Our week in pictures....

You always see the week in pictures on the internet, this is ours. It reminds you how precious life is and what is really important. I was experimenting with a new feature on photobucket and below is the result. Although, it makes me cry everytime, I think it turned out pretty cool. I hope you enjoy it. TTFN

Our week in pictures (speakers on)

back to work....

Wednesday morning August 6, 2008 I walked in to the hospital to be induced so that Madelynn could come into the world. The nurse at the Maternity Ward check in desk asked if this was my first child. I told her no this was #3. She looked at me and said,"....I'll bet you'll be glad to get away from the other two for a while. I'm sure you could use a break...."

I looked at her and said, "No, I would give anything to spend the day with them, I miss them already." Not to mention who in there right mind considers 10-12 hours of labor a break, oh and lets not forget.... have you ever tried to give birth on your side??????

Anyway, I have spent the last 6 weeks getting to know Madelynn and watching her grow and change before my very eyes. She has the biggest dimples and the bluest eyes (for now, anyway). She is scooting and wiggling all over the bed and gets very excited to see Mommy and Daddy. Thursday September 18, 2008 she will go to the same school that Katie and Jack are at. They have a nursery/infant room that will care for her. Katie and Jack are very excited that Maddie will be with them.

Everyone is asking me if I am sad to go back to work??? All though I will miss my one on one time with Maddie, I am not sad. I truly believe that there was a very special reason that we were given the gift of Madelynn. I only hope is that one day I might get a glimpse of what that is. The only way I might learn that reason is to accept that life is about to go on and I better be ready. A little side note it will be good to get a little adult conversation instead of my one-side conversations with Maddie.

As our life does go on...we took Jack to the ENT Dr. today for his follow-up to his surgery last month. The Doctor said everything looked good and we needed to see him in six months to have Jack's tubes checked that were put in his ears back in March. Jack really is doing much better. We talked to the Doctor about some of Jack's minor issues (side effects from the surgery), he told us to be patient he just needs more time.

Katie has recoverd nicely too. Friday I had to take her to the Dr because she had a double ear infection and strep throat. Thank God for the shot they have now. I was really stressed about Katie being sick. I had an order to place (working some from home) by a deadline. In the middle of that deadline was Katie's Dr appointment. So in between the waiting room and waiting for the nurse to come in to give the shot I placed my order by cell phone (some days I feel like SuperMom). I was trying to calm Katie down once I told her that she needed a shot and that it was going to hurt, she and I were talking. She asked me when was Daddy going to get here. I told her Daddy was home with Maddie, why did she expect him to come. Her response, "your going to need Daddy to help hold me down so they can give me my shot."

I know your not supposed to as a parent but I busted out laughing. In trying to hold her down the nurse looked at me and said, "she's a strong little booger." She has no idea.

Not sure how often the posts will come now that I am going back to work but, I will post as often as I can. TTFN

Go Irish!!!

Funny little tid bit. Every year I have to surrender my "chick" banner flag pole from the begining of August until the ND Fighting Irish have finished there season; so that the the ND flag can fly proudly from the house (win or lose). The only exception is 9/11 I am allowed to take it down to hang the American Flag for the day. Well, this year I forgot to hang the ND flag. I asked Phil 2 mins before kick off of the first game if he wanted to hang the flag. "lets just see how they do..." was his response.

Well, Notre Dame is 2-0 against San Diego State and Michigan. At the end of the Michigan game Phil looked at me and said, "you're not hanging the flag this year...." I just had to laugh. So I guess until the Irish lose I get to keep my flag pole for this football season. Needless to say, "GO IRISH"

goodbye....

This weekend it was with great sadness that we surrendered two of our cats Sam and Boots to Recycled Pets out of Rock Hill, SC. I did not want to take them to the local shelter because they were nine years old. Right now they are in a foster home waiting for adoption. We took our three younger cats Forrest, Lt Dan and Bubba....(yes it is okay to laugh)....to the local shelter back in April after we were told Jack was allergic to them. We thought the younger ones would have a better chance at the shelter.

Shortly after that we learned some very negative things about the local shelter from a very reliable source. WE WILL NOT BE RECOMMENDING THAT SHELTER EVER. When the doctor told us all of our efforts were not enough (took Jack's carpet out and put in floating floor, the screen doors on the bedroom doors, excessive cleaning) I have been trying to find the last three cats a home. Yes we had six cats. Recycled Pets only had room for two. However, they did have an adopt-a-thon this weekend and if some of the cats go to new homes this week, they will also have a foster home for Tigger.

Tigger I think adapted to the other cats in the house and misses them horribly. Tigger came from my sister who could not keep him for the same reason I am trying to find him a home. We have had tigger for about a year. He appears very lonely. Hopefully he will go to a foster home soon. I think out of all the cats I will miss Sam the most. He was "my" cat.

We extend a huge Thank You to Recycled Pets out of Rock Hill, SC. (Thanks Tammi!). If you are looking for a pet and are serious about it. Check em out, I have attached a link to the web page (see below).

In case you needed a smile...........

In trying to convince Jack to try on clothes to see what fit and what was too big...this photo was the result. He wanted no part of overalls till I explained that fire fighters wore them to put out fires. He told me I had to wait a minute.....he could not try on overalls (that fire fighters wore) without his fire hat. I couldn't do anything but laugh.

Busted!!!!!! I received the slippers Katie's wearing as a Christmas present last year. However know one loves them more than my flip flop princess. The second I take then off she puts them on. I was taking Jack's picture and I caught here putting them on. Katie was so excited that someone makes Flip Flop slippers. Now I have to find her some.

I am not even sure where to begin with this photo but I love it!!! One deep left dimple.....can you look at this photo without laughing????

And finally.....I was working on the computer and Maddie was with me sleeping on the bed in the bonus room. I happen to look over and she is out cold sleeping with her arm straight up in the air. Not sure I want to know what she was dreaming about.

Maddie had her one month check up. She was 9lbs 12oz and 22 inches long. She is in the 70th percentile for her weight and 75 percentile for her height. We grow 'em big in the Addler household. She didn't get any shots this visit. They start in the next visit. The Doctor said she looked great.

Jack goes back to the ENT Dr for his follow up to his surgery. After his emergency room episode he has been doing great. Which of course is what the on call ENT Dr told us would happen. He is doing pretty good at school. He has been eating all of his dinner, every night. Dinner is a lot more fun for everyone now that it doesn't hurt to eat. Now we just have to wait for the growth spurt to happen. Constant infections (strep, tonsilitis, etc) actually slows growth down. At his annual check up in July Jack had only grown an inch (one inch) in a year. We'll see where he is in six months.

Katie on the other hand, had a huge growth spurt over the summer. Clothes I bought her in the spring and early summer no longer fit her. I went to a consignment sale a few weeks ago and bought Katie and Jack some clothes. I bought Jack's stuff in 4t knowing of the possible growth spurt. Katie I bought in 5t hoping it would last till late spring when it starts to get really warm. Most of it fits her now. I was stunned, hopefully it lasts the whole winter. The wastes were all a little big nothing a belt can't cure but all of the lengths fit perfect now. Well see.....TTFN - Chels

Welcome Isabelle!!!

My very best friend Justine and her wonderful husband Ed gave birth to a baby girl 9/2/08. Isabelle May was 8 weeks early and will spend another week or so in the hospital. She is doing great!!! Justine & Ed have been truly blessed and I am very excited for them. Congrats Justine & Ed!!! Love Ya Lots!!!!

praying for a rut

Most of us get into a rut and want desparately to get out. We get tired of getting up going to work coming home getting into a rut of the same thing day after day after day. Right now I would love to have a life like that. In the last thirty days our life has been so ridiculous I would love to shut the world out for just a day maybe two to re-energize.

We have given birth to a new baby girl. While I was in the hospital we made an appointment for Jack to see the ENT Dr three days after I was released from the hospital. Six days after that appt with the ENT Dr he had surgery having his tonsils removed. Two weeks after the surgery we were in the ER because Jack had a minor complication from the surgery. The scabs from his surgery fell off and he was bleeding and swallowing the blood. Well, his body treated the blood he was swallowing like a foreign object that did not belong and the natural reaction was to throw it up. In between all of this we had lots of Family in town. Phil's parents, sister and niece, my sister and her husband and three girls, and my brother. Not everyone stayed with us but it has been ridiculous. Not to mention I have been working from home some, Jack was home with me for 10 days......Oh Yea Madelynn has been with me too. Gratefully, she is sleeping a ton.

By Monday night I had just had enough could not sleep and had a melt down in Jack's room. He is having a side effect to the anesthesia and having nightmares. He is screaming in his sleep. It scares me awake and I go running in his room. Well I was working late, catching up paperwork and he started screaming in his sleep. You can't touch him when the episode starts it scares him awake and he screams and cries really loud. The only thing I can do is get as close to him as possible and talk to him. If I just talk really slow and soft in his ear he calms down and goes back to sleep. When the episode was over I could take no more and just cried in his room, I don't even know for how long.

Thankfully, the episodes are coming to an end. He is not having as many so it is wearing off. However, sitting in his room I remembered my first Mother's day. I had to take Katie to the ER. When you go to this particular ER you have to stand at this line until they tell you you can cross it waiting to be helped. There was this lady who came in before us. She was in obvious pain and sitting in a chair because she could not stand. When they saw me holding a baby, no one else mattered but Katie. They took her immeadiately. I was in my own world and never thought twice about her until we were leaving. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about this lady and hope that she is okay because she had to wait for us before she could be seen.

Well while we were waiting in the ER for Jack to to be seen. Same Hospital but they now have a Children's Wing with it's own ER. A lady comes in with her sick autistic son. He was frightened and could not communicate. I felt really bad. The mother just wanted to help her son but he was so frightened he was screaming. She was crying trying to help him. Needless to say they took him first even though he had come in last. I did not mind waiting a few extra minutes. It makes me feel kind of silly for having my own melt down in Jack's room. My life is nothing compared to what some other mothers have to do in a single day.

I just need to remember that the grass is not always greener on the other side. I am very blessed to have three beautiful children. Eventually, I will be in that day to day rut of working and coming home and things will calm down. Hopefully, you are thankful for what you have.

One little funny side note to my pure exhaustion. I fed Maddie one morning about six and she went back to sleep. Usually, I stay up but I went back to bed for awhile. Laying in bed I was in and out of sleep and the baby monitor was on. All of the sudden, I hear a tapping on the baby monitor like someone checking a microphone and a young child yelling mama. I sat up in bed, collected my thoughts, "Katie and Jack are in school it is just me and Maddie at home and she can't talk I must have been dreaming." I lay back down now awake and out of the monitor I hear, "MAMA!!" I know Maddie can't talk but I jump out of bed and check on her anyway. She was out cold sleeping. It was feed back from another monitor in the neighborhood. It gave Phil a good laugh. I suppose I need to get more sleep. TTFN

Katie....

Now I can finally get to Katie. She is doing great!!!!! She started the pre-K program at her school. The teachers sent home a sheet of items they wanted to know if she knew. Kind of like a starting grid to get her ready for kindergarten. I was quite frustrated because I had no idea if she knew this stuff or not. Some of it was obvious, I knew she could count to 10 and 20. But I did not know if she could identify the word purple with the color purple. I knew she could write letters but could she write the whole alphabet upper and lower case.

Needless to say I have been working with her 3 to 4 nights a week trying to help her with the things she is not sure about. When I picked her up last week her teacher asked me if I filled it out. I said I was unsure of some of the things if she knew them so I was working with her and would have the paper turned in the next morning. The teacher said not to worry too much about it because Katie knew more off that sheet than most of the other children in the class. Which I am discovering that to be true however, practice never hurt. She has trouble with some of the alphabet and if she writes her name without assistance she writes it exactly backwards.

She has been a great helper at home with Maddie. I just have to remeber to set some time aside for her one on one. She had a great time this past weekend because her cousins Ruth, Anna and Lily came for a visit. Talk about some girl power. They had a great time. Katie could not wait to get to Grandma's house to see and play with them.

Katie always has been my trouper. She is affected by very little and goes with the flow much easier than most. I have to remember not to take that for granted. TTFN