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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Happy Birthday Corbin (post is a day late)

Today is Corbin's 8th Birthday. Eight years ago to this day I was in active labor. I was 19yrs old getting ready to have my first child and scared out of my mind. He was born at 10:25pm September 30th 2000. He was a beautiful healthy yet small little boy. He was 6lbs 8oz and just 17inches long...he was a shorty from birth.



Corbin is now an amazing young man. He is thoughtful and increcibly sensitive. He is so bright and perceptive. He has a wonderful personality and sense of humor. He knows just how to make me smile.



Today we went out as a family for lunch and an activity of his choice. We ended up at Golden Coral (gross) and then to the movies to see Igor (very cute movie). After the movie we walked around a pet store in the same shopping center. It was down pouring and we laughed as we all had to run through the rain.
Later that night we went to Lonestar for dinner (Kids eat free) and we invited Corbin's cousin Noveigh to join us. We had the wait staff embarrass Corbin with a song of Happy Birthday and then the kids enjoyed a very large brownie sundae.

I think Corbin had a nice birthday, his kid party is this coming Sunday and our family party is sometime this week...not sure yet. Corbin woke up with his room FILLED with Balloons, I think it shocked him. But he came and woke me up with a huge hug...I love my little man!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Baby Connor update

Baby Connor is still in the hospital. Wed after he was born the hole in his lung had healed but the Capillaries in his lungs were not expanding fully. He was then transfered to Richmond to recieve a treatment to help the lungs. He responded well to the treatment and they are not trying ot wean him off the oxygen. An attempt was made yesterday and he got down to 60% but it didn't go well so it was brought back up to 100%.

Another attempt starts today but they will be doing it slower. He should be in the hospital for at least another week.

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Welcome little Hula man!





Our Hula Sister Krista gave birth on Monday. These pictures were taken at a show on Saturday the 20th which was her due date.
She gave birth to a little boy that they named Connor Jeffrey. He was 8lbs 9oz. She had a wonderful labor and delivery.
Shortly after he was born he needed help breathing. They found he had a small tear in his lung and they were told it would heal on it's own in a couple days...but he had to stay in the NICU under an oxygen hood. Yesterday we were told that the hole had healed itself but that the capillaries in his lungs weren't expanding fully so he was then transported to Richmond where he can get better care. Krista and her husband Ed drove to Richmond today to be with him.
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.....and hope for a speedy recovery and that he'll be home with mommy and daddy soon!

Luau for Link

I mentioned the Luau for Link in my last post. The is a wonderful event that is taking place this coming Sunday.



My Mother works for Link as a Social worker. Link is an organization that helps low income family as well as homeless find jobs and housing. They also provide food, furniture, toys for kids...basically things that anyone would need. Well normally they would hold a food drive, but this event if a cleaning drive. They are taking donations from people such as cleaning products, personal feminine products ect.



Now my sister Marisha works for an Event planning business called MLM events. Well MLM events is putting together the cleaning drive. They are the organizors FOR Link. So my sister Marisha has been doing all the planning and work for the entire thing. This event was originally scheduled for Sept 6th but we had Tropical storm Hannah come through here so it had to be rescheduled.



Marisha came to our Hula group and asked us if we would be the entertainment for the event....of course we said yes =) I suggested making the entire event Luau themed to help us Hula girls fit in better. So it was then named "Luau for Link".



The event has recieved a lot of attention. Radio stations and TV stations will be there. Huge publicity for our Hula group!



Well this past week our local TV station Channel 13 asked Marisha to come in and do an on air interview about the event. Of course she said jumped at it, and then suggested having one of the Hula girls come in as well. So it was decided my other sister Hannah would be the one to go in and do it. It was live and aire this past Monday. The boys and I sat and watched them and it was so great. Marisha did great talking even though she was clearly nervous and then Hannah danced in our big Tahitian costume.



Here is a link to the full interview....go check it out =)

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=43336220

Just random rambling

What i've been up to.......................

Well this coming weekend our Hula group has 3 shows. Saturday we are doing a show for the Buddy walk (walk for down syndrome) and then a paid show that afternoon for a birthday party.

Sunday we have the Luau for Link which is a cleaning drive.

So this week i've been concentrating on getting ready for these shows. Sunday I have some new dances i'm doing, one being a solo so that's where my mind has been.

I've been trying to get the house fully unpacked...I've been here for a month and a half and I still have some boxes sitting around. So I've been doing really good with that.

I got the boys some new bed sheets....Corbin picked out a set that is covered in $100 bills...lol figures. Landon got a scooby doo set. We went thrift store shopping the other day and found them. I also found a red dress for my halloween costume....David and I are going to be Annie and Daddy warbucks lol The boys don't know what they want to be just yet.

Corbin's 8th birthday is in 5 days, I can't believe he's 8 already I'm just shocked...where did the years go? His party is going to be on oct 5th. We are having a Rock star/Karaoke party....he's so excited!

Tonight some of my favorite shows start...I can't wait! Greys anatomy and ugly betty and ER!!

I have more news about i'm going to put it all in some other posts
.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Instructor on a power trip

So last night around 6:30pm we all headed out the door to take Landon to his first Tae Kwon Do class.
I have never really been into the whole Karate/Tae Kwon Do thing. When my boys were younger I swore I would NEVER allow them to do it. Of course like everything else I learned my lesson...as a parent...NEVER say Never.

Ok so the reason why I finally gave in and put my dislike for Karate aside. The boys have taken a good amount of classes. I have always wanted to try different things. They have done gymnastics, dance, Acting/drama, and then their sports soccer and baseball. They LOVE their sports!

I had decided that the boys were going to do Fall soccer. Beginning of August I looked into sign ups and realized that I had missed them =( The kids were disapointed. We then had to commit to Fall Baseball instead. This time I didn't miss the sign up and the day of I took the boys down to the sign up location. I even called up a friend whose son is the same age as Landon so she could sign Owen up as well.
I go in to fill out the paperwork and one of the woman inform me that Landon won't be able to participate because of his age. WTH! Come to find out that in the Fall they do not do Tball, and you have to be 6 to be in Machine pitch.
So there we were, I had to look at Landon as well as my friend and her son Owen and tell them that they couldn't play...I felt so bad. I went ahead and signed Corbin up and figured I'd find something fun for Landon to do instead.

This is where the Tae Kwon Do comes in. I told Landon he could pick anything he wanted and this is what he wanted.
So Tuesday night we took him to his first class. We walk into a very large room in the community center. The instructor comes up and talks to us. I can tell right away that I didn't like him. Something about how he spoke to me, how he spoke to Landon, and how he carried himself....it all rubbed me the wrong way.
The other students....well let's see...4 of them were adults and mentally challenged, and the other 4 were about 5yrs older then Landon. He was the youngest, smallest and probably the smartest. The entire thing felt weird. The mentally challenged students were shouting a lot, saying random things, couldn't really participate very well. But what got me was that the instructor yelled at them a lot. Everytime they would yell something he would yell back "QUIET". The whole thing was odd.
He brought Landon over to us half way thru the class and said that he thought it was to much information for him and that he should leave early so he wasn't overwhelmed. At this point I had already decided that we would not be returning so I wanted Landon to get a full class just for fun...but this guy just didn't get that @@ So we went ahead and left early.

Now I hadn't paid yet, they were allowing us to have a trial class before actually signing him up...thank goodness cause I would have lost my money. We will not be returning. Landon DID enjoy himself though. Just watching for that short time I can see how this type of thing can really be a good thing for some kids. It really does help channel their energy. I think it's the perfect thing for a child like Landon. We will be looking into other Tae kwon do locations...preferably where he can be with kids his own age!!!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

going going going

It's 5:30pm and I am exhausted. I seriously am not the kind of Mother that can be on the go constantly. I need some breaks in between activities or I get a headache.

Today started by having to get up for my weekly Hula meeting. Now on a normal week this would not be an issue, but last night David and I went out on a date to Keagans for Karaoke (David's choice not mine). So I didn't really get to bed until about 3am.
I dragged my butt outa bed and got us out the door.

At our Hula meeting we started a new Tahitian dance...exhausting. And there is a huge chance I'll have to perform it this coming Saturday so I had to put a good amount of energy into doing it.

By 12:15pm I had to get ready to leave with the kids, I had signed us up for a Homeschool workshop at the Air and Space Museum. I wasn't sure where my check book was so we left a tad early ....workshop started at 1pm.

I searched my car and house and couldn't find the checkbook anywhere...I needed it to pay for the workshop. I had to run back to Neely's house and ask her to give me one of her checks. I was taking her daughter with me so she really couldn't say no.

Then it was around 12:40 and I ran to Mcd's for some hamburgers for the kids...I knew they'd get hungry. We just made it to the Museum right on time.

We got to see an IMAX film called "Stormchasers"....that was pretty neat! Then for about 2hrs we had lessons on weather taught by 2 Meteorologists. This part wasn't as fun for the boys....Landon was struggling to sit still.

Once the lesson was over they got to ask questions, play with some weather gadgets and then we had free reign of the Museum till it closed at 5pm.

The kids of course had a blast exploring the place, we've been there a million times but it never seems to get boring for them.

I'm home now, taking a short break before making the kids dinner (still have noveigh) and then taking Landon to his first Taek won do class (sp?).

I'm sleepy, I want a nap =(

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Nothing like a Slush Puppie to wipe away a stressful day

Sunday I took the boys to Water Country, it was the last operation day of the season. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun was out and it was wonderfully hot out...perfect pool day!

We spent some time at H20 waiting for my sisters and their families to get there. After a few text messages back and forth I realized they weren't going to be there for awhile. So we decided to hang out at the Wave pool instead.

We had a great time jumping the waves, well they did anyway. My boys are little fish, they hate wearing the life vests they provide which is fine I don't mind. As long as they stay where they can touch they are great in the water.

My sister's finally showed up and we hung out for awhile more before heading to a different area of the park.
We ended up at Rock and Roll island. They have these 3 big tube water rides there. David had taken Landon down them last time we were there...he's my dare devil.
I'm not a water ride person so Landon headed up to the ride with Cousin Jack and Uncle Chris. I knew that he couldn't touch at the bottom so I headed over to where they would come out so I could catch Landon.
I went under the rope to where I needed to be, knowing last time the life guard had no problem with me standing there.
This time though, the snotty little blonde haired teen life guard looked at me and said "Maam you can't be over here".
I said "my son is coming down the ride and he came touch here so I have to catch him". She then informed me that he had to be 48inches to ride (which I didn't know being that they let him down before). I looked up at the top of the slide expecting to see Landon being sent back down because he is NOT 48 inches..in fact he's no where near it he's only just over 42.
Landon was NOT being sent back down, in fact he was past the height check and it was almost his turn. I turned to the girl and said "but he IS coming down, and he can't touch so I have to catch him". This girl looked at me and said "No Maam you cannot being in here, and he's if he's not 48inches he can't ride". OMG I wanted to slap this girl...she wasn't getting it! I said "But he IS coming down the ride, and if I can't catch him ARE YOU?" she then said with a major attitude "If I see him drowning I will". WTH I was shocked she just said that to me.

My heart was pounding, I was so scared my little boy was going to come down the slide and wonder why his Mommy was not there to catch him like she was last time he rode it.
I ignored the girl and stayed on the inside of the rope, but I backed up to shut her up. I kept a close watch on him at the top waiting for him to be sent down so I could book it to the slide...which was very far away from where the bitchy lifeguard was.

I had all these people around who heard everything telling me that my son was to small to ride....No shit people I heard that already...but the fact was that he was being let on the ride anyway...I felt like I was speaking a different language.

Finally my Nephew Jack came down, I yelled over and said "Is landon coming down"...Jack then said he was coming next. I looked at Jack and said "Stay right there and catch him". The life guard and few bystanders said "He can't stay there". I said very loudly "Well he's going to anyway".

I looked up and saw the next rider...but it looked like a large body..I was so confused. Finally they shot out the tube and I saw it was Chris and Landon together. I guess that's how they had fixed the height problem. But this was also against the rules..you are not allowed to ride together. So the life guard yelled to Chris and said "You are not allowed to ride with a child, AND he is to small to be on that ride". Ok she did not just yell at them!!!! I looked at her and yelled "Then you need to tell the employee up there that he is not doing his job. That is NOT our fault that is yours!"...Oh I was fuming.

We all got outa the pool just steaming. Neely and I spoke to her Manager about the incident. He explained the rules which we knew already. We were not arguing the rules, we were arguing that my child was put in harms way because lack of someone not doing their job and then I was being told that I couldn't protect my child. Not only that but this Bitch actually said in front of all these kids "I will if I see him drowning". I'm sorry you do not say that to a Mother.

The Manager apologized for the girls rudeness and the guy allowing Landon down the ride. There really was no reason for complaining to this man. It was the last day of operation, and an hour before closing. What were they going to do, fire her? No of course not. But what I hoped for was that it would piss her off. I hope she left that day pissed about getting "talked to" by her manager.

The kids spent the last hour riding rides (that they were tall enough for lol) and Neely and I hung out in the Kiddy pool with Rainer.

While heading out Neely and I retaliated by picking some of their pretty Hibiscus flowers. We wanted some pictures with them in our hair.

On the way home I stopped at a gas stationed in Williamsburg. I told the boys we could get a drink so we headed inside. Over by the freezers I saw a Slush Puppie machine!!! Ok for those that don't know what this is (shame on you) a Slush Puppie is similar to an Icee or Slurpee....YET totally different, actually they are more like the slushes at Sonic.


I think these weren't very popular in the South, more of a Northern thing. A good portion of my childhood was in NewYork and I grew up on Slush Puppies. They were everywhere, and so good!
David had no clue what they were....he was deprived as a kid. So I intruduced the boys to their first Slush Puppie, we got strawberry...so yummy! I'm just mad that this gas stationed is 30mins from me or I'd be getting one everyday.

So driving home with my ice cold refreshment was enough to wipe away my long day in the sun dealing with a bitchy lifegaurd who would have let my kid drowned.