The Fathers in my life

I have been an extremely lucky girl.....to have a great husband and a great dad. Thank you for everything you both have done for me!

Ervin, I sometimes take you for granted and I am sorry....today, I thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to our family. This week for example, I don't know what I would have done without you. You have taken such great care of me this week while I recover from surgery... and you also have taken great care of the kids. I love you!

Dad, you are the most amazing person I know.
Thank you for being the best dad there is. You have always been there for me whenever I needed you. You taught me how to be a good person.
I am happy to say that dad is out of the ICU and is stable. Thank God...

failure!

So I finally weighed myself. I have been avoiding the scale for weeks....I finally just sucked it up and stepped on. NOT GOOD. I am back to my January weight. Oh..My...GoD...I don't know why I do this. I feel like a failure.

Good news is...I am having surgery next week. I am getting my tonsils out. My throat will be sore....I won't be able to swallow without pain...I will definitely lose weight.

Last night I took a long hour walk....and today... I will do it again. Started the day off good with a mushroom egg white scramble.

I know how to lose weight. Something is not letting me... I am keeping myself from this. And now....it is not all about how I look...which....I am hating the way I look and feel right now.....but I need to lose weight for my health....I need to be healthy!

My dad is in the hospital right now with pancreatitis. He is not looking too good. He is in the ICU..with an NG tube, 2 IV's, heart monitors, a foley catheter, a rectal tube, dilaudid PCA. He is wheezing needing breathing treatments...and is very swollen. I almost didn't recognize him when I saw him yesterday. He has diabetes and kidney disease. I was reading on the internet last night...the prognosis doesn't sound too good when you add in the kidney disease. I am just hoping that he will pull through this. My dad is one of the strongest people I know. It just hurts to see him in that hospital bed...looking so helpless and in pain.

I use food to cope. Not good.

If you are the praying type...Please pray for my Dad.....

Look who's ONE!

My dear Gracelyn turned ONE this week!

Word cannot express how very happy I am that she is in my life. I am so lucky to have her as my daughter. I love you Gracelyn!

Happy Mother's Day!

"Mothers are all slightly insane."

"There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one."

"Men are what their mothers made them."

" If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?"

"Mother's can look through a child's eyes and see tomorrow"



"Mothers are instinctive philosophers."


Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!

Easter thoughts...

This year Easter has been a big eye opener for me...I have always grown up as Easter being the day that Jesus rose from the dead. We would celebrate by going to mass and have a family celebration with lots of food. We would have an Easter egg hunt set up by the parents....maybe dye some eggs once in a while for fun.

Well, I just realized this year ( I know this is nuts that I just figured this out) that other families celebrate Easter differently...as in...the celebration of the arrival of the Easter bunny..... the celebration of spring....The Easter bunny would bring Easter baskets full of toys and chocolates and lay eggs everywhere. I had no clue that parents gave presents and Easter baskets to children that was FROM THE EASTER BUNNY. I always thought that that the gifts were from parents. I was shocked....and I felt like my kids have been missing out on the whole Easter bunny thing. It's like missing out on the tooth fairy or Santa Clause! My parents never laid out Easter baskets for us or hid eggs that the Easter bunny laid so I had no idea that the Easter bunny was supposed to do that!

I am in favor of celebrating Easter in both ways. I don't have any judgements for those that celebrate the coming of the Easter bunny solely. I think that it is definitely important for my children to know the real and true meaning of Easter......but I think they definitely should not miss out the fun stuff too.

So , this year, at the last minute, I hid Easter eggs and had 1 basket full of candy that the "Easter bunny" brought over. I woke up Jacob and Allie and said that the Easter bunny came. They looked at me with puzzled faces and came down the stairs. They started searching for eggs....and Allie said....with her hip out, pointing around, with raised eye brows..."I don't think the Easter bunny did this...I think you did!" It was pretty obvious that they are too old and that they have missed out on this thing for all their lives! HA! I tried.....but maybe it is not too late for the younger ones......

Jacob's First Communion

It was a happy day! I am so proud of my son. He has been preparing for this all year and it was a wonderful celebration. It brought tears to my eyes seeing him so big and taking the body of Christ. He decided that he didn't want to take the wine, and that was okay. This day brought me so much joy and it brought back memories of my own First Communion. I remember wearing a white dress and veil with bright red lipstick! I have no idea why my mom let me wear that , but she did. I wish I had a picture. Let's just say I won't be letting Allie carry on that tradition! Her first communion will be next year.

Jacob is wearing a "barong" which is a formal wear of the Philippines. It is worn on very special celebrations, such as this or a wedding. I think he looks very handsome!

Gracie turns 11 months

Gracie is already 11 months old...turning 1 in a few short days... She is growing so fast. She is so close to walking...She can take a few steps by herself but then gets scared and sits down. She climbs the stairs any chance she gets. She can say mama and dada....and repeat sounds.

Main highlights of this month include her first Easter, her first really bad injury, and her first tumble down the stairs.....yeah the bad injury is not the tumble down the stairs! Her right index finger was crushed and split open. Big sister accidentally slammed the door on her finger and it was horrible. Blood everywhere! I debated on whether I should take her to urgent care and decided at the time that it was ok....but looking back now.....I think I should have taken her. It looks like it could have needed stitches. I have worried about it for over 2 weeks and I think if I had taken her to the doctor that day....I would have saved myself from all that worrying.....instead I saved 100 dollars from not going to the urgent care.....now that I look back...I would gladly pay! Her finger does look better but is still black and blue and swollen. Her nail looks like it could fall off. Yeah I know! Horrible!

While I was busy dying Easter eggs with the older kids, Gracie crawled to the stairs, climbed the stairs, and then fell down the stairs. I heard a boom, boom pow.....AAAHHHH! boom boom..AAAAH! I ran to her rescue...she was scared mostly....thank God she was not hurt! I swear, this child will be lucky to survive her first year! During her first year she has also fallen off the changing table and the bed! Poor thing...I hope she can add and subtract when she gets older! Thank goodness all areas were carpeted.

loving her bottle....

looking outside watching Jacob and Allie play...

playing with her friend Michael

Easter dress

climbing stairs...