Robbed

"Aw, man! You were robbed!" We yell that a lot around here, especially while playing Wii bowling when that one pin weaves from side to side but in the end remains standing, KWIM? Well, this isn't one of those type of posts. This is a we've-really-been-robbed kinda post. Not our home, thank goodness, but our van was broken into yesterday. We were eating out after church...the van was parked in a parking lot filled with tons of cars and was locked. Our valuables were not in plain view. We have a little basket in the floor between and passenger and driver seats and that's where we had left them. Doesn't matter, I guess.... Clearly *someone* was looking for something. It wasn't like you could just walk past our van and see anything valuable with a glance. And it happened in broad daylight! He/She/They smashed our passenger window and made off with my purse, a mini-laptop computer, and my iPod charger (but left the iPod and my cell phone which I had left on the dash!). I'm going to assume it's a "they" because they've filled up on a lot of gas with my cards! Before we were done eating, realized what happened, and could get my checkcard shut off, they had emptied our account ~ we have a balance of $1.38, no joke! They spent over $50 at 2 gas stations and it also appears they filled up their gas tanks in addition to the whatever they bought at the stations but we don't know the $ amounts. I had a BP credit card but they didn't get to it before we got it closed down....I also had a 2nd checkcard in there that was attached to a joint account I held with my Mom in S. C. Unfortunately, we were unable to get it closed down until this morning and that was too late. Balance of only $7.80 in there but they put that account in the negative for nearly $150. It is shut down now, too. They also made off with my drivers license, all of the kids social security numbers, a Cracker Barrel giftcard, my checkbook, and our WIC folder. WIC will replace my I. D. card but won't replace any of our coupons which were for milk, cheese, juice, eggs, cereal, peanut butter, or formula for Lydia. In September, we qualify for new coupons. I've called and we're in the process of getting our van window fixed (thankfully, deductible free!). The laptop (which we were buying from a friend so it technically isn't even ours yet) was worth about $300. The thieves have no way of charging it and it wasn't fully functioning anyway (Jonathan was working on it) so it won't do them much good. No idea yet if our homeowner's insurance will cover that our not....As for the money losses, we're in the process of filing disputes for these charges but it can take up to 90 days to get our money back and there's not even a guarantee we will get the money back. And there's still a possibility they can get more money off of us...there's only 1 way and I'm not going to give that information away on here. Wouldn't want to give anyone any ideas. *wink* We can choose to close our account altogether but we'd rather not right now because of our direct deposits/automatic withdraws attached to the account. We're just praying that the thieves aren't smart enough to figure out how to get to more money. But if they do figure it out, we'll have no choice but to close the account. But, for now, if they can find an employee stupid enough, they could even get in the zoo with my membership card. The zoo always asks for an ID with the card ~ and the thieves have my ID ~ but do they look at the picture??? And after that, I guess they can treat themselves to a nice dinner at the Barrel. *sigh* Must get on with making phone calls....please pray for us!

Lookie what's outside

Isn't this amazing??? New life right outside my bathroom window x3!! They're beautiful baby robins! We think they hatched 3 days ago or so and my research tells me they'll be there another 10 days or so. I'm pretty sure the Mommy and Daddy bird hate me (yes, I see 2 of them out there every now and then so I'm assuming it's both the mother and father). It was so weird today when one of the adult birds caught me staring at them today on my way to the bathroom once. And I was constantly shocked out of sleep while napping with the kids when I heard all 3 babies crying at once! Must have been feeding time. I snapped these pictures all within a matter of minutes and then showed the babies to John & Elizabeth and then shut the window so they could be fed. Otherwise, every time one of the adult birds tried to get close enough to feed them, they'd swoop right away and the poor babies would still be like the one in the last picture, necks all craned up with mouths wide open. Even if I tried to hide, it was like they could sense I was there 'cause they'd fly towards the nest but immediately fly away!
Just amazing!!!

Catching up

VBS family night, JohnVBS family night, ElizabethSnowcones after the program -- think John enjoyed his?!?!Can you believe how dirty my kids can get??Can you belive how beautiful my girl is? She did SO GREAT today with her 5-year check-up (3 shots!). She's the size of a 6 1/2 year old girl (hee hee!) and the dr's estimate is 5'8" when she's fully grown!!! She's probably going to have to have glasses though.

Timothy walks

Timothy's ENT appointment today

Well, the good news is we know why Timothy's having so many sinus infections. It's his adenoids. They ran a camera down (up?) his right nostril and his adenoid was so large it was making the very back of his nasal cavity very small. So, when he gets a cold (and babies his age get an average of 1 cold per month), the mucous can't drain properly 'cause it can't get past that adenoid so it stays where it's not supposed to and gets infected, a sinus infection. The solution is simple but scary, nonetheless. When he goes in for his bronchoscopy on July 6th, they'll do surgery to remove his adenoids at the same time. I was really hoping to either a) avoid the bronchoscopy or at least b) avoid having another overnight stay at Children's. But, since he's going to have to be under general anesthesia for the surgery, why not do the bronchoscopy at the same time? And adenoid surgery on a child this young is usually an overnight deal anyway. So, off to Children's we will go on Monday, July 6th, probably around 6 a.m. as he's scheduled for a CAT scan of his ears at 8 a.m. and that will likely be the first procedure. The CAT scan of his ears is to see if there's any structural abnormality that might help explain his hearing loss and/or speech delay. They don't normally do CAT scans on kids diagnosed with hearing loss because if they can't lay completely still or be put under general anesthesia but, again, since he's already going to be under anesthesia....

My heart breaks for my little guy but like I told a dear friend at church this morning, it doesn't take much going through Children's Hospital to make me grateful! I see the kids there with bald heads that are likely cancer patients...I see the parents there who have "permanent" visitor badges that have no expiration date...I hear the babies crying in pain...and I'm thankful that Timothy is as healthy as he is! Please pray for Timothy as this surgery date approaches, that he'd be easy to handle and not too miserable without food or drink, that he'd come out of anesthesia easily (again), that the surgery and procedures would be succesful and, of course, that he'd not be in too much pain afterwards.

Last Tennessee trip post

Lunch at Zaxby's with the family and 1 interesting road sign....

Tennessee trip, 3

My brother Kevin's 30th birthday party

Tennessee trip, 2

John was so cute trying to play baseball with my cousins! We ended up with 32 pictures of him! I love him sticking his tongue out and closing his eyes when the ball was close -- that's my boy! John gets his very own slideshow!

Tennessee trip

I'm going to upload some photo albums from our trip last weekend to Tennessee. We left Thursday and arrived at my Nannie's house around 2:30 Thursday afternoon (Nannie is my aunt). Here's some snapshots of the fun we had there that evening.

Timothy's evaluation today

First of all, many thanks to all who have prayed for us today! I was very nervous about today's meeting. In case you aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, you can read about a discouraging home visit we had recently here and also about some of our fears that we had after that visit here. That led us up to today when Timothy was to be evaluated for eligibility for intervention services (therapy). Basically, it boils down to whether or not Timothy qualifies for some free services through Help Me Grow. If not, we would need to pursue private therapy. Like I said, I was really nervous. However, with a big sigh of relief, I can say things went pretty well. Unlike the 1 lady from the last home visit, this man did very little probing into things not pertaining to Timothy nor did he ask a lot of questions regarding the other children. When I mentioned that we homeschool, he was perfectly fine with that and never once pushed or suggested the MRDD school for Timothy (in fact, he discouraged it because of a waiting list). There was some paperwork to be filled out and then he mostly asked me questions about Timothy but he also did some one-on-one things with Timothy. There was a "test" for each area of Timothy's development and at the top of each page, he had a score already written there that was a kind of guideline. After he completed each page, this gentleman was very straight forward and would say things like "I was looking for a score of XX and Timothy scored above that so there's no concern in this area" or "I was looking for a score of XX and Timothy scored just below it which doesn't necessarily qualify him for services but it does raise red flags". Only once did he say Timothy scored well below the target score and that was only in gross motor skills (in other words, walking). Timothy did score below the guideline for language but only by 1 point which is not low enough to qualify him. Based on these scores, Timothy will qualify for therapy but only for physical therapy unless.... This gentleman will compile a report and meet next Wednesday (6/17) with his boss, a nurse, a speech therapist, and a physical therapist to discuss Timothy's scores. If everyone there is in agreement that Timothy might need speech therapy as well, then Timothy will be referred to an actual speech therapist for further evaluation. After the 6/17 meeting, we will be presented with this report and then be offered services. Basically, we'll be offered home based services for Timothy once a month or we'll be offered private in-office therapies for Timothy once a week with therapists at Children's Hospital. We will likely choose the once-a-week option both for getting Timothy off to a more rapid start and because there's another waiting list for the in-home services. If we are unhappy with the options presented to us, we can always pursue private therapies by prescription from our pediatrician. One of my biggest fears was that we wouldn't be able to deny therapies they suggested and this gentleman assured me that was not the case. I also have that in writing with some of the paperwork he left with me. That makes me feel TONS better! And I was told Timothy is a very bright little boy as he scored very well in the other areas such as cognitive skills and fine motor skills. This man told me he'd never seen a 18-month-old hold a marker so properly to draw with! :) Overall, it was a pleasant experience although it left me emotionally drained, probably because I dwelt on it too long while waiting for today to arrive and then waiting until 3 for him to get here! Now we wait and get back to packing! We're leaving for Tennessee first thing Thursday morning so that just leaves me with tomorrow. I'm down to 2 large hampers full of dirty clothes which I'll finish tomorrow (I've done approximately 15 loads of laundry in 2 days) along with some other minor housework issues and then start actually putting things in suitcases! The plan is to vacuum the van sometime tomorrow afternoon or early evening then wash it after church (the road to our church is under construction so I don't want to wash the van until after church), come home & put the kids in bed, load the van with what we can, and hopefully leave around 6 Thursday morning. Yipee!

I've been interviewed

This is probably the closest I'll come to celebrity (unless you count the interview I did on t.v. when I was in middle school....) Check out my answers here!

Missed another one!

It's been a crazy couple of days. I'm WAY overwhelmed with trying to get ready for our quick trip to Tennessee this weekend. Plus getting Nathan & Caleb ready to go home with my Mom and Dad (S. C.) for a few weeks plus getting ready for VBS that starts the day after we get back. So what'd I miss this time? Timothy's 18 month birthday!! (But, hey, it's the 8th so I can wish Justin a happy 18 month birthday!)

Timothy just after birth

About 4 months old
Just after his 1st birthday
Easter this year
(we're becoming slackers on taking new pictures!)
Pray for Timothy in the upcoming weeks as he is evaluated tomorrow for starting speech therapy, as he goes to the ENT on the 16th for his chronic sinus infections, and as he goes under general anesthesia on 7/6 for CAT scan(s) and a bronchoscopy. (And for me as I'll probably be taking him in for his procedures all by myself as Jonathan is running low on vacation days.)

COSI, 6.4.09

Doesn't she just melt your heart?
Nathan's interesting shot....

Boy, don't they look thrilled? (I just love Caleb's crossed eyes!)

Silly boy!

Timothy in Lydia's bouncy....too cute!

Can't believe I missed it!

Bad Mommy, missing Lydia's 3 month mark yesterday! AGH! I don't even have a recent picture. Something's wrong with me....

I think she's 13 weeks now but I could be wrong on the count. Perhaps for Monday, I can get a recent picture for her 14th week mark. Biggest change this month is the smiling & cooing, coming really close to laughing. She seems to be ticklish under her chin. Her nighttime fussiness has been torture these past few days coming between 8 and 10 or so. Last night, it was like constant screaming between 8 and 9:30. :( She has slept through the night a few times, about a week in a row before she started not sleeping through the night (which to me means 6 hours or more). Last night, I think we finally got her settled around 10 and she slept until sometime after 4. The nights she has slept it's been from around 11 until 6, sometimes even 7, but that was only a time or 2. Once she goes for a good stretch, we hope to start trying her in the crib in Timothy's room. I've tried to get her to nap in there & she doesn't go for more than 20 minutes so we may be in for quite a transition. No dr's appt this month (next one 7/20) so no new weight or length to report. She's still comfy in most of her 0-3 month stuff, even wearing a pair of newborn size pants this past week which were a little short (but perfect for the weather, if you ask me!). There's a few things 0-3 that I've already packed away and a few things 3-6 that I've put her in but those are a little big on her still. Can't really tell she's lost any hair & yes, it's still red.

Headed to Tennessee 1 week from tomorrow!
Can't wait to see my new niece & catch up with family!

Body After Baby, week 4

I know it's Tuesday but I had a very busy Monday. Not much to report in weight loss ~ in fact, scale said I was up a pound since 2 weeks ago (remember I didn't weight in for week 3). It's sobering to think that that means I had to have consumed 3500 more calories than I burned during the last 2 weeks, especially considering I had a very productive week last week as far as exercise goes. I walked Tuesday, Friday, & Saturday with Charissa (2 miles each day) and Wednesday by myself. On Wednesday I only walked about 3/4 of a mile but I had the 2 babies in the double stroller, John on his bike, and Caleb on his scooter. Between trying to catch up with them and pushing the stroller, even though it was a shorter walk, I still felt like I had gotten a workout. While walking with Charissa on Saturday I was having trouble with pain in my shin (shin splints?) . We didn't walk last night as I went to a movie night with ladies from church and I know Charissa is busy several nights this week but hopefully we'll be able to get something done together. Otherwise, I'm going to see what I can do at home. I'd love to take off each night & walk at the park but I think it's too much for hubby to have all the kids by himself for an hour every night.

This week, my focus is going to be on starting a food journal and more of the same ol', same ol' (water, exercise, portions).

Vacation countdown: 8 more days 'til we leave for Tennessee!