ANNOYED AND TICKED!!

I am completely clueless as to why on Kendal's post there is a HUGE gap from the title to the first paragraph. I have gone in several times and put it back to the top as well as fixing the other spacing issues. It has it triple spaced where I put double spaces and it double spaced where I wanted it single spaced. I have spent hours trying to fix it because each time I have had to also move the pics back to the right spot and twice I have accidentaly deleted one so I AM DONE!!! It looks stupid, but I am too mad and irritated to mess with it any longer! Anyone know why it is doing that or how to fix it, I am open to advice and suggestions! Let's see how this one publishes....

All About Kendal...10 years

10 years ago, I became more than just a daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, and wife. After 6 1/2 years of marriage, I finally earned the best name/title there is. MOMMY!! Before Mommy-hood, I would hear different women talk about the love you feel for your children, but until you enter that coveted, special world yourself, you don't really truly get it. You love that baby that is in your womb and you do everything you can to protect it to make sure they enter this world, but when they finally get here.....WOW!!! The over-powering, instantaneous, take-your-breath away, willing to die for this new little being you hold in your arms kind of love is AMAZING!!! And even that is an understatement!!

I knew from the time I was very little that I wanted to get married and be a Mommy, that was the "career" path I wanted. I don't really recall ever saying I am going to be a ______ (fill in the blank) when I grow up. That 'blank' space for me was always a wife and mommy. And I always said I was going to have four kids. Happy with 3! :)

Jeff and I got married when I was 3 months shy of 21, he was 3 months shy of 22. We share the same birthday. :) I had it all planned out! We would have our first child when I was 23, second at 25, third at 27 and fourth and 29. I wanted to be done before I turned 30!! No problem!! But actually there were two problems. Jeff wasn't as eager to become a Daddy as I was about becoming a Mommy. Men!! :) No problem, we'll just push my time frame back a little. Problem two...God's time frame was not on track with mine either! GRRRRR!!

Needless to say, after a miscarriage and two (very long) years, I finally became pregnant with our first child (who's due date was one day off from the first pregnancy, just two years later, freaky)! I had a great pregnancy (I LOVED being pregnant!), although, morning sickness is a joke! I had all day sickness!! Thankfully, I could still function, but I was nauseous and icky all day through the first tri-mester, but as soon as the second one hit, the icky-ness was gone. Heart burn in the third tri-mester was another matter! :) Wowzers!!!

I worked at my job at a bank up until the day I had her...literally. Her due date was on a Monday, June 11, 2001. On Wednesday, June 6th, I went to work just like any other day. I didn't feel real great, but I was huge and about to pop so, of course, I felt blah. Turned out to be a little more than just feeling blah, but what did I know...she was after all, our first child. :) I thought there was plenty of time to pack a bag and get things ready. My mom was planning on coming from TX to NM on Friday to be there for her birth and help after. (We were also moving that weekend, but that's a whole other story...) She was not due for 5 more days! Kendal, however, had different plans!! I went into labor at work, but didn't realize that's what was happening. The later it got, the worse I felt! My supervisor kept telling me to go home, but I kept telling her I would be fine and that I didn't want to leave. About 4:45, she took matters into her own hands :) and called Jeff and told him that they couldn't get me to leave and that he needed to come get me. I would have never been able to drive home...

8 hours and 45 minutes after walking through the hospital doors, we were the proud parents of our first beautiful, precious, baby girl!!

finally here...4 days early

Kendal Madison

Thursday, 6-7-01, 2:20 am

7 lb. 6.8 oz. 21 in. long

My mom left TX before sunrise a few hours after her birth, so while she didn't end up being there for her birth as planned, she got there as quick as she could. She walked into my hospital room, I started crying, she started crying...a crazy, beautiful moment!

2 weeks

3 months

6 months

10 months

ONE year

18 months

TWO years

THREE years

FOUR years

FIVE years

SIX years

SEVEN years

EIGHT years

NINE years

today...TEN years old!!

(I had to reset the date on my camera and I entered the wrong year....irritating!!)

The years have gone by way too fast! She quickly went from infant to baby to toddler to little girl to big girl and fast approaching the young lady stage. When she could sit up on her own she would sit on the floor playing with her toys and from the back she looked like a little mad scientist hard at work. She would also stop what she was doing to look at the TV while the theme song for the Golden Girls played. I love GG reruns! :) She waited until she was almost 16 months old to officially start walking. She sure could crawl fast!! Her first word was 'hot' which she pronounced 'ot'. She used to say 'gotfor' instead of 'forgot'. She FREAKED out the first time she ever had a band aid put on her. Because we lived with my parents from ages 1-4 and she heard us be called Jeff and Shannon, she went through a stage when she would call us Jeff and Shannon. That was broken when we would ignore her until she used Mommy or Daddy! :) Also, because of living with Grandma and Papa she was pretty spoiled because she pretty much always had someone at her beck and call. If Mommy couldn't do it right away, Grandma could or Daddy or Papa. She has such a sweet spirit, thinks the best of everyone she meets, she loves God, her family, friends, and her dogs. She has such a caring heart for animals that she would take in every stray she came across if we would let her. I love that she still has the same little blanket that she used as a baby and that she still has to have it to sleep every night. She informed me the other night that she will sleep with it forever, even when she is an adult! I love that she will still grab my hand to hold it or wrap her arm around my waist when we are walking somewhere. I love that she is a Daddy's girl and gets upset if he's not home if it's stormy out because she's afraid he'll be hurt. I love that up until just a short time ago she would still climb up next to him in his chair and watch TV with him. Now she's just too big and not in terms of age, but size. She is tall and can now wear the same size shoe as me!! I love that she feels comfortable asking me questions (some that I am not ready for :) ) and talking to me about things she overheard other kids saying or talking about that she knows are wrong. I pray that that is always the case!!! She adores her sisters and is very protective of them, only occasionally do we experience some sister un-love! :)

I ended up having her at the age that I planned on having our third child, but my plan wasn't according to God's plan and His plan is always the best plan. GOD IS GOOD...ALL THE TIME!! I wouldn't change a thing even if I could. We are blessed to call her daughter and love her more than words can say. We are so proud of the person she is growing up to be and pray that she seeks God first in all that she does!!

Back in the land of the living

A little over one year ago, I went to the doctor because I. WAS. SICK!!! I had a nice case of strep going on. As an added bonus, he informs me that I have a goiter on my thyroid. Well, fabulous!! Thyroid "issues" run on my mom's side of the family and wouldn't you know it...that is the one thing I inherited from her. I called her on the way home to thank her for that! :)


While I was sitting on the table and the good doctor was squeezing around on my neck, he asked me several questions about how I had been feeling prior to getting strep. He wanted to know if I had been feeling very fatigued and low energy. Well, now that you mention it... I hadn't been able to pull my cleaning all-nighters while the rest of the family slept, watch a movie or TV show without falling asleep and really didn't have the energy to do even simple things around the house. He also wanted to know if I had been having trouble losing weight. To this I just laughed around my very sore throat and informed him that I hadn't really been trying, but it sure seemed to be packing on. He told me that with medication I should see my energy level go up as well as some pounds fade away. Energy...not so much, weight loss...yeppers! 30ish pounds seemed to fall off pretty quick.


I went back after a few months to have the lovely needle stuck in my arm to test my blood and let him know that I didn't feel much of a change in terms of fatigue and energy. Blood work came back and it still wasn't where it should be so he lowered the dosage of my original prescription ($4 a month) and added another one at a whopping $50 a month. That only lasted a couple of months before I told him that I couldn't do a $50 a month prescription, especially when I still didn't feel "right". He raised my original scrip higher than it was to begin with and added Vitamin D. That went on for another several months with still not much of a change. I hated it!! Most nights I couldn't get wait for the girls to go to bed so I could go to bed. One night, Jeff was going to be home late so I told the girls at 8:00 that it was time for bed. I was exhausted and I just wanted to crawl into bed myself. Kendal, however says, "But it's only 8, we don't have to go to bed until 8:30". I replied with, "I hate that you can tell time, why do have to be 9???" I was laughing as I said it, though, because she got me! No pulling one over on that girl!!

Let me tell you, it was a horrible existence! And yes, I am aware that I could have been dealing with something much worse than a whacked out thyroid. However, I would wake up in the morning and before I was even out of bed, I couldn't wait until it was time to go back to bed. I felt like everything I did was done in slow motion. Not only was I annoyed with my ailment, so was Jeff.

Well, I finally seem to be back to normal...whatever that is! I went last week and had blood drawn again, told him yet again that I am still just blah and that I was sick of it. Blood work came back with my thyroid still low, my iron very, very low according to Nurse Lisa which could also be contributing with my horrible fatigue. Thyroid meds upped some more, continue taking Vitamin D, added iron supplements twice a day and the best part...he prescribed a diet pill. SWEET!!! Apparently that will help with my energy level and the added bonus of maybe losing more weight is icing on the cake for me!

I started on this new regimen of pills yesterday morning and OH. MY. GOODNESS!! what a difference!! It was instantaneous! I have gotten more done around here in the last two days than I have in months. I've been like the Tazmanian Devil, but in a non-destructive way. I got the girls closets and drawers cleaned out, ceiling fans cleaned, dusted, vacuumed, mopped, cleaned bathrooms, mounds of laundry done AND put away. There is still plenty more that I want to accomplish in the next couple of days, like cleaning the nasty baseboards, purging some items that have been sitting around and selling on Craig's List or donating. My brain is working overtime on all that I want to do.

After over a year (probably closer to two) of the total blah's, it is so great to be feeling back to normal, or my definition of it anyway! Jeff is happy too! :)

Until next time...

I had a ditz moment!

Saturday, my friend and I and our 5 girls spent the afternoon together. Before we could start the fun, I had to air up my tire. It is something I have done a few times, but usually Jeff does it. When I have done it, I have gone to the Shell station right by our house. I drop my quarters in the machine, it comes on, I air up my tire(s) and I'm on my way. Jeff told me to go to Quik Trip because the air is free and we would be passing it on the way to the mall. No problem!

I go to QT, pull out the little tire pressure reader thingy and check the air. Jeff says it needs to be around 30-35 psi. No problem! I put it on the tire and it spits out the stick and says it's around 25 psi. Kendal is helping me so we get the hose pulled out and I start airing up the tire. I hear a pssssssssssss sound, wait a little while and recheck the pressure. It looks to be about the same, so I put those air hose back on. Psssssssssss some more. Recheck the pressure several time because it doesn't look like it's gone up any and in fact looks like it's a little, teeny tiny bit less. I grouch about how we should have a digital reader because it would be so much easier to read than this thing that spits out a stick. I have Kendal pull the hose back out start airing up some more. Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss some more. This time I left it on quite a bit longer because I had a ways to go and I was tired of checking and re-checking. My tire however does not look like it's getting any bigger. Finally check and the psi reads 20. I'm sure you have figured out what was happening...

I called Jeff and said, "I'm here at QT trying to air up the tire. Don't you put the hose on the tire and it airs up? It doesn't seem to be working." He asks (with a tone that says, surely my wife isn't that dumb), "Did you turn on the machine?" I look at the machine and that is when I see the black button that you are supposed to push for the air to work. I instantly started CRACKING UP because instead of airing up my tires, I had in fact been letting the air out of them. He is at work in the office and tells everyone what I had just done. I hear all the laughter in the back ground. Luckily, I can laugh at myself and am entirely OK with someone else laughing at my stupidity. I will also laugh at yours! :)

I pushed the black button and the machine started roaring. That really should have been my tip-off that something wasn't right...the machine didn't sound like it was trying to take off before. My tire aired up very quickly and we were on our way!

I hope you got a good laugh at my expense. I can take it!!! :)

Until next time...

How much is too much?!

It seems hard to believe that at one time, not all that long ago, cell phones, smart phones, iPhones, iPads, Kindles, DVD player, Blu Ray player, laptops, e-mail, social networking sites, a home computer in every home (in some cases more than one...or two), satellite dishes, FIOS, etc. didn't exist. Nowadays, it's all about which company can come out with the newest and next best thing. You barely have the newest thing figured out when the next newest thing hits store shelves. 3G, 4G, 5G....just how high are these G's gonna go and quickly are we going to get there?!?!



When I was growing up, we didn't have a TV in our house. **GASP!!** I was probably around 12 when we got our first TV and it was a used one from a guy my dad worked with. We were so excited to have a TV. Just because we got a TV didn't mean that we got cable! Nope, no cable!! We watched whatever came in with rabbit ears and watched lots of movies with the......wait for it......VCR!!! Those are almost non-existent! When I was almost 15, we moved from CA to MI and I think it was there that we finally had cable. A very basic cable. Could you even imagine proposing that to a kid these days. Or not having their cell phone. They would act like you were asking them to cut off an arm!



Cell phones are great a thing! I feel better driving, even if it's just around town, knowing that if I broke down or something happened that I can call for help. At some point in time, our girls will have a phone of their own for safety reasons. Several years from now. Although, if you ask Kendal, she is getting one in June for her 10th birthday. The child is crazy! :) It doesn't matter how many times I explain to her that she has no need for one, she still asks for one. Even when we lived in walking distance of their school, we wouldn't let them walk by themselves and now their school is too far to walk. They are always with me or some other adult. No need for a phone.



Jeff and I have been married a little over 16 years. We didn't have cell phones or a computer at first. He carried a beeper for work. Do those still exist?? Eventually we did get a cell phone. One of those that looked and felt like you were carrying a brick AND we shared it. Can you imagine?!?! How far we have come!!



I am in no way knocking technology! I think it is wonderful! I have been able to re-connect with so many people through facebook, although I am not as hardcore about being on there as some, I do like getting on there to see what's going on in other people's lives. Sending a text is sometimes much better and quicker than making a phone call. ***BUT TO ALL YOU MORONS THAT TEXT WHILE YOU DRIVE....STOP IT!!!*** How many more people need to die from texting while driving before you grasp that it's not safe??!! Does it need to be one of your loved ones???? Hope not!!!!



So what has prompted my rant on technology you might be wondering. Well, I will tell you! Last night we went to dinner at our favorite family owned Italian restaurant. It doesn't sit in amongst restaurant row so for a Friday night when we walked in there weren't all that many people in there. Only one other family in the area we were in, but eventually a party of five came in (1 man, 2 women, 2 teenage-ish boys) and a mom and dad with their little girl. While we were waiting for our food I was "people watching". The two boys sat in a booth by themselves and the 3 adults sat in one together. As I was people watching I noticed that the two boys and the man were messing around on their phones and then before you knew it so were the two women. During the time we were there, at least two or three of them were messing around on their phone. Not at any point did all of them have their phones laying on the table. Same thing with the mom and dad with their little girl who couldn't have been more than 3 or 4.

I am not trying to step on anybody's toes, but really????!!! Are you or anything that important that you can't even sit through a family meal without your phone?? What does that say to that little girl. Those parents were missing out on precious time with that little one and will wonder one day why she doesn't want to talk to them.

It is hard enough for us to have family dinner time together because of Jeff's work schedule, but it's not going to become even less important because what's going on elsewhere is more important. Turn off your phones or at the very least put them on vibrate when you're sitting down to dinner with your family. They are what is important! They are what matter most! Make your kids put theirs away! TALK during dinner! Anything else can wait till later! How long does a meal last anyway??!

Until next time...

Last Year of Preschool

It's hard to believe that this is the VERY LAST year that we will have a child enrolled at the Child Development Center. I started working there when Kendal was 1, but left her with my mom that first year. At the time, we figured why pay for her to go there when my mom would watch her those two days for free :) plus we had just moved here and we really didn't know what the program was about. I was there less than a month when I regretted the choice not to enroll Kendal, but her age was already full. The program is the greatest! Kendal was enrolled the very next year and Payton and Bransyn were in the infant room as soon as they had had their first set of vaccinations. I LOVE working there, I LOVE everyone I work with and I LOVE that all our girls will have "graduated" out of there into Kindergarten. More importantly, all three of our girls have LOVED it there!

FIRST day of the LAST day of her preschool career

sisters are the best!

pals--they have moved up in the program together and will go off to Kindergarten at the same school together next fall, as of now anyway....

SECOND day of the LAST year of preschool

Didn't work out to get a pic of her with her teachers on the first day...and we HAVE to have that, it is her LAST year of preschool, after all!! :)

Bransyn with her teachers, Ms. M, Ms. M and Ms. D

The second Ms. M and Ms. D also had her when she was 1

I'M A FROG!!!

r-r-r-r-r-r-ribbit!

Until next time...

First Grade Do-Over

Of course starting school can't remain uneventful for us. On Thursday of the second week, Payton came home with a note from the Principal. Fortunately, we were not the only parents to receive a note from the Principal regarding our first grader. She did not get in any major trouble that warranted a note coming home from the Principal, instead it was to inform us that there was an over abundance of little first graders and an under abundance of little Kindergartners so they were taking the new Kinder teacher who has first grade experience and moving her up to first grade and Payton was one of the lucky ones that got chosen to move to her class. When I talked to Payton, she didn't seem to be the least bit concerned about it and acted like it was no big deal. Good! Great! Friday morning, she became very nervous about it and I had to explain to her (again) that it would be the next week before she changed classes, that she would still be with her original teacher, that her new teacher would be coming in to her class today to meet the students that would be transferring to her class and that next week I would walk her to her class that first day to help her get settled. That day was yesterday. We walked into her new classroom hand in hand and as we got closer, she squeezed my hand a little tighter. I wish I could have stayed with her all day!

with her new teacher, Ms. N

her new locker

settling right in at her new desk

It didn't take long before she let go of my hand and realized it was "no big deal". When she got home and I asked her about her day and her new teacher, she didn't have a whole lot to say. Typical! I did get out of her that she likes her teacher and that she is nice. :)

Until next time...