I've been gone for a while

I may never catch up so I figured the best thing to do is just dive back in. So much has changed in my life over the last couple of years. My last post was January of 2009. Technical difficulties and crazy life stuff got in the way.

I have been divorced since November 22 2010. After 17 years of married life that was something I did not see coming. We have been separated since June 21 of 2009. Jeff was sick for a long time and I tried to help him but he wouldn't stay in treatment. It got to the point where I felt we were all in an unsafe situation. He had to be institutionalized and was diagnosed with several serious mental disorders and alcoholism. He now lives in Illinois with family. I have full custody of the kids and he is only allowed supervised visits. He sees them usually once a year at Christmas. It has been very difficult for everyone but it was the only solution to a bad situation.

The kids are amazing. Taylor is 18 now. He has been sick for a long time but seems to be doing better now with lots of medication. He was diagnosed with Chrones disease, Celiac disease and epilepsy. His digestive issues are under better control now and the seizures have stopped for the moment. He still has hand tremors but we are changing to a new seizure medication that will hopefully help. He will be attending Norman High in the fall. He missed so much school with being sick he still has a while to go before graduating. He is so smart I know he will do fine.

Cameron is 9 and just got glasses. He was excited about that because he was the only one in the family who didn't have them. He loves to read. His current favorites are diary of a wimpy kid and magic tree house. He also loves to do magic tricks. He is quite the showman and keeps us entertained. He is also a ladies man and is always talking about his girlfriends. He loves to play computer games and jump on the trampoline. He also draws and writes stories.

Kaylynne is a princess who loves to dig in the dirt while wearing pretty dresses. She has long beautiful hair that she doesn't particularly like to have brushed but she won't let me cut it. She has never had a haircut in her entire life. She has graduated from SMO foot orthotics to inserts and probably will only need those for another year. Her feet have improved so much and she walks and runs and climbs so well you can't even tell there was ever a problem. She is 5 now and thinks she is a teenager.

I am taking a break from the J.D. McCarty center. They are not at all a family friendly place to work. I am hoping to transfer to another state job and get back to school. I have got to finish my degree but every time I get started something crazy happens to interrupt it. I have been dating Harry since November of 2009. We live together now and are very happy. The kids love him and so do I. We plan to get married eventually but its no rush. We are more focused on getting better jobs and getting school finished. Life has changed a lot over the past two years but we are all healing and headed in the right direction. Life is good!

On a completely unrelated note

I just scrolled down and noticed my list of labels (the search able key words at the bottom of finished posts) is huge. I have every letter from A-Z represented and several numbers as well. I guess I talk about a lot of different things. Yeah! 2nd post of the new year (there's another number label. I'm on a roll.

Yes I'm lazy and tech deprived

I finally got on the SLOW pop up ridden computer to take a quick peer at the old blog. I have been feeling terrible for neglecting it. I can't believe how long it's been since I even looked at it. I don't know how I will ever catch up. I'm saving my pennies for a new laptop but other things come first, you know, like eating. All is not lost though because I signed up for Twitter a while back. I can send short little updates about what I am doing from my cell. Even I can find time to do that. So someday when I have the time and the tech I will hopefully be able to re-create these lost months from my tweets and pics. Wish me luck.

Sorry state of my blog

Our computer crashed and took all my files with it. Jeff is trying to retrieve the contents of the hard drive. At the moment we are using a very old computer that was out in the garage. It is a bit slow and a lot of programs won't run on it. All my pictures are temporarily(I hope not permanently)unavailable. So my blog is a mess.

When we figure something out I will be able to post pics and the rest of the blog entries. Until then all that will be going up is short blurbs so I can remember what I need to enter later.

New Baby Signing Time shows coming in October

http://www.signingtime.com/baby-signingtime-preview/

Click on the title to go to the preview

You know how excited we all get when fresh new signing time is on its way.

MRI for Kay

Went to the doctor last friday.

Our day with Rachel and the Signing Time gang

Rachel performed at the buddy walk on Saturday September 20th

16th wedding anniversary

We have had a tough year but I am very glad to celebrate my 16th anniversary with my hubby dear.

Rachel is coming for another Oklahoma visit

Rachel will be performing at the Buddy Walk at the Bricktown Ballpark In OKC on September 20th.

Schools on lock down again

Cams school was put on lock down today.

Cam lost his second tooth... at school

His tooth popped out at school. All the kids thought that was really cool. He got to go to the office and get a tooth necklace to keep the tooth in. He swallowed the first one so he was really happy to have this one to give the tooth fairy. He got 10 bucks.

Fun at the county fair

We took Cam and Kay to the fair and they had a blast.

Sarah's broken and Chick Fil A camp outs

So Sarah was out mowing her lawn and fell. She went inside and put her foot up but it started to swell. The next morning she called me to tell me about it and I suggested she best go to the ER. Its broken. It was too swollen to do much with so they had her come back later for a cast. They ended up giving her a boot which is nice because she can take it off for baths. She will be out of work for a while.

Danielle and I camped out overnight for the grand opening of the first free standing Chick Fil A in Norman.

Jeff ER visits and more hurricanes

Had to take Jeff to the ER on the 29th and again on the 1st.

Lots of hurricanes heading towards Louisiana, Florida and Texas.

One year

It has been one year since I started this blog. It is amazing how much can happen in a year. Here are some stats:

Injuries:
Number of cars crunched:
pictures posted:
blog entries posted: 196 WOW
new skills: Kay can walk and talk! Cam reads and spells like a pro. He has been able to for a while but he is really good at it now. Taylor can navigate the high school experience. Jeff is awesome at being a superviser at work. I am learning to be nocturnal.
New babies born in our families: 2
Deaths: 2
Weddings: 1
approximate hours worked: 2080 outside the home. It is impossible to calculate the number of hours worked inside the home.
Barbeques and family gatherings at our house:
approximate number of loads of laundry: 520
Rooms painted: 11 I think. Seems like more than that. Mom's bathroom, Cam's room Kay's room, master bedroom, master bathroom, hallway, kitchen, dining room, family room, front room, sun room.

JDMC Family Fun Fest

Family night at work. Food and games. The kids had fun. It was really nice for them to have everyone out.

More cute kid quotes, they never end. I love it.

All are thrilled with the new baby. Kay can't say Sydney so she calls her baby Sinny.

Kay also says "That teetoes" When we tickle her and she calls the letter "W" "BubbleU"

Now for Cam....

We were complementing him on what a good big brother he is because he is so patient with Kay. He understands that she is still little and sometimes not very good at sharing. I said you must really love your sister. He answered "Well I don't love her all the time."

Cam came and asked me to open a package of crackers so he and Kay could have a picnic snack. I asked him to please be carefull not to make a big mess for me to have to clean. He said "But Mom, you dance when you clean up."

I guess that is true. I spend a lot of time cleaning and when the kids help I try to make it fun so we do dance sometimes. I hope they haven't been making more messes just because they think it makes me happy to clean and dance. So I told him to try to keep the mess to a minimum and we could just dance for fun.

Baby and back to school

Announcing the arrival of baby Sydney Rogue.


Kids went back to school today.

Taylor is in high school

We enrolled at Norman North High School today. It snuck up on me like so many things in my life lately.

Baby shower

It was really cute and lots of fun.


Kay painted the fish tank with chocolate hands.

Mom's back surgery, Jenny arrives and the bathroom is finished.

Mom had her back surgery today. I will pick her up from the hospital in the morning. It went well and she is feeling better.

Jenny arrived for her visit today. She will be here until the 8th.

Mom's bathroom is finished. It looks really cute. We bought new hardware for the cabinets and a new toilet seat. Mom put up the wallpaper border.

Cool hippie tye dye

We made tye dye shirts today. Cam has been asking to make one so we got the stuff and did one for every one. It was fun. Each one is very different.

More painting, new bed and Kay's orthopedic appointment

I started painting Mom's bathroom today. It is a very pretty chocolate brown.

We got a new mattress because the store was selling the floor model and it was tax free weekend. So we got a good deal but we really needed a new bed so I am very happy. We were sleeping on the floor on a twin mattress. Now we have a roomy queen size that is actually up on a frame and every thing. It is the first new mattress I have had since I was a little kid.

Kay had her one year follow up with her orthopedic doctor today. We got horrible lost at Children's hospital as we always do and wandered aroung the buildings for 45 minutes. We finally found Dr. Davey and he said Kay is doing great.

Adventures on the CART bus with Grandma

When you don't have to pay attention to driving you notice all kinds of other things. Like the two guys skipping together in the Norman High School parking lot and the man golfing in the Sam's club parking lot. Also people on the bus are really nice.

Rachel sent us more signing time shows

Now Rachel has lots of help in the office to get everything done but when we first got involved Rachel still answered the phone at Two Little Hands. Cam remembers that and because he has been to visit the Signing Time group a few times they are part of our family. Rachel is like that really cool aunt that you don't get to see a whole lot but who sends fun packages in the mail. We got another package today with the latest DVDs. Cam always says Rachel sent me a package cause she loves me.

We got series two volume 11 Once Upon A Time and volume 12 Box Of Crayons. Rachel even signed them for us. We also got a Signing Time coloring book and crayons to color with. Cam and Kay were very excited and as usual the DVDs have been running non stop. Cam says his favorite part is when Rachel wears the silly glasses and when it gets all dark when they turn out the lights and talk about the color black in the Box Of Crayons DVD. Also when Hopkins holds up the signs that say Kiss Please when he wants Leah to give him a smooch in Once Upon A Time.

His favorite signs he has learned so far are word and book from Once Upon A Time. He already knew how to sign book but Rachel talks about how you change the size of the sign to match if you are talking about a big book or a little book.

In Box Of Crayons his favorite signs are gold and silver. Kay likes all of the different parts of the shows. She laughs when she sees Hopkins and she listens when she hears Rachel's familiar voice.

As usual the new shows are a huge hit at our house. Anyone who is interested in learning ASL would benefit from adding these DVDs to their collection.

Thanks Aunt Rachel and everyone at Two Little Hands Productions!!

Visit www.signingtime.com for more info or to place an order.