab work done, because as soon as he saw the nurse he slowly started to cry. It broke my heart that he was that afraid of the nurse because he had such a bad experience before. I calmed him down in the waiting room but as soon as we went back to the exam room it was waterworks! They needed to do a blood presure reading, check his pulse, take his tempt, get his weight and get his height and listen to his chest and tummy. They were able to get his height and weight....everytime the nurse came near him he said, well he sobbed No, bye bye, car please! It took me about 30 minutes to calm him down from that part. The meeting with the doctor was through a video call. I told him everything that happened up until this point. Based on the blood work, everything was normal, but he was still concerned about the blood in his urine. He scheduled him to have an ultrasound next week so they can rule out any damage to the kidneys. Once the ultrasound is complete he will be able to tell if this was just an injury to his penis or something more serious. He seemed very sure it was more than likely just a bruise to the penis from rough playing or when he throws himself down during a tantrum. That made me feel much better, but I am still a bit concerned and anxiously await the appointment next week. I also hope that Rob will be able to go because I know this is going to be a fight to have the exam done.

FAMILY VACATION....not really

Well, I have mentioned that we have been on the road the past few weeks to Savannah and then to South Carolina. Once we got back from Savannah on Friday we unpacked and repacked and got ready for our next trip. We would go to Columbia, SC with Rob. With his job he goes out of town a lot, so anytime he goes somewhere that he drives, we usually tag alone. Not because he goes to any super exciting places, but the kids are crazy when he leaves and ask for him all the time and I like staying at hotels.. Weird, but I have always liked them since I was a kid. It is also a way for the kids to get to go to places we would not normally go. Well, before we could leave we had to take Preston back to South GA to get the remainder of the blood work done. The regualr nurse was there and was able to get all the blood with one stick. I guess Preston knew where he was because as soon as we got to the room he started crying and saying no, no, no and I'm sorry, as if he was getting punished! We hit the road and made it to SC that evening. Rob has made this trip a few times with out me so he knew where he wanted to go  eat the very first night. We went to the Blue Marlin, which is yummy but kinda pricey place. Preston's kid meal was $7 for a plain burger and fries, no drink included! I had already had a late lunch on the road so I stuck to a liquid diet of beer that night. Once we finished there we headed back to our room and watched Swamp Brothers for a few hours. It was a pretty interesting show that seemed to suck us in. It stormed pretty bad that night, which was great background noise for some good sleep.   The next morning we headed down to breakfast. I love hotels that have great breakfast to choose from and I really love when I can make my waffles in the morning. Not a meal you can really eat every morning without turning into a cow, but a few days of a waffle topped with strawberries, whipped cream and syrup is pretty amazing for a few days. Rob went off to his training and the kids and I did some shopping. It was nice to be somewhere that had a decent amount of stores to shop at because Valdosta lacks in the good stores. We headed back to the room and had dinner at the Melting Pot that evening. Rob didn't understand why we were paying so much money to cook our own food, but ended up really liking it in the end. he had been once before and didn't care for it. maybe it was the bottle of wine we ordered that made this time better. The next morning we did a late breakfast, Rob had to be in class by 8 so eating with him required us to get up too early! We hung out at the hotel most of the day and kind of relaxed. We did dinner at Bonefish that night, which was once again a yummy night of food. We made it back to the hotel just as it started storming. Bad storms, that kind you don't want to go out in at all. Good thing I had a bottle of wine already! I had a few glasses and off to la la land I went! The next morning after breakfast I decided to take the kids to the zoo. It was free for both of them and ended up only being $10 for me after my military discount. Preston liked everything but LOVED the fish part. He would put his hand on the tank and when the fish would bump the glass he would get so excited. After a fun day at the zoo, we headed back to the room and waited for Rob to get out of class. The next day we were back in Valdosta and back to regular breakfast food as well. The trip ended up being fun and I it made me happy that Preston and Savannah were able to go to the zoo!

 

Gracie doing laps in the hotel room

Preston taking a color break

FISH!!

At the entrance to the zoo, they don't know where they are yet, I swear they had fun!

Okay, so this was at the mall, I have never seen a little toilet so low to the ground. They also had the low sink and hand dryer, so cute!

Preston doing a little reading 

Everything always goes wrong when Rob leaves.......

So 2 weeks ago Rob headed to Virginia and the kids and I planned to meet my parents over in Savannah for some of the days he would be gone. He left out on the morning of June 6, a Monday and I planned on leaving on Tuesday. Well, when I took Preston to the bathroom that morning I noticed that his urine was really dark, almost tea colored. I didn't know what was going on so I decided to see what the next pee break looked liked and in the mean time I googled away. Well, around 10 his pee seemed to have a red color to it and I immediately got him and his sister dressed and headed to his doctor. I took him in as a walk in and we were seen pretty quickly. They needed a urine sample but he had just gone to the bathroom so after waiting for about 30 minutes I told the nurse I would bring the sample back. We live extremely close to the doctor so I went home and loaded him up on juice. I knew I would regret the number of bathroom breaks I was setting myself up for, but I needed that sample and i needed it fast! I think that he would have peed a lot sooner, but he had the urine bag collector tape to him, it's supposed to be easier to do it this way instead of a cup for his age. After about 20 minutes he finally went. I sealed the bag and loaded the kids back in the car and to Dr. Criscola we went. He was somewhat concerned because there was blood in the urine but also told me that it could be something as simple as a bruised penis. He also told me it could be an issue with his kidneys which sent immediate panic through my entire body. He sent us over to South GA for some lab work to just be on the safe side. Well, I was told by the nurse to go to the outpatient lab, when we got there I was told that we had to go to the main hospital and get registered there and then have the lab work done on the pediatrics floor. This meant that I had to load the kids back in the car seats, drive over to the main hospital and then unload them again. It was also 99 degrees out and I was beyond stressed. Once registered, which was a pain because the hospital didn't know the correct codes to put in on the lab request and could not get in touch with anyone from the doctor's office for about 30 minutes. We were finally sent up to the lab. This was honestly the most horrible part of my day...week...life! The regular nurse was out that day so that already was a bad sign. Nothing against the fill in nurse, but I would much rather a nurse that does this all the time to stick my kid over the girl who looked younger than me and seemed a bit nervous. She called in another nurse to help hold Preston down so they could get all the tubes of blood. He has never had lab work done and he is not old enough to understand what was going on. The process of trying to get enough blood from him went on for over an hour. We took breaks, they attempted to bribe him with stickers and juice, turned on the TV, nothing worked. With the first stick he peed on the table, I changed him and tried to calm him down and a total of 6 nurses tried to get blood. They did both arms, both feet and his hand. After painfully watching with tears in my eyes, i asked if there was something else we could do. The nurses agreed that none of them wanted to stick him again and had enough blood to do about 3 of the 6 test. They called the doctor and told him what was going on and he told me that I could bring Preston back in a week to complete the lab. I knew Rob would be home for a couple of days at the end of the week and I would have him there to help. Once we got home they day was over. I had not got anything done around the house and really had a bunch to do. Preston crashed as soon as we got in the car and his sister was still laughing. She seemed to find joy in his pain. The next time he peed it was normal and  has continued to be that way. Tuesday morning we headed over to Savannah. I was about 30 minutes out when his doctor's office called and told me that he would need an appointment with a nephrologist...I immediately started to cry, I already knew before she could explain that a nephrologist is a kidney doctor. My mind went to the thinking the worst, was there something wrong with his kidney, would he have to be on dialysis, would he need a new kidney....and then even more panic because I knew I had already donated my "extra" kidney.... what the hell were we going to do now?!?!?..... I called Rob in tears and told him what happened. He called to nurse back to get more of an explanation. We were told that anytime there is blood in the urine they are going to make sure there is absolutely nothing wrong with the child and that I could relax. He showed no signs of pain and had only peed 4 times with the blood in it, everything was now coming out normal. I relaxed a bit, and said a little prayer that everything would be okay. We headed on to Savannah and had a great week. My dad and his buddy buddy,( that is what he calls Preston) were two peas in a pod and Gracie, the girl that goes to know one really took to being with grandma. Anytime mom went and fixed a snack or had chips she let Miss Piggy have some, so I think that is what broke the ice. I was able to go out two nights in Savannah and spend time with friends that I don't see very often. I also went to my godparents and they were able to spend time with the kids. After almost a week, we headed back to Valdosta. It was kind of bittersweet to know that this would be the last time, at least for a while that I would do the most boring drive in the world, 84 East to Savannah and 84 West back to Valdosta.  

Catch Up

Well for some reason when I go out of town I forget about everything and everyone unless they are there with me. I have been out of town for the past two weeks which means a major slacking in the blog area. So this week will be my catch up week. Hopefully my little ones will understand that I am busy and leave me alone for a little while..... doubt that will happen, but wishful thinking never hurts!

 

Easier said than done

WEANING.... to some breast feeding moms that word and everything that comes along with it is a smooth road, and to others.....well not so much. I have been on both ends of things, and I don't like this side. With Preston I did the breast feeding for a year and pretty much stopped the night of his first birthday. He didn't really seem to mind, except at night and that faded after about a week. Well, of course little princess Gracie wants nothing to do with the simple way of doing things. She stopped taking a bottle around the 7 month mark, I guess she had enough of the bottle after my kidney donation. She also decided that the paci wasn't her thing, she never really cared for it, but she started making it clear to us how much she didn't want it. The same goes with the sippy cup. She loves banging it around, and throwing it at her brother, but that's about all she finds it good for. I have been pretty successful with the night time weaning. Between the hours of 11PM and 6 AM there is no nursing allowed, she also does not get nursed to sleep anymore. I still nurse during the day when she wants, but it's not offered. I am just freezing the milk until she decides she wants to drink from a cup. I do not want to stop nursing her, but it would be nice to be able to let someone else feed her liquids. She is doing great with solids and loves the veggies, but no cup! I have googled this issue and tried all the ideas I could find. I guess I will continue to put the cup out for her everyday and hopes that she picks it up soon. The last resort will be going cold turkey and using pumped milk in the cup and waiting for her give in and just drink the milk from the cup!

Moments like this.....

I absolutely love my kids, but most of the time they are driving me nuts! I say about 75% of the day I am picking up behind them, telling them not to hit each other, telling them not to touch something or dealing with one or two little people and their breakdown. The other 25% of the time the do something sweet like a kiss, or a hug, or says a new word or hits a new milestone! Well, last week Miss Savannah Grace decided that Preston was getting too much attention. We had been rewarding him and praising him so much on his potty skills and how well he knows his shapes, numbers, colors, letters and simple words. Gracie needed the spot light back on herself. Well, while I was picking up toys off the floor, Gracie stood up and started to take a few steps. This was not a surprise to me because she had been taking a few steps and then falling down for days. Well, she decided that she would take 17 steps this time! I went and pulled out the video camera and started recorded this milestone. I also went back through and watched the recording of Preston walking. He was a late walker and I honestly thought that he was never going to walk! But, he did and now my baby girl is walking as well. It makes me kind of sad because she is growing up so fast. It is honestly the cutest thing to watch though, she is so short and just small in general so to see her walking around makes me giggle. She gets a kick out of it as well and tends to just pop up right behind us at times. Sometimes I forget that she can walk now when she goes exploring. Now, if I can just get her to drink out of a sippy cup I will be a very happy mommy!