Deja Vu

Yup. Deja vu. Sick kids. Again. I swear Kyle has been sick about 4-5x this winter. Had to leave Vegas early and drive home last night. Jack sent Devin to school yesterday and Kyle to daycare. They both hacked their way through the day and Kyle spiked a fever at Ms. Julie's. When I got home, Devin had a 103 degree fever. Yea. So, I am still in jammies with kids today. Hope I don't get it... eating echinacea and vitamins like candy. :). There is some nasty virus going around.

Meanwhile, Jay is still in hospital but doing well. He is getting some rehab while they are trying to make arrangements for in-home care for Jay & Jean. The plan right now is to move Jay & Jean (Jack's parents) into Dave's home (Jack's brother). Since Dave's wife Geri also needs 24 hour care b/c of her degenerative brain disorder... all 3 of them will live there with Dave. He is retired now and takes care of Geri. But, we are working on hiring someone to help out Dave... especially at night. Jack and his brothers would chip in money to help out for their care. Kathy won't b/c she is changing careers AGAIN and just let her house go.

On a good note, Devin is going to get a puppy soon. We promised her she could have a puppy this summer when she turns 7 yrs old. Well, our neighbor's dog, Pistol, had puppies recently and we picked out one of her pups. We just love their dog... great family dog and loves kids. We were planning on getting a sibling of Pistol's when her parents were re-bred. But, then she got pregnant...so we are getting one of her pups instead. Devin picked out a cute boy pup which she has named Chip. She told me she gets to name him b/c "It's my dog Mom and I get to name him." Point taken. I did veto so crazy names like Cherry and Yellow Jacket. But, Chip was ok. He looks like a "Chip". He is now 4 weeks old... brown roan with white and black markings. He is 3/4 Corgi and 1/4 Heeler with docked tail. We wanted a small dog... and vetoed a chihuahua... nippy/ yappy dogs. So, this one should be a cutie. She will get him in a couple weeks.

$h%t has hit the fan.

Yup. Life got complicated again. I am now in Vegas for veterinary conference. Gonna have to leave home a day early tomorrow. Jack's dad had a mild stroke over the weekend. I ended up leaving 1/2 day late to get here. Didn't get here till late Sunday night. Jack's dad is doing better but not being a good patient. Tried to check himself out of hospital on Monday. Meanwhile, everyone is scrambling to take care of Jack's Mom who needs 24 hour care. She is now at Dave & Geri's and isn't happy. Then, Devin gets sick yesterday and had to stay home from school today. Now Jack, Kyle and Devin are sick and Jack is stressed. So, I will check out early tomorrrow. Gotta enjoy my last brief night.

On a good note, was on TV last week for working on a horse named Sugar who fell into irrigation canal. Quite a big story and rescue to get her out. I had 3 TV stations interview me. She is doing well and still at our clinic.

Well, gotta go get dinner with some friends. And so it goes...

Got my mojo back.

Finally got my mojo back. It's been back for about 3 months now. I finally feel myself again. I felt like such a dark cloud was over us for the past 2 years. Jack has gone through multiple jobs since Hubbell. I hope he has finally found his nitch at Tel Tech. Since my dad was diagnosed and died from cancer... it was just a struggle. I was VERY close to my dad. Still miss him a lot but his light shines in me. I think of him often but remember the good things.

Last summer was tough with Devin's school anxiety... but she has really shined these last few months. She is doing REALLY well... she is doing great in school and extra-curricular activities. She is now riding the school bus home, buying her lunch, and having no anxiety anymore. In the last month, she has had 4 sleepovers with her friends Rowyn and Katie. Let me tell you, happy kids equals happy mom. When my kids aren't happy, either am I. I am so pleased she is doing so well. Her light is really shining and I feel like Devin has finally turned the corner to my happy, anxiety-free child I knew she could be. She just got her 3rd quarter report card and it was all good. She wanted to re-join the Little Gym in the grade school "Flips" class and is still doing dance at Steppin Out studio. Last weekend, at the Superbowl, she even did rock climbing. I was shocked!!!

As for me, I've been riding more. Rode Moon and Chase last weekend. Rode Chase at Estrella Mtn Park today with Lynne. Been working out more and just started Zumba which I love. Been going to more functions with friends and drinking and just lettin' my hair down and having fun which I haven't let myself do for a LONG time. Been out with friends 3-4 times in the last 2 months. So, it's been great. Jack and I are doing well and will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary next month. He cooked for the Mom's Night Out Dutch Oven Cookout at our house last night. Also,I've been reading more and doing some scrap albums and watching 24 on Netflix. It seems the happier I am, the more I accomplish. Plus, I really feel like I've been spending quality time with the family as well... we went to Devin's school Valentine's dance on Friday night. Been going to the library once a week with the kids. Been taking the kids riding. Been taking the kids to all their after-school activities. We've been going to more parties as a family as well. Another thing we've been trying really hard to do is have "family night" once a week together. We also went to the Monster Truck Jam recently. Kyle and Devin loved it. Note to self... wear ear plugs next time. LOL. I definitely got my mojo back. Yea. Next weekend, I go to Vegas for the Western States Veterinary Conference for 4 days. Hope Jack survives the mayhem without me! I will think of it as "Traci appreciation week!" He will realize how much I really do!

Except for illness, life is good.

Well, we have had our share of illness for the last 6 weeks... typical winter flus and colds. Course, Kyle catches every single one of them and gets it the worst! It started with him getting sick with a GI virus the week before Christmas during our Colorado trip in December. Fortunately, it didn't last long. Then, he got sick on Christmas Eve. I stayed home with him and Jack and Devin went to Jack's parent's house. They are not doing well. Jean's health is failing and she has recurrent UTI's. Then, on Christmas day, Kyle spiked a 105 fever. So, off we go to Urgent Care.... and then back again when they told us it's just a virus. That resolved. Then, mid-January, Kyle and I both got sick with a nasty cold/flu virus. About a week later, it turned into a sinus infection for both of us. Back to the doctor for both of us... and on antibiotics. On day 8 of antibiotics, Kyle spikes another fever and develops a cough from another virus. And so it goes. Today, we had to cancel his "makeup" class for Little Gym b/c he was coughing (which also means barfing) too much this morning. Yes, his sensitive gag reflex is still in full effect. Meaning, every time he gets a cold or cough, he will gag or cough until he vomits. It's lovely.

Besides the winter cold blues, we are doing pretty well. Jack just switched jobs again for the 4th? time in 2 years. I hope this is the one. We shall see... I have been trying to get back into working out again. Hard to do when I have a cold or sinus infection... but trying. I just took up Zumba and love it. Have actually gone out a few times with friends in the last month. I am starting to feel "myself" again after a rough 2010. I'm getting my mojo back! Tomorrow, we are going to Pat & Beth's house for the Superbowl. Should be fun. Today, I rode Moon & Chase and they did great. Last weekend, we had our annual client education seminar at our vet clinic. I spoke on colic. I think I did ok... maybe a little nervous... but ok.

Devin has been doing awesome. She has had a couple playdates and sleepovers lately. As a matter of fact, she is having Katie over tonight. She had 2 sleepovers with Rowyn last month. We are totally encouraging it and on board. Anything which will increase her self confidence is great. She has been doing really well in school and is now riding the bus home. She has been doing that for about 3 weeks now... all her idea and a HUGE milestone in our house. She is still doing ballet/tap class too.

Kyle is doing well despite all his illnesses. Speaking of, Devin said something really funny the other day... I was explaining to her what "donate" means and why her school is donating money for sick kids. She says, "We should collect all the coins in our house and donate them to Kyle b/c he is sick all the time Mom." How do you argue with that logic?! LOL. Anyway, I signed up Kyle for Little Gym's gymnastic class at the beginning of January. He LOVES it!! He is an absolute maniac and sweats up a storm. He is talking like crazy and now will go to the potty (for pee) all by himself (we give him a treat if he goes by himself). Still car crazy. We took the whole family last Sat night to the Monster Truck Jam. He loved it.

Snow Trip in December

Time flies.... can't believe its been 6 weeks since I last posted. Well, we did have a great trip to Durango Colorado. We got Devin on skiis and skiing the baby hill for the first time. I got to ski with my friend Mo in the afternoons. We had a great time with her family sharing a rental condo for 5 days. Unfortunately, Kyle got a GI virus the first couple days which set him back a little. Poor little man. It's always something. Kyle did get a chance to play in the snow and even go tubing with the family and he loved it. We did "everything" snow since we rarely see it. Snowball fights, snow angels, building a snow man, eating snow, skiing and tubing. It snowed like crazy while we were there. A HUGE winter snow storm... almost 3-4 feet!!! We did not plan for this and drove our 2 wheel drive car... mistake we will not repeat. We almost didn't make it up and down the mountain a few times. Scary. Next time we will rent a 4 wheel drive (we had JUST sold our 4 wheel drive truck a month before).

We also did the Polar Express Train Ride. On the whole I would give it a C rating. I heard wonderful things about it.. but it was a bit of a disappointment to Devin. The whole time they were really revving up the kids that they were going to the "real" north pole to see Santa. Well, we rode the train (which was very cool) to a location that looked very fake. I've seen much better decorated houses to be honest. They had reindeer cut out of wood standing up next to Santa's sleigh. Devin was like.... "Mom, the reindeer are fake!" So , I made up some story about the real reindeer being in the barn eating dinner. She didn't buy it. Later, she asked me if next year we can go to the "real North Pole and not the fake one." Oh well.