2009!

Well, it's about time I get back to blogging! Whoops... the last few months sort of passed me by. It's embarrassing to say, but Facebook has wiped out almost all of my Internet time lately. Ugh... frying my brain cells, as the newest study has indicated. LOL. And we've sort of been under the weather this year....

2009 hasn't gotten off to a great start just yet. Christmas was good, and we were able to celebrate with family at our home. It was nice and relaxing... but shortly after the New Year, we were hit with illnesses. It started the first week of January with recurrent corneal erosion in Christy's right eye... on a SUNDAY morning, when no eye doctor is in the office. Tissue began to tear away from the cornea. After 5 eye-doctor appointments in two weeks, I thought I was back to normal. Till 7 weeks later, when it reoccurred! Ugh. It's a very painful process, but fortunately within days the eye mostly heals. The biggest problem with corneal abrasions is that your eye never fully heals, and the new tissue doesn't attach properly. So, it's always susceptible to this problem in the future, especially with the extreme dry-eye problem that I have. What a future I have ahead of me... corneal erosions for life? ACK! My problem began in 2003 with a corneal abrasion from a piece of wood. NEVER try basketweaving on your own without goggles!!! Don't laugh... I kid you not. And thus, I've never touched basketweaving since.

After the first eye incident, I went in for tendonitis in my shoulder. My shoulder had for nearly a year been aching at night and in the morning. The pain started becoming worse around the holidays, to the point of throbbing all day too. So, a good course of prednisone stopped that. Whew... by this point, I was really feeling old.

Then we had a few good, healthy weeks. (except for a hobbling knee injury from hula-hooping on the Wii Fit... again, I kid you not!) And then WHAM! Ben got sick (stomach bug), quickly followed by Gracelynn (who... by the way... threw up all night without telling us... she's a pro at getting to the toilet, flushing and forgetting... never fussed!!), then Reagan got it (and needed ER assistance to stop the dry-heaving), then Mommy (me!), quickly followed by Tommy... and then, our poor caretaker, Mike. Yes, in 6 days, it hit every one of us!!! What a miserably horrible horrible week that was!

So... to say the least, by this point, I had already missed a few weeks of work. After the stomach bug, we all began to recuperate by Friday/Saturday of that week. Until... Sunday morning. Mommy woke up at 4:30 to feel "RIP". Yep, the second occurrence of corneal erosion this year. Ugh. Fortunately this time I didn't have to scream in agony for 24 hours again while awaiting an eye doctor appointment. We did call the doctor on call (who by the way, must not be used to eye emergencies at 5am on Sunday mornings!) After basically hearing that I was to endure the pain till Monday, take some painkillers and keep my eye closed all day... Mike asked if I could use my contacts to cover the wound. She said yes. Talk about immense relief. I went from screaming to calm in about 5 minutes. Daily contacts make terrific bandaids! (This is the way the doctor's office treats the problem, too.) By the time I got to the doctor on Monday, the wound had "healed". Whew!

Reagan had another brief reoccurence of some stomach thing, and I've had a few migraines throughout... but I really think that maybe we are on the mend (KNOCK WOOD). Mike and I had our physicals this week. He's in the clear... my blood results still aren't back, but I'm not expecting any major problems. Could it be that we may be good-to-go for awhile? Shouldn't say that... Influenza A and Influenza B are hitting the schools with a vengeance lately. Can my kids stay well??? Now I see why people homeschool! (Only teasing.) Fortunately my preschool class has been fairly well... almost no absences! Woo hoo!

Ugh. Our doctors are buying new convertibles with the bills we're racking up!

Mommy hosted a Pampered Chef in there somewhere too... and is now super-stocked on PC products... woo hoo! Daddy celebrated his 29th birthday again... and has yet to buy his birthday gift (Mommy was out of ideas this year!) Reagan had her 8th birthday and a small party. We learned of our good friends being chosen for an adoption! (YAY Karen and Neil). Their arrival should make his appearance any day now. Oh... I'm sure I've missed out on a lot more, but those are the things I can remember right now. LOL We're also in the midst of planning a Disney vacation in November, too. If anyone has any advice on what NOT to miss, please email me!

Here are some photos of the last few months, in reverse order since the Mac isn't allowing me to click and drag photos to new spots and I don't have the time to fuss with this. LOL

Perhaps our new car? A Toyota Sequoia... our next adventure in another month or so. This is Reagan at the DC Auto Show, testing out the Sequoia. Can I just say that I love the term "Adoption Credit" these days?

Ben, without BRACES! He has a retainer, which he wears most of the time, but his cheeks aren't as puffy anymore. When he's out playing basketball at Upwards, he takes it out. I can seem the gleaming straight white teeth from the bleachers! YAY! All that work with braces and headgear and expanders worked!!! :-) Reagan is supposed to start her orthodontic work this summer...

Happy 8th Birthday Reagan. We are down to "small parties" nowadays with the older kids. We just had a kick-back easy craft and movie day. I'm guessing the "small parties" will be phased out in another year or two.

We took the kids with my parents to Baltimore's Port Discovery one day at the end of December. The kids had a ball! The adults were exhausted!

All eight of us (minus me taking the photo) at our Christmas Dinner. Mike's parents were in town that weekend. We were able to use our new placemats and had a lovely fried-turkey meal by Ukrops. Yummy!

Our traditional "top o' the stairs" photo as the kids anxiously await our okay to go dive into the Christmas gifts. We have to stop having kids... can't fit anymore across that top stair! They are sporting their new Christmas PJs. :)

This was Christmas Eve, after our church's service and the last reading of a Christmas book in our 24-day reading countdown. (I think it was Franklin's Christmas by the looks of the book on the table.) The kids get to open just one present on Christmas Eve... their new PJs for Christmas photos! :)