A Cookie Cutter Diva's Life

And another busy month it has been! I was doing so well with the blog for the longest time but I just can't ever find the time anymore or remember to keep up with it when I do!

My husband was placed on Rear D and not returning on deployment after he was sent home for me being placed in the hospital so he can help get things stable around here and us take care of things. They doubled my meds and put me on some new ones and they really seem to be helping. I haven't felt this normal in over a year. I still of course don't feel completely "me" but more me then I have and can at least function a lot better now and be more social and enjoy things I couldn't for so long! My pains are controlled a lot more and my arrithymia has gotten a lot better on the new meds. But still have some occassionally and swelling. But at least I have managed to stay out of the hospital and away from many trips to the ER like I used to have to do routinely! I don't know if it's the new meds, my husband being home or all of it but I am not changing a thing!

Peyton started getting tests run on her today. She has been diagnosed as having Failure to Thrive which sadly makes everyone do a double take when I say since typically it comes from neglect or abuse but a small percent comes from medical such as thyroid, heart problems, etc which is our case. We think it may have to do with how complicated my pregnancy was and the thyroid issues. But she is getting tested on her thyroid, how she absorbs fats and calories, etc. Hopefully we get some answers as she's gone from 5% to 1% and the child eats all day long!

Today alone she ate 1c fruit loops, 1/2c teddy grahams, 1c cubed cheese, 1 jar sweet potatoes, 1 jar bananas, 3 wafer cookies, a poptart, 1/2 cup ramen, and lasagna all on top of breastmilk. In other words obviously her weight is NOT from her eating habits lol

So hopefully we get some answers to know if we need to start growth hormones or if it is something that will just straighten out.

I can't believe she's about to be 1yrs old!

My daughter Brooklyn just had her 4th birthday and is about to be 4yrs old. Has been super busy with dance and cheerleading and loving it. She's been having her best friend over about once or twice a week now that we live close by her again so she's loving that!

Keagan is doing great as the school year has gone on. I think dad coming home has helped a lot. All the concerns with him regressing have gone away and he's starting to do a lot better. He's been doing great on his accelerated reading test and scoring all 100's! All perfect scores on the TPRI! He's doing great in wrestling!

Aidan is doing wonderful in wrestling and got a great report card. Coming back up on math where I was concerned with his slacking. But he isn't doing to bad I guess because he made the honor roll again! I'm very proud of him! He is also doing great in wrestling!

Over all everything is going good for the most part and just getting busy with the holiday season!

We took the boys back home to a town an hour from our home town for a wrestling tournament! First tournament for this season and they did great!

Keagan took 2nd and Aidan took 3rd! Very proud of my boys! They were really happy that my mom and Bryans parents were able to be there! Hopefully we can do another one and get all of the grandparents there!

Tongight I made Hot Dog Mummies and Mac and Cheese for dinner for the kids. We have a busy weekend coming up so wasn't sure I could fit it in for Halloween!

Of course I thought I was done with that but it turned into Keagan wanted a nose adn a mouth, Brooklyn wanted a dress and arms and legs and then Aidan wanted me to write TAPOUT on his lol

Of course I forgot to get pictures of my wonderful food art but they really enjoyed them!




Feast your eyes, if you dare, on these Hot Dog Mummies. They're the perfect energy food before an evening of collecting candy.

Ingredients
1 11-ounce can of refrigerator breadsticks
1 12-pack of hot dogs
Yellow mustard


Instructions
For each mummy, separate one breadstick from the roll and use kitchen shears or a knife to slice it in half lengthwise to create two thinner strips.

Wrap one strip at a time snugly around the hot dog. Depending on the size of the hot dog, you may not need all of both strips. Leave about 1/2 inch of hot dog exposed for the face area and continue wrapping the top of the hot dog.

Bake the mummies on a cookie sheet at 350º for 15 to 18 minutes or until the breadstick wrapping is golden brown.

Remove the mummies from the oven and cool them for 5 minutes. Add yellow mustard eyes just before serving. Makes 12 mummies.

I did a new bow holder for both of my girls! I didn't like the red lady bug Peyton had in the bathroom and thought it clashed so the new one will go great with our normal monkey theme! I did it in monkeys since we call her our little monkey!

I also made a new one for my other daughter since she's so into ballet now!

Today we had a playdate with the older kids while they were out of school so they could participate in the fun since they are always asking when we are going to do the holiday parties or playdates and still look forward to them!

I had 18 kids at my house today! It was a house full and a blast!

We painted pumpkins, decorated Halloween Cookies and made Pumpkin Masks!

my daughter just recently had her 4th Birthday party! Seems like I just had her! She wanted Yo Gabba Gabba at first but then we had problems finding stuff for the party so I asked her to pick another theme and what did she come up with? Hannah Montana.. all I could think was Lord help me lol

So we had a great party planned with a bounce house, hanna montana piniata and I was going to make a cake but it was predicted to rain so we moved to Chucky Cheese and go figure my cake image didn't arrive in time!

So I was left to come up with a last minute plan and I just couldn't justify $20 at walmart on a cake that had a small toy guitar on it! So I decided to attempt making cupcakes and putting them in a shape of a guitar similar to what they had done! I think they came out pretty decent seeing as I'm not very good at stuff like that lol

She absolutely LOVED it and thanked me over and over for it!



we also did goody bags and put necklaces in them for the girls and glow sticks for the boys. Hannah montana stickers for the girls and hot wheels for the boys and fun shaped sunglasses for all the kids and candy!

on the dinner menu tonight! Had this before and super yummy!!


Mexican Black Bean Casserole


1 can 16oz black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
4 large green onions, sliced
1 cup salsa
3/4 cup diced tomato
2 tsp ground cumin
3/4 cup shredded mexican cheese blend
2 flour tortillas, diided
1/4 cup chopped celantro (I left this off)



Heat oven to 375. Place beans in large bowl; partially mash with potato masher (I left mine unmashed).
Add chicken, green onions, salsa, tomato, and cumin, mix well. Spoon 1 1/3 cups mixture into 9 inche round glass baking dish; top with 1/2 cup cheese. Arrange 1 tortilla over mixture tearing to fit size of dish. Repeat layering with 1 1/3 cups bean mixture, remaining tortilla and remaining bean mixture. Cover dish with foil and bake 30 minutes or until heated through.

Remove from oven, uncover and top with remaingin 1/4 cup cheese. Return to ovena nd continue to bake 5 minutes.

Tried this recipe out last night and it was really good! Everyone loved it and the best thing is it's super cheap and makes 3 meals! Now we will see how I like it when I use the freezer meals because I'm not big on reheating items but I'm looking for more time savers with out eating out so much so trying some new things!

1 package spaggetti (1lb)
4 eggs, lightly beaen
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 cups (16oz) sour cream
2 tsp italian seasoning
2 pounds bulk pork sausage
2 cups water
1 can (12oz) tomato paste
1 cup (4oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Cook spaghetti according to package diretions; drain and place in a large bowl. Add eggs and parmesan cheese. Transfer to three greased 9in pie plates; press mixture onto the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and italian seasoning Spoon into the crusts.

In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in water and tomatoe paste. Simmer, uncovered, for 5-10min or until thickened. Spoon over sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella and cheddar cheese.

Freeze two pies for up to 1 month in ziploc brand freezer gallon bags. Cover and bake third pie at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until heated through.

To use frozen pies; completely thaw in the refrigerator. Remove from refrigerato 30 minutes before baking. Bake as directed.

Wow where has the time gone? I really haven't had time to blog since school started! The last month has been so crazy busy! A few days after school started my husband deployed and we started our journey to the being alone the next year. So we thought anyways. Things were going pretty well like every other deployment and I was managing fine and even managing with my health okay. I was praying I'd just get through this year but really worried that at any moment things could turn around for the worste. I had one of my normal attacks that I have about a week after he left but managed to get it under controle and I had the heart monitor on and was hoping to catch things on it but go figure that the day I have my big attack that the monitor stops working and I had to go swap it out! Really? Of all the luck! I wound up feeling up to going home to visit for Labor Day weekend. I hadn't been home to visit in 3 months so I needed to get home and let everyone see these babies! Especially with Peyton being so young, you know the first two years of life they just change so much every month. Last time I was home she was just starting to crawl and now she's walking around furniture and trying to take steps! I was afraid if I waited we'd go from barely crawling to walking and it be a drastic change!
So we had a nice visit home and saw almost all of the family! Definatly needed the trip! Things went well the next week and my appointment with Cardiology and my Dr went well on the Friday after and Sunday morning things turned out for the worste. I had another attack just like normal. Only it felt a little different. I wound up going by ambulance with occasionally I have to, especially being alone. This time was so bad they gave me 3 shots of nitro to open my heart chambers, meds through my IV twice, hooked me up to oxygen for 2 days and addmitted me to the hospital. They ran a few test and wanted to run more but since I started to feel better I asked to do the rest out patient because I needed to be home with the kids and we weren't sure at the moment what was going to go on with the red cross. My husband was sent home by the end of the week on emergency leave and is home now and will be home for at least another month or so. I've been placed back on the heart monitor, had my meds doubled and are going from there. I wound up making another trip to the ER a few days after he got home but since things seem more stable on the new dose of meds. My blood pressure had been spiking very high and it's been stable since. I'm just so tired of not knowing anything. We did finally get a diagnoses of Tachycardia and cardiac arrithymia we just don't know what type of arrithymia is causing the attacks and trying to get a hold on it. So that's the not so fun stuff going on around here.. nothing really new. Same stuff, different day. Only worse at one point and better at another.

The boys are having a blast back in school. Keagan goes back and forth and really wants to stay homeshooled but I think he should go with the older one going too. He's been doing really well though and doing accelerated reading program and making 100 on every test! I'm super proud of him! She said he's one of the brightest kids in the class!
Aidan loves being back in school and wouldn't have it any other way. He can't wait to go every day lol They both just started back up their wrestling season this week so they are excited about that. They will be doing their tournaments here soon.

Brookklyn is still doing dance but dropped gymnastics since she is old enough now to do cheerleading and was dying to do cheerleading instead. She's been in it a few weeks with her best friend Lizzy and absolutely loves it so far! I'm officially a cheer mom haha

Peyton is an absolute mess! That girl is so obnoxious lol she loves to pull out everything and laugh and say "no no", is trying to walk, says about 5 words now and eats soooo much!! She is always eating! She still has no teeth but eating so many finger foods. However she is still underweight and dropped from 5% to 2% so we are now having to go every 2 weeks for checks rather than every 2 months and may be getting referred to a specialist. I know some are like oh she'll be fine, oh the drs make to much of a fuss but since I had the complications I did in my pregnancy we had to check her growth montly in the womb and knew this could be a potential problem and had to watch it closely so we have to stay on top of it. She could've been effected by solely just the few weeks the hospital didn't get my treatment right here! Thank heavens I got switched drs! And it's not the fact she's tiny but that she's loosing as well. The dr isn't to concerned since all my kids are tiny, she's doing great developementally, on the move so much and eats so much but still gotta watch it. She of course is still breastfeeding strong. I'm so proud that we made it through all we have with me and surgery! I can't believe she is almost 10 months old. It makes me sad my last baby is so big!

I've also been really busy with my business and getting some outfits made up for a few models that I have doing a local photo shoot for me here in town with a photographer I partnered up with. I'm very excited and can't wait to see how it all turns out!!

Well I guess that's about all of the fun updates right now.. I need to go get this room cleared out for the boys new bed that's being delivered here in a few! They are getting a loft bed and we got rid of the cool racecar bed. Time for big boy furniture!

1 lb ground beef
1 can refriend beans
1 jar thick n chunky salasa
1 pack taco season
2 1/2 cups corsley broken tortilla chips
1/2 md green bell pepper
4 md green onions
2 md tomatoes
1 cup shredded motz cheese (I used montery jack)
1/4 cup sliced olives
1 cup lettuce


Heat oven to 350.

In 12in skillet cook beef over medium heat 5-7min. Cook till brown; drain. Stir in beans, salsa, taco season and reduce heat, bring to a boil.
In ungreased casserole dish, place 2 cups broken chips. Top evenly with meat mixture Sprinkle with peppers, onions, 1 cup tomato, cheese and olives.
Bake uncovered 20-30 min. Top with lettuce, remaining tomato and chips.

Tonights dinner! Mmmmm



Cheddar tuna Noodles


2 tbs butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 tbs flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cups milk
8oz egg noodles, cooked and drained
2 cans white tuna, drained
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese


Preaheat oven at 375. Lightly coat 9 inch square baking dish with non stick cooking spray.

melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 3minutes. Add celery; cook and stir 3 minutes.

Sprinkle flour, salt and red pepper falkes over onion mixture; cook and stir 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat.

Combine noodles, white sauce, tuna, and peas in prepared baking dish; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 20-25 minutes.

Wow I can not believe summertime has already come and gone! Where did this summer go? It sure did go by fast! The kids start school tomorrow morning and I'm so not ready for them to go back! They are super excited and ready to start school again but I will miss them being at home like crazy. I loved every minute of having them home this summer and since we home schooled the end of the year they were home a little longer and I really enjoyed sharing that time with them and teaching them myself but they really want to go back to school so it's best they do. It was fun to try out at least!

We had meet the teacher night last Thursday night and it went really well. Their school is kind of off in the country. There is a farm right across the street. It's a two story school and very big! Aidan's teacher seemed very nice and sweet but she is newer and seemed a little nervous so I hope she can handle my motor mouth lol

Keagan's teacher was really awesome and he loved her and she really put all my worries at ease! She told me there was such a large turn out for kinder that they are making a 3rd class and some moving and I asked if I could request he stayed because it would throw him off with his autism to mess with his routine like that. She reassured me he wasn't moving since her class was an inclusion class and she was educated to work with his special needs. That made me happy. We discussed maybe needing a sensory box again in the classroom this year and what to look for and how to go about it. She brought in some aids to talk about it with me as well and familiarize with how he is so they would be prepared!

Brooklyn is sad she's not going to school this year. If her birthday had been 2 months earlier she would've gone this year but she's going to be a late starter like my oldest Aidan and Peyton will wind up being that way too. I thought about sending her to a private prek but I'm not sure I'm ready to part with her just yet!

Every year it's tradition we either take the kids out somewhere special for breakfast or I make something really special. Last year I did pig shaped pancakes. This year I'm going to do Teddy Bear Biscuits. I've done them before but it's been a long time! They are super yummy!





Teddy Bear Biscuits


Ingredients
1 (7.5 ounce) package refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
9 miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
1.For each bear, shape one biscuit into an oval for the body and place on a greased baking sheet. Cut one biscuit into four pieces; shape into balls for arms and legs. Place next to body. Cut one biscuit into two small pieces and one large pieces; shape into head and ears and place above body. Brush with egg. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over bears. Bake at 425 degrees F for 8-10 minutes (the one remaining biscuit can be baked with the bears). Place chocolate chips on head for eyes and nose while the biscuits are still warm.



Things have been kind of crazy around here the last week and a half. I wound up in the hospital again last weekend from another attack where my heart was racing. They labeled it cardiac arrhythmia which we already knew as well as the tachycardia that the Dr brought up a few days before that we already knew. We just still don't have an absolutely clear firm diagnoses and treatment plan. I started seeing the Dr I had been trying to get in with the Thursday before and he placed me back on the heart medication and sent off a referral to the cardiologist finally and said we will get to the bottom of this!

My husband was supposed to have deployed a week ago but got pulled off the flight due to me being in the hospital and how my health has been. It's up in the air if he's still going and going on one of the last flights going out or if he's going to get to stay till after my appointments like being requested by my Dr, who is a retired officer thankfully so hopefully they don't blow off his suggestion as "oh he's a civilian Dr" the Dr recommended he stay with me because my health condition was to bad off to be alone with the 4 children and we have a referral in to see the cardiologist and it would be best if he stays till we get a firm diagnoses as well as a treatment plan then deploy as a late deployer. Also because as far as we know we may find out that I need to have another surgery so it would be better if he could stay around and be one of the last deployers that go out as a replacement a few months from now. So hopefully we find out for sure tomorrow what is going on with that. I'm just really praying it all works out. We were prepared for him to go and he wants to go but I'm also terrified to be alone till we get to the bottom of this. We had to do a medication adjustment about a week ago from my blood pressure getting severely low (which is usually severely high) so that was scary too.

I'm just ready to know what is going on. I'm such a control freak that it drives me crazy not having a clue what is about to happen or when!

Well I better get these kids rounded up and ready for baths and bed and get back on our school routine!!

Well we got all settled into our new place this last weekend. Had a lot of help from some of our close friends and I couldn't have done it with out them! I just don't have the energy I used to, especially with the recent health issues. But I still managed to get it all done, unpacked with in about 2-3 days and pictures put up a day later! I had to make it all homey before hubby leaves and of course having a baby that gets into everything you can't exactly have stuff just a mess and laying around lol
It's so nice to be back in this area. We were just so much happier and it is just so much more calming and less stressful. I wish we had never moved to begin with. We thought we should take advantage of the bigger place and that we wanted to be back on post but boy was that a waiste. We didn't use the extra space and the block was just a nightmare! If I had known we were not only going to be unhappy and move but to turn around and move right back to where we were .. I would've never bothered.

The kids are happier to be back in this area and excited about going to their new school. it's kind of in the country and a really big school. I heard good things about it so I hope we like it!

We got family pictures done on Sunday! I am so excited and can't wait to see them! We got a preview of a few of them and what's to come! It looks like she got some great pictures with where she took them. Though it just motivated me more to want to loose weight. I look so very pregnant still and it's depressing.. which brings me to my appointment today with the specialist. I seem to be doing a lot better so I will hopefully start loosing some weight since I can start exercising more. Over all things looked to slowly be getting better and coming together. They think I have rebound tachycardia and maybe some acid reflux which can be caused by the surgery. Not really concerned since it seems to be tapering off and my blood pressure was a little on the high side but not alarming either. So we did blood draws and go from there. Need to see my primary dr to see if they want to look further into my heart problems though.

I can't believe deployment is approaching so quickly. It's starting to get to me and I'm just numb. I'm not sure rather to be depressed, sad, what.. with some of the problems we've had it scares me too.

Hopefully it will go by fast.

made this last night for dinner. We've had it before but been awhile! Really good quick fix!



1 lb grund beef
2 cups chopped green peppers
3 cloves garlic
1 jar spaggetti sauce
1-2/3 cups water
1/4 cup italian dressing
1 box of oven ready lasagna noodles, broken
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown meat; drain. Add peppers, garlic, spaggetti sauce, water, dressing, bring to a boil. Stir in noodles; reduce, simer and cover.

Cook stirring occassionally 10-15min or until noodles are tender.

Remove from heat. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 5 minutes.

super yummy!!

1 lb ground beef
1 can refried beans
1 jar thick n chunky salsa
1 pack taco season
2 1/2 cups coarsley broken tortilla chips
1/2 md green bell pepper
4 md green onions
2 md tomatoes
1 cup shredded motzorella cheese
1/4 cup sliced olives
1/4 cup sliced olives
1 cup lettuce


Heat overn to 350

In 12 inch skillet cook beef over medium heat until brown; drain. Stir in beans, salsa, taco season and reduce heat and bring to a boil.

In ungreased casserole dish, place 2 cups broken chips. Top evenly with meat mixture. Sprinkle with peppers, onions, 1 cup tomato, cheese and olives.
Bake uncovered 20-30min. top with lettuce and remaining tomato and chips.

well Peyton had her very late 6 month check up the other day at 7 and a half months. They were booked up when I called after my surgery.

She is doing well over all and is advanced developementally on some things. She is crawling, sitting, standing, starting to walk around things, starting to talk, eating finger foods.

However she did gain a little weight and is 12.5 lbs but since she was already so low and in the 5% her not gaining much put her below 5 % which may be nothing since mom and dad are both pretty small but something we have to watch to make sure especially given the circumstances of the problems I had during my pregnancy. So instead of going back at 12 months we have to start going in every month to get weight checks. She eats ALL the time though. She will eat 2 jars, 3-4 rice crips or teething cookies, some finger foods like peas, etc all in one sitting. He said as long as she progresses on her own pace not a worrie but we will watch to make sure that she doesn't fall anymore.

She was 26 inches and 10% for height.

Her left food is also turning in so we are hoping that is something that will correct over time like it did on Keagan and Brooklyn but it turns more then theirs did so we have to watch that as well.

But for the most part she did well and did well with her shots.

Well sadly we weren't able to make a visit back home with my surgery and still recovering and deployment nearing so close but thankfully Bryans family was able to make it this way for a little visit for a few days.

They came in town on Saturday and we spent a few days doing a couple of fun things from swimming at the pool at their hotel, chucky cheese, dinner and more.

The kids were really excited to have their Mimi and Pa here!

Now it's time to crack down on the packing and get ready for our move in a few days!

Well over the last few weeks we have had a lot of changes going on. We are finally getting out of housing and finally moving back to where we wanted to live and loved living before.
The boys have been asking to go back to school all summer and really miss it and I was on the fence because I really wanted to finish out a full year of homeschool for this next school year and then us decide but since my oldest one hasn't stopped asking and seemed a lot happier in school and with us moving they will be in a much much better school district and a lot more benifits like buses again (which helps if I get sick) and no uniforms! Yay! So we've decided to let them go back. So I got them all enrolled and set up and thankfully my youngest son didn't loose his IEP by being pulled out when he did and will just start that back up.
We have also decided we may need to put our youngest son back in ABA as he's developing quit the attitude lately and become very rude. The day I had surgery he just really got thrown off so I think with some of the events coming up he would benifit.
I'm back and forth on considering sending my daughter to a little prek for one or two days a week. Her birthday is late so she missed the deadline for school but is so ready to go and would really benifit from it but I'm just not sure I can do it just yet. We will see though.

tonight we had a family outting with movies in the park with our village. We had fun on a bounce house, got face painting, hot dogs and hamburgers, popcorn, nachos, snickers, skittles, glow sticks, all for free!
We watched Planet 51!

Peytons finally starting to enjoy the water a lot more and enjoy the spray park. We finally made it to the spray park in Harker Heights and the girls had a lot of fun but the boys never left the pool on the other side lol

went to open gym time this afternoon to let the kids run out some energy. I jumped on the trampoline some and thinking there's probably a weight limit on that and I might want to not do it again haha The boys were all around there doing flips and everything else!

I finally made it to one of the events for a local Army Wives group. It was coffee for a meet and greet and very large so I didn't get a chance to meet everyone but enjoyed my time there meeting the few new girls I did and hanging out with some of the old ones I already knew!

I've added and changed a few things from the original recipe. I have to leave out the peppers since hubby is a wuss lol



1 onion chopped
2 cans chili beans
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn
4 cans diced tomatoes (with peppers if you like spicey chili)
1 jar hot salsa
1 pack of chili powder
1 pack of taco seasoning
1/8 cup black pepper
1/8 cup garlic power
1/8 cup red pepper
1/8 cup ground cummin
4 chopped peppers (if you want it to be spicey)
2lbs of ground beef


In large pot over medium heat, combine all ingredients while browning meat. Once meat is browned, drain and add to chili mixture, cover and simmer one hour.

We've had a lot of first milestones over the last week here! Peyton started crawling in late May and would scoot around by doing almost like a push up and pull around the floor on her belly. She's been scooting on her back oddly since 2 months but this was her real scoot.

A few days ago she finally started moving her legs and really crawling like a true crawler!

Then she pulled herself up to a standing position one night and said "dadda" last night! My husband was just absolutely thrilled to hear that before he leaves!




She also started eating finger foods so she has been very happy to get some more variety in her diet!

She is just getting to big!

I made these for a friends girls to wear to a deployment ceremony coming up as well as I made them for my girls to wear!

Daddy took Brooklyn to see Sesame Street Live today on post by the USO! She absolutely loved it and was singing and dancing and got a free toy! The boys didn't have any interest in going and I wasn't sure how it'd work out if it was to packed adn no where to sit and breastfeed so we chose to stay home and him have some nice daddy and daughter time before leaving.

tonight we are having a new recipe! I'm trying something new with pork chops and made Zippy Pork Chops frome Taste at Home! I love them!

Ingredients
4 teaspoons chili powder
1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
6 boneless pork loin chops (3/4 inch thick)
Directions
Combine the chili powder, oregano, garlic and cumin; gently rub over both sides of pork chops. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Grill, covered, over medium-hot heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 160°. Yield: 6 servings.


and not to forget desert! Yummy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies in the oven!!! Mmmmmm

Every since I first learned about Discovery Toys back in California when my oldest son who is almost 8 was a year old I have wanted to be a consultant every since!

But I just didnt have the time or the money to invest in the kit.

Now that I've had my surgery I've slowly been feeling more myself day by day and the old Laci was always on the go, PTA, coaching sports, ran a playgroup, avon rep, you name it I did it!

So I decided the other night it was time and I signed up to finally sell Discovery Toys!

I love their toys because they have a lot of great toys for all ages that aren't junk! They are long lasting and I can teach the kids things through play here at home!

But most importantly they are very good for autistic/special needs kids and support them and as a mother of an autistic son that is very important to me and I saw how so many of these toys helped him at home and in therapy!

If you haven't heard of them! They are great! And if you are in the Fort Hood area you can contact me to host a party! Just reply to this post for more information! When you host you get a great opportunity to earn free toys and discounts!

Hubby and the kids did a car wash fundraiser with the wrestling team today to raise money for the upcoming season. The kids had a lot of fun!

Going to be having another one soon and hopefully this one I can participate in since I am still recovering from surgery and a bit doped up lol

Yesterday I finally had my long awaited surgery! It was a bitter sweet day since I have had the large goiter in my neck for 3yrs now and waited 2yrs getting the run around from lovely tricare prime and their system with referrals! I finally had to just stomach it and switch to standard and we are going to have to deal with co pays because it was coming down to the fact that it could be a life or death situation for me as it had taken a huge turn for the worse, I wasn't able to properly care for my children as needed or my family, I couldn't enjoy life or life with them or my last baby for that fact and my husband getting ready to deploy again and needing to be able to do so.
I'm so glad that we did the switch because we had our surgery booked with in a week of doing so and already I feel so much better!
Before it was like an out of body experience. I felt so weird. Floating sensations, dizzy, like I wasn't even inside my own body. My heart racing, skipping beats in which I had to be on heart medication for.
When we first found the goiter there were no symptoms from it. Didn't even know it was there. Then I thought back a few months to an episode I had remembered thinking I felt something pop in my neck and realized it had been there for months and I never really noticed or put the pieces together.
At the time it wasn't an emergency surgery but they wanted my husband to come home from deployment and me to get it out before it became something serious. We did two biopsies and it didn't rule as cancer so we agreed since his unit would not allow him to come home that we would hold off until he got home and do it then.
I did a lot of research and still wasn't so convinced I needed the surgery and wanted a 2nd opinion. It was then when I came back and was off post that all of the problems started. We waited and waited and put in re feral after referral to see a specialist and nothing was happening.
I started having severe complications with my pregnancy and my OB placed me on thyroid meds for the safety of me and my baby. We weren't sure how many of the problems were from thyroid or me being high risk in general. It got so bad we took the baby as soon as I hit term before it got anymore dangerous for the both of us. Things seemed to have improved for about 3 weeks and then took a dramatic turn for the worse. That was when I first started having heart problems. I went to the ER and they blew me off. I went to my OB and he said he couldn't do anything more since he was about to have me released from his clinic. I waited 3 months to get into my new PCM who then blew me off and just gave me yet another referral. Didn't bother checking the meds I was on, my levels, nothing! He mentioned he thought I was at risk for a cardiac arrest yet didn't put me on anything!
I finally got an appointment with the specialist for summertime.
I finally wound up in the hospital one night, taken by an ambulance and sure enough my heart rate was way up there! They did several testing and gave me some things at the ER to help slow down things in the mean time.
I called the specialist and told them what had happened and they were nice enough to push me through and get me in to them asap!
At this point I had all sorts of things going on.. racing heart, blacking out, passing out in public (I couldn't even be alone with the kids because I'd randomly pass out and it was dangerous), problems eating, dizzy, ringing in my ears, tingling feelings in my left arm, chest pains, problems breathing, just all sorts of stuff! He placed me on heart meds and did an ultrasound on my goiter and tested my levels and put in for an emergency surgery.. an emergency surgery that 2 months later still wasn't through the lovely system of tricare prime! All of these problems that I was being told by the Dr's "it's all in your head" till I see the specialist who finally listened!
I never had any problems with my kids or myself before but when it came time for an emergency we get the problems go figure!

I even went home while my husband went to NTC because I was afraid to be alone for the month and was hoping we could speed up the surgery there being at a military facility and the one where it was found at. Instead I was yanked off my heart meds and wound up in the hospital from it and being told basically I was crazy by the Dr and that I needed to see a therapist and go on anxiety meds.

I did a lot of herbal routes and they helped to get me through enough the last few weeks at least.

So I saw the Dr about a week ago and he said the goiter in my neck was about 5cm large and put me in for surgery. He checked my vocal cords by placing this long spaghetti like tube down my nose through my throat which was NOT fun at the least!

So surgery day came and I was anxious.. anxious to finally get it over with. To be back to me. To be the mother and wife I used to be. I laid there hooked up to IVs and watching tv and thinking how much I was going to panic at any moment! I just wanted to run out of there! I didn't think I could do it. But I knew I had to for my kids!

This was another problem resulted from thyroid.. anxiety! Severe anxiety!

They take me back to the room and everyone was really nice and friendly. The staff was just very reassuring and made me calmer with every minute. They put the stuff in the IV to put me to sleep and just like that, I was out and when I woke up it was all over!

My husband said I freaked him out because they wheeled me back before waking up and it was taking awhile for me to wake up and then when I did wake up I kept grabbing my throat and going back to sleep.

When I got up, we sat me up and got me over to the chair to get me more awake. My husband brought in the breast pump so I could start pumping and dump it so that I could continue to breastfeed.

I was relieved to find out that it didn't test as cancer still! We knew there was a slim chance that even though it didn't show on the biopsy that with the size they might get in there and find out it was cancer. No one wants to hear cancer. That would've been devastating for many reasons but one of the biggest for me would be no breastfeeding. Seems so small to worried about but this is our last baby, my last chance, and something so important to me that I didn't want to loose all because I had to wait on a stupid system to get me in for surgery when I could've had it done before the baby was even born!

So I pumped and dumped and we were out of there in no time and headed off to pick up the kids. I have a wonderful wonderful best friend here Kim who watches them a lot for me and watched all 4 yesterday for me. I trust her more then anything but didn't want to leave my baby. I have never left her. I left her for about an hour to do a teeth cleaning after she was born with Kim but she slept the whole time. She said she was a little fussy but did pretty well for the most part but refused to take anything aside from solid food and a teething biscuit. She wouldn't take anything I pumped or the formula in a bottle or a sippy cup! So luckily we didn't have anything happen from the surgery and I was back to her 7 hours after leaving her and able to nurse her again!

I was a little worried how last night would be because I had planned that if I needed to rest that my husband could feed her if needed during the night. But since she wouldn't take anything it was strictly up to me to feed her. She's been pacifying a lot the last few nights and giving me problems but last night she slept till 5:30am so I got a lot of rest that I needed!

I already feel sooooo much better and back to my old self with the exception of a sore neck. It's almost like a huge crick in my neck followed by a sore throat! It hurts really bad to swallow but is getting better.

We lucked out that they didn't damage my voice box because it had grown up behind my voice box and hadn't shown on the scans they had done! We knew there was a small risk with it anyways but even more so with that factor in there!

The cut wound up being double the size they thought it would be since the goiter was larger then estimated but it doesn't look to bad and the most important part is that it's out and it's over with!

I go to follow up with the surgeon on Monday and then in one month to make sure everything is okay and go back to the thyroid specialist in about 3 weeks. I spoke to him today on the phone when I was confused about what they were telling me about the medication.. I was told that if they were able to just take out half the thyroid I wouldn't need the medication but I wasn't sure if I should stop it right away or if I had to wait. The nurse told me on the phone today to continue taking it and I thought that was odd because even if I should then shouldn't it be a different dose?

So I called the specialist who I'd be returning to who would make the final call and he read the notes and said they were confusing and that's why the nurse probably said that but defiantly stay off the meds!

But they were able to leave my entire left side and just remove my entire right side of my thyroid and he said with my age that there should be no problem with the left being enough.

My husband has truly been an absolute blessing the last few days in helping. I was unsure with how things have been the last few weeks but he's really stepped up. I know it's hard for him but he has totally pampered me from flowers to ice cream!

I'm just so glad the hardest part is over!

PS note to self.. don't ever watch greys anatomy again while waiting to go in for surgery.. haha

Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon at Wazoo's. A big place full of inflatables for the kids to jump in. It rained most of the day so that was our rainy day fun before spending the rest of it grocery shopping which is always eventful to say the least with 4 kids lol




I usually do really well on my the budget I make for myself but I went over this time which I knew I would but we needed to restock bad. With summer time things are going super fast in this house and with my husband leaving soon I want him to be able to have all of his favorite things before leaving too!







Today was kind of a much needed lazy day! It rained most of the day but when it finally stopped we went outside and had some fun with some new 3D paint! The kids love the 3D chalk but I've been wanting to get the paint for them to try. They loved it and it was a lot of fun but I have to say for the price it's not an all the time thing because you can only use it maybe once or twice. You go through it really fast! At least the chalk last awhile! But it was fun to try and I want to get the sprayers next time!







I got caught up on some laundry.. seriously I just washed, folded and put it all away on Monday and I had around 3 loads to put up again today! It's a never ending task! I think one day I'm going to be found buried alive under it all!

Well it's time for dinner! Salad and lasagna tonight and strawberry shortcake for desert! YUM!!