Post Op Cody

What a little trooper!!! I HATE HATE HATE loosing control, having to turn over the reigns to someone else and just sit and twiddle my thumbs, but I had too. Cody was only a tiny bit nervous about it was so good, he just sat there joking with the hospital staff and cracking people up all morning. He was even nice to them and asked them politely to "please don't stick that IV in me again, it doesn't feel nice" lol, when they had to stick him over and over. He was kidding with me that he looked like a cyborg or a robot with as many cords as he had coming off him. He liked it.

I barely had time to sit down in the waiting room for 20 minutes before the surgeon came out to tell me he was done. TADA! so fast! 45 minutes later and he was sitting up asking for a Popsicle...PHEW! He's been soooooooooooo good! I mean...WOW hasn't whined AT ALL about pain. He's in heaven right now, all snuggle down in my big bed, with the "special quilt" and playing online kids games at goldfish.com....mauwing down on Popsicles, jello, ice cream and chicken noodle soup. I am almost on the verge of having to strap the little monkey down and put a muzzle on him..lol he won't stop getting up and trying to walk around and do what he normally would do, and the drugs make him bump into walls and slip off the bed all funny so I'm constantly on his case. As you can see I added the picture of his tonsils. Dr. Teral was cool enough to have his surgical nurse take a picture of them for him. His tonsils were abnormally large even for an adult man. WOW......freaking massive! Lucky his adenoids didn't have to be fully taken out, just shaved back some so that should cause less pain for him. Even though he looks pained in the last two pictures he's actually smiling much more than frowning.

I'm very lucky that Jon lives here and was finally willing to help, he came to the hospital and got the prescriptions he was going to need and went and picked them up for me so I wouldn't have to take Cody out later when he wasn't feeling so hot, and he took Michael and Matthew to his house for the night so I can concentrate on Cody. Some days I'm amazed at how well we work together and other days I'm impressed I don't run him over with Matty's scooter..lol..jk! But none the less I'm thankful for his help. Thanks for all the "don't worry Rach, he'll be fine" emails....lol

Momma Bear Mode!!! EKK

Tomorrow morning my little Cody will be having a Tonsillectomy/Adnoidectomy. Unfortunately Cody has abnormaly large tonsils that cause a lot of trouble and he has some pretty bad sleep apnea, the thought of my 7 year old stopping breathing multiple times each night...scares me! So we are hoping this will help! Now, yes I am fully aware how routine a surgery this is, but in all honesty...I am FFFRREEEEAAKKKING out! lol. I am used to surgery, me being put to sleep and operated on is ....well sadly normal at this point, but the idea of Cody being put to sleep makes me uber nervous! lol So to get rid of all that nervous energy I've been OCD cleaning the apartment, it helps ....some..lol.

So tomorrow morning at 7 am we will be at the hospital. I'm very lucky to have my good friend Leah here, she will be watching Matthew and getting Michael out the door to school and then in the afternoon and evening Jon will be coming to get Matthew and Michael and keeping them overnight to give me a little extra ability to focus on keeping Cody! Man I am a nervous, nervous nelly! I'm in total freak out mode...lol Wish him luck!

Swimming with Dad

Some time in May or June we will be making our 1st military move with Matt, to where, we don't know yet. At that same time Jon will be moving to Houston to start his next Army Job teaching ROTC while he gets his masters. I asked Jon yesterday if he would like to drop the boys back off early from their weekend with him to come swimming. It was so nice and warm out and I thought it would be a good idea for them to get some Father son pictures, so that when Jon moves and can't see them on the weekends they will have plenty of pictures to get them by until they can see him again. So he came over with them around 3 and swam, I sat out and took pictures for them. I got some really cute Father/son pictures and some fun action shots of the kids with my lame-o cheap-o camera. lol. Enjoy!

White Phase

Matt's platoon was finally switched over to white phase last week! White phase is weeks 4-6. It can also be call the "gunslinger" phase because this is where they finally get to shoot their weapons and qualify with them. Matt was so happy to finally be switched to White phase, they get slightly more personal time.....a whole whopping 90 seconds to shower, being timed by a P.G (platoon guide/platoon leader) rather than the 30 seconds they've had up until now, timed by a Drill Sgt. They also are allowed to walk to and from chow without having to march with the entire platoon, they can walk to and from with a battle buddy. I'm sure it's nicer to have a 5 minute break without having someone watching your every breath! lol. Matt is LOVING and HATING this phase. Loving....... because he is getting to "play with the big boy guns" as he put it such as the M24o B, and the M249 Saw, and the 50 cal ....ooooooo...lol..I know Matt's loving this! He is ALL about guns

Last week they got to qualify on their marksmanship with their M16's. Matt was one point away from shooting expert (which he did shoot during practice) but got sharp shooter instead. He's excited that he gets to re qualify every 6 months because I know he's hating having that one shot keeping him from having Expert on his record...lol. When his platoon qualified they actual made a new Brigade record. They were the 2nd troop to qualify 100% of their platoon and the 1st to qualify 95% of them the 1st time around. He's so proud of the men he's training with! Well.........most of them...haha!

They are also working more on land navigation, studying it on maps is one thing, but being taken out in the field and having to find things and get back in a certain amount of time is another. Good thing Matt's pretty good at land nav. He took a lot of time to study this stuff before he went to basic training so at least I know he isn't doing anything he wasn't prepared for. lol. Always the Eagle Scout!

Now, as to why he's hating it. Well, when you draw attention of the Drill Sgt. for anything, weather being a model recruit or the group moron who can't seem to "catch on", you never know what will happen. For Matt, lucky, lucky man, he has been noticed as being one of the best they've had go through in a while and as such was given a new battle buddy to take under wing. Evidently he's stuck with some 31 year old moron who can't seem to do anything right! Poor Matt. That means more and more work for him, more stress, and frankly having to deal with someone day in and day out who has the personality of an acid dipped brillo pad! lol. He said something along the lines of "it's sad that he can get the 3 boys here at home to do things he can't get this moron to do." lol. He basically has to hand hold this guy into such simple things as getting dressed correctly and not looking like a scrub in uniform, which at this point should be common knowledge. He (the moron) failed to lock his wall locker before leaving the barracks, which is mandatory, and got the entire platoon smoked for over an hour and a half in the pit because of it. It's little things this guy just can not seem to catch onto! Oh well, hopefully soon this guy will either catch on and do better, or get recycled back into another basic training platoon that is just starting so he can begin again, either way lightening Matt's load, because both Matt and I are in agreement that we don't want Moron McGee to be Matt's battle buddy when it comes time to be administering IV's or the live fire exercises! If he can't lace his boots right or do simple things like pass the 1st test, so we REALLY want him shooting real bullets 5 feet from Matt's head??? ummmmm.....I'm gonna go with ...NO! lol. I jokingly told Matt to inform Moron boy that he should be more afraid of me than anything, because if this guy A) injures my man, B) ruins his chances at his family weekend in March or C) maims or kills my man, he shouldn't be worried about the repercussions of the Army......rather those from ME! lol.

Well I will update on Matt again as soon as I get more information, a picture of him, or when he switches into Blue phase.

School projects

I am very proud of the effort Michael and Cody have been putting into school lately. Cody is almost always on point and tries really hard, Michael's efforts have increased a ton!

Cody was very happy to bring home a "pinch pot" he made in art class, he gave it to me to put all my rings in at night so I don't have them all over the nightstand. How thoughtful! It's purple with cool little blue dots all over it. I love it!!!! Cody has had a case of camera shyness lately so he isn't in many pictures or I would have had him showing off his creation.

Michael's class has done two biography's on President's. A written essay on Abraham Lincoln, and a "Tri-Fold Biography" on George Washington. The amount of information his teacher wanted on the biography was ridiculous, especially when she didn't send home JACK for them to use as a point of reference to work on it with their parents, so we had to do a lot of online work, and printed out a few pictures to go on it. It was a LOT of work for a 3rd grader in my opinion but fortunately Michael was really excited to do it and worked 5 hours in one night to finish it and turn it in early! So proud! IF he doesn't get a GREAT grade on this I swear this teacher and I will be boxing a round or two..lol j/k!

The picture at that top is of Matthew Watching Tv when I late them all stay up late while Michael worked on his project, Matty had to "rest" next to cupcake "cause she's lonely Momma!"

My boy's Valentines from Nana

Nana, Grandaddy, Aunt Brittney, Aunt Amber and Uncle Jordan are all so good about making sure each holiday is special and remembered! Which I love. Nana sent a package with little valentines day goodie bags, one for each boy, just cute little valentines, chocolates and straws and vday socks which Matthew pretty much refuses to take off...lol...HOT socks huh! lol

Thanks guys for remembering the kids on Vday!

I took the boys for hair cuts recently as Jon was going to be taking them for professional family pictures. The pictures were postponed but sadly I cut Matthew's Mohawk off until summer. It's gotten so chilly here lately that a little hair won't kill him....lol..he is really missing it though, so I had to give them each milk shakes to make up for the tears over his hair. That picture could be a freaking Ad for McDonald's milkshakes! So cute...then again.. I'm RATHER prejudiced. haha!

so......pictures of Michael and the puppy, Matty/Michael w/cupcake, milkshake pic, hair cut goofing around, and Vday socks and goodie bags....sorry I know. Lots of pictures.

Valentines day phone call

The most romantic thing I could imagine this Valentines day was going to be me watching chick flicks (Pride and Prejudice and You’ve Got Mail) and eating corn dogs all alone on my couch (yes very “cat lady” if I do say so myself - the cat), since the boys would be at Jon's and my Darling hubby is at basic training and every girl friend I have here has a significant other to spend it with.
Lucky me I got a 3 minute phone call from Matt!!!!! OHH HOORAAHHH!!! I totally wasn’t expecting it! Matt and his Platoon were lucky enough to get switched into White Phase recently and as such were given a few extra privileges, one being....a phone call to their significant others on V-day. Not all of them were so lucky, some of the more problematic ones were stuck in “The Pit” doing heaven on knows what. Sigh! He sounded so happy!!! I’m so glad! I am still scooping up the melted bits of me off the bed where I sat and swooned when he called….lmao.
3 minutes in heaven was all I needed to fully recharge my emotional batteries for the coming weeks until I get to see him for Family weekend in late March.
I have never loved my telephone so much! lol
Valentines Day romance comes in so many different forms……thank you Qwest and the U.S. Army!!! Lol
Happy Valentines day everyone!

King Julian

I know that most of my friends with kidlets have seen Madagascar 2 and I don't know about you.....but King Julian is my absolute favorite character. His lines and accent crack me up! I was looking for a specific clip where he is riding in 1st class on the plane and askes for his warm nuts to be served on a silver platter and that Melman's head being in 1st class was freaking him out...lol..but this was pretty good too! I love this movie!

I have a spy at basic training~ bbwwhahahhaaha!

BBWBWBAHAHAHAHAHAH! I have got some of the coolest Ladies in my life! There are woman that sometimes you just "click" with and who would do anything for you, as you would for them. Well a good friend of mine Carol has a boyfriend Corey who is stationed at Fort Knox, Ky where Matt is at Basic Training. Carol was in town visiting and had hinted that she was going to have Corey drive her past Matt's barracks so she could get me a picture of them from the outside, she said she might even be able to have him sneak in and get a picture of the beds..lol ( YES I am so lame that I would kill for a picture of where he's sleeping lol). I got a phone call about 40 minutes later and she says......"guess who just saw Matt???!?!" I freaked out and raced home from errand running to see what she said she had emailed me! A picture.....oh sigh!!!!! Dirty or not! He's HOT!! YAY....lol..this MADE MY MONTH!

This is from Matt's letter from Sunday that I got today.

February, 08, 2009

"...........................................................Oh ya, and I had a visitor the other night too. One of the Drill Sgt.s came into my room with a guy in civilian clothes. The guy walks up to me and says.. "Ya that's him Drill Sgt." and then says "Do you know who I am?" and I was like....WHAT THE HELL!?!?!?!?! .... HAHA...so I answered back..." You must be Sgt. hull?" He laughed and said "Yes" So i got to meet with Carol's BF for a while. He took a picture of me to send to you so I'm sure you have already seen it. I was looking like crap because I had just taken off all my battle rattle and was sweaty and muddy. But I hope you liked it and it brought you some happiness. Sgt. Hull is a really nice guy. He said he was going to continue to check in with me every now and then to see how I was doing. I didn't know he served in Iraq with like 3-4 of my Drill Sgt.s so he knows them all really well..........................................."

The part Matt left out, Carol filled in for me, she said that he was cleaning his weapon when Corey came in, after Corey asked him if he knew who he was he asked him something like

"do you know why I'm here?"

"um.....no"

"Your wife wants a picture...haha"

"...you don't really have to do that" ( I think he was really nervous he would get in trouble for it)

"ya, actually I do, or Carol said she'll be mad..haha"

Corey said Matt had a slight grin when he took the picture. I'm sure he was trying hard not to smile! lol Can you imagine...he must have been so worried that his silly, uber needy wife was getting him in hot water with his drill sgt.s.

soooooooooooo cute!!!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Carol and Corey!! I will be baking for you asap!!!! YAY for really awesome friends!

Snow in Arizona

My goodness! We had a little winter storm actually reach us, and my boys are thrilled to see the snow! We had some really wicked wind last night moving lawn furniture all over, knocking out power and actually vibrating the apartment complex...creepy! Despite the wind it was rather nice to wake up to a little bit of the white stuff! Funny....I don't miss driving in it, but on Thanksgiving and Christmas is just never feels right to me without a little snow..... so odd..in February..lol.

I am a victim to my own OCD

To my own chagrin, I have developed some of my Mother's traits that I SWORE I would NEVER have........ahem.... the need to do dishes or vacuum at ridiculous hours, nit picking my children like chimpanzees in a tree, and sadly, the need to organize or LOSE MY MIND! I can NOT function in a state of clutter. I have literally been avoiding taking baths for over 6 and a half months,which is a ridiculous amount of time as I am ALL about a good long bath, a great book (ahem my addiction to Twilight) and candles. I avoided it why??

Just the clutter alone stressed me out! No matter how often cleaned it, folded it, de-cluttered it some how my imps were ever so helpful in putting it back to it's original state of mayhem. Thankfully I was able to recruit my friend Leah into a day trip to Tucson to grab a few things from "Bed Bath and Beyond" YAY!!
I will be enjoying the clutter free-ness of the bathroom later while I take a LONG needed soak! And on those days when it isn't as organized as it should be....I can now close the curtian and it's "out of sight out of mind" PHEW! Thanks MOM! lol

love you!

I like to move it move it

I have to really appriciate the people who make family/kid movies like Madagascar because it gives me so much joy to see Matthew doing things like this. He cracks me up. He runs around the house singing and danceing to "I like to Move it Move it" all the time....lol

The Lips

Well the lips are all better, the road rash is gone! Even his scar from the dog bite is getting lighter. We may actually have to have the scar tissue beneath removed, it's painful for him and even to the touch it's rock hard under my finger, I can only imagine how it hurts when he talks or bumps it. Poor kid. But at least it's faded and healed for now. The tooth hasn't been taken care of yet, the dentist we set up to see called to reschedule, and then on the day they rescheduled me for .....WERE CLOSED! Needless to say we are seeing someone else today. Lol. If you don't even know when your regular business hours are do I really want you hands operating drills and needles inside my child's mouth? I think not. So here are some pictures of how his lip is doing and the tooth as it is now. The 1st is the chipped tooth as of yesterday (darn my flash, I can't seem to operate my cheap camera..lol) then Michael healed as of yesterday, the dog bite scar is on the left, and then the last was the tooth last week, I added both because I wasn't sure which one it's more visible in.

May I also comment on the uber cuteness that is my kid! He's so adorable!