Long Winded for the Sake of Journaling

I really can't believe it has been almost a year since my last post. Has life really been that busy? Ummm, yes.  Little did I know that my last sentence in my last post would be so loaded. Let me recap...."I can't wait to see what God has in store for us next."  Wow. Did I really say that?  Looking back, I think I actually prayed sometime at the beginning of the year, "Jesus, bring the rain".  Don't ask me why because I don't know why.  Without sounding like I am complaining, let me give you a rundown of our year last year. Believe me, we were sooo ready to welcome in the year 2013.

 Last January, I was diagnosed with chronic heart palpitations. Scary in itself due to an episode I had while the kids were out for Christmas break. 

In February, I had to have an emergency appendectomy and then less than a week later, my mom had a stroke which was brought on because of a heart attack a few days before.  She had zero signs of what was happening to her until she called me late one night to tell me that she wasn't feeling well. She ended up having open heart surgery, an extended stay in the hospital for weeks and then came to my house to recover.

Sometime during all of that (in March and April), our suburban started acting up. It was in and out of the shop so many times that I had a stack.....a STACK of repair papers from the dealership. They would fix one thing and then something else would go wrong. At one point, they were so lost as to what to do, they had to call the main engineer for GM to ask his advice as to what he suggested they do.  We were so irritated because they would keep our suburban for weeks at a time and it wasn't fun having to get rental car after rental car.  It was like that all through the summer and then one day on October, we were driving down the road and the stupid thing just shut off and then started back up, the locks started going crazy and overall it was acting weird. We finally had had enough so we took it to a dealership that day and traded it in.

In April, I found out I was pregnant. To be honest, I was not happy. I was so mad at David and honestly, probably a little mad at God too. In my mind, we were done. I had closed my mind to the possibility of ever having another baby and I truly felt that our family was complete. We had just gotten Pudgie out of pull-ups and for the first time in 10 years, we were not having to buy diapers and wipes.  David had finally agreed to have "the" surgery and we were discussing when he would do that.   I couldn't stop crying but realized that there was this little precious life inside of me that was a blessing and that needed me.  I forgave David....lol....and accepted the fact that we were going to have 5...FIVE....children. I immediately had to start the gestational diabetes testing and diet which included me having to check my sugar four times a day every day. My fasting numbers continued to be high so I had to go on insulin pretty quickly in my pregnancy. I was not happy about that. Every night for nine months, I gave myself a shot.  :-/

In May, my sister got married to a wonderful guy and within a few months found out she was expecting their first child. Sadly, that precious little life didn't make it and it was hard. Hard to see my twin go through something that I had never been through. I couldn't emotionally understand what she was going through but could only offer love and support. But God was and is good and they are expecting a little boy in June of this year. :) I can't wait to meet my nephew!

Our little Pudgie broke his wrist in Sept/Oct. and had to wear a full length arm cast for about 8 weeks. He did ok with it but I was sure glad when he got it off. Funny thing is....that full length arm cast didn't slow him down one bit. LOL!

The day before Thanksgiving I had to take Boogs to the emergency room. Let me just tell you how my day went that day.  The kids were out of school for Thanksgiving break and we all (my very pregnant self and 4 kids) had to be at St. Vincents hospital (the Orthopedist office is located there) at 7:45a that morning to have Pudgie's cast taken off. I live about 45min away from that office so I had to leave super early due to traffic. We got there, waited, got the cast off, and headed to Aldi so I could get some last minute Thanksgiving dinner items.  We got home, carried the groceries upstairs and I was putting them away while the kids were outside playing. All of a sudden I heard terrifying screaming coming from outside. I will never forget it. It kept on so I immediately went on the back deck where I was met by Boogs with one hand over his eye and the other eye wide opened and he was screaming bloody murder while blood was gushing everywhere. Inside I was totally freaking out but so that I wouldn't scare the kids, I calmly asked him what had happened. Because his hand was over his eye, I didn't know if his eye had been poked out or what. There was sooo much blood. I really thought his eye was gone or something. He told me that Pudgie had thrown a marshmallow shooter gun, made of pvc pipe, at him and it had hit his eye. I brought him inside, ready to see an eyeball-less sight, but thank the Lord, the cut was on his eyebrow.  Who knew there could be so much blood?  I saw meat. I know, gross. But it was there and I was home alone with the kids trying not to freak out so I got a wash cloth to clean it up some so I could see exactly what we were dealing with.  It was deep. I called our pediatricians office and of course, no one was there that could put in some stitches so they had me head back downtown to Children's Hospital and go to the ER. Back downtown? I had seriously just gotten back from being downtown. Ugh. But, it had to be done so I loaded up my very pregnant self and the kids again and we headed that way. David is in a management position at his job and was on a conference call so he couldn't leave. I told him it was ok and that I would handle it. My sister was at work and my mom was out of town (I think...I can't remember #oldage) so I had to go alone.  I know this sounds terrible, but I didn't even think to call my dad and step mom. They could have gone with me, but at that point, I was just trying to stay calm for the kids and for myself.  On the way down there, I was freaking out internally because I didn't know where I was supposed to go, how was I going to do this by myself and God knew what I needed at that point. It was a TOTAL GOD THING. My mom called and said that my aunt was going to meet me at the ER. My aunt? All my aunt's live in Georgia.....how was that going to happen? Unbeknownst to me, my aunt Carol just so "happened" to be traveling through downtown Birmingham at that exact moment on her way to Mississippi to see family. She told my mom that she would meet me there and stay with me and the kids until we left. Isn't she the bestest?? Thank the Lord, she was waiting outside the ER and was able to help me get the kids in.  We were there for several hours and she stayed with the other kids while I was in the back with Boogs getting his stitches. Thank you Aunt Carol for being there!

A few days later, David got the call that his grandmother had passed away. :(

The first week in December,  Pudgie had to have his tonsils out. His recovery was rough that next week but the pain eventually subsided and he is doing much better now!

A week later, haha, I know.....really? David started telling me that his side was hurting and that it was getting progressively worse. He went on in to work that day but soon left and came home, which is NOT like him. He is not a weak man, let me tell you. Not long after we got married, he had to get a wisdom tooth pulled. He did it on a local anesthesia and went back to work after the procedure, even though he was in major pain. He's crazy. HA!  So anyway, when he got home from work he went straight to bed. Sometime during the night he woke up to use the restroom and could barely move because of the pain. Because I had just been through this months earlier, I told him it sounded like his appendix and he needed to go the ER. It was in the middle of the night and I was trying to get in touch with my sister so she could come sit with the kids but he was in so much pain that he said he had to go and he drove HIMSELF to the ER.  I was able to finally get in touch with my sister and she came over to be with the kids and I left, not far behind him and headed to meet him at the ER.  He was already in a room when I got there and after a CT Scan, it was confirmed that he had appendicitis and he was going to be admitted and have it out the next day. Now what are the odds of a husband and wife BOTH having to have their appendix's out in the same year? Don't you know our insurance company loved us? I was a week out from being induced and sat in that ER on a backless Dr's chair during the middle of the night....I was so uncomfortable and tired but God gave me the strength to get through it and to stay calm because at this point, I felt so defeated and constantly asked "What more could we go through?". I just couldn't handle anything else.

Little did I know, at that point, that I/we would have to go through one more big ordeal before the year was over....to be told soon.

Looking back over the year, there was much more that went on that I won't carry on about, but seriously, we had something pretty major happen e.v.e.r.y. single month of last year.  My closest friends can testify to that.

Well, it's late and I've rambled on enough....plus it's 1:11am and I do have to get up in a few hours to get the kids ready for school and myself ready for work.  Sooo, with that I'll say goodnight.  If you are still reading, thanks.

Love,

~A