Her Momma Must Love Her...

Because I actually forced myself to sit down at my machine a couple of weeks ago to sew her this pretty little Valentines dress. I bought the pattern, bought the fabric and said I had a week to get it done. It's such a simple little dress, it only took me about 3 days to finish. Off and on of course cause I only have like an hour or two at a time to sew. I found out the hard way that it is nearly impossible to sew while the little guy is awake. The big kids didn't make it any easier by constantly tying to turn on the machine and push all the buttons on the screen every time I walked away. I have not been at my machine in a loooong while. I think the last time was when I hemmed my dress for Crystal's wedding, and before that it was to make Ry a few giant blankets and a nursing cover up for Disney World...last April!! It's just hard for me to find the time.
So here is the finished product. She got a few compliments when she wore it on our trip to Build A Bear.
The process...


She wouldn't let go of her cookie to take a picture...

I'm Just Starting To Realize...

That this whole liver FNH thing will never ever go away. I've been pretty good at trying to ignore the aching as it comes and goes, but these past 3 days it's been just a PITA!! I can't take deep breaths or it feels like a stabbing pain. I carry Ry around and it starts to hurt. I push around a heavy shopping cart and it hurts the whole next day. I was folding laundry today and there it was, I guess cause I was using my arms, I just don't know anymore. I describe the pain as a dull pinching pain that is on my right side and wraps around my back. It's just there until I make a sudden move or do something to aggrevate it then it's a sharp stabbing pain.
What frustrates me more is that technically, or according to every Dr. I've seen and from everything I've read, it's not supposed to hurt. Well guess what...IT DOES!! This last Dr. did say that the pain could be due to the fact that there are just so many tumors on my liver and they rub up against other organs. That does not sound good.
So I've decided to set out on my own to figure everything out. Maybe even get a second opinion. I'm calling tomorrow to get my records mailed to me so I can look everything over. I've been doing alot of reading and most every patient that I've come across knows the dimensions of their nodules. I don't. All I know is that when we started out in 2006 with my Dr. in Houston the largest one was 3 cm, but what about the others? I think I need to read through all my info myself to see what I need to do to keep on top of things. I never really recieved any follow up requirements. I think I was just really really relieved that it wasn't cancerous and I was ok with that so I didn't really take in the fact that I am going to have these tumors on my liver for the rest of my life. Since they're going to be there forever shouldn't I go in every so often to make sure that they don't grow or turn malignant? So I'm just going to look over everything and then give my gastro a call to see what sort of matinance needs to be done. I'm guessing nothing will take place right away, probably not until July since it will have been a year that I last had a procedure done. I know I have to just grin and bear it for now because liver resection is not an option for me. The pain has to be very very severe for me to consider it. I also don't want pain medication, I don't need to he hopped up on narcotic pain meds when I have 3 little ones to care for. I just want to make sure that I don't ignore it entirely and then the situation gets worse.

OK, during my travels across Google I came across this stuffed liver. Not sure why anyone would want one but for $16 you can own one.
I'm a LIVER not a fighter...

Spring Must Be Close...

Well this past weekend we went to get Caden's Tball stuff. After a new bat, balls, a glove, new cleats, pants, and various other things he's set for the season. I'm so excited for him. He's not even done with basketball yet but we're already gearing up for the baseball season. I guess that's just the way it's going to be with boys. I get to do this every year for 2 boys??? Goodness.
Daddy will be his coach. He already started calling him Coach Arce. He's playing softball for the church league, and with another group of guys, AND coaching tball, but whatever, if he thinks he can do it all...go for it. I'm just PRAYING that he doesn't break his ankle again, or any other bone for that matter.
I can't wait to go watch Caden play. Hopefully the phrase "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" applies to Caden in the baseball sense. Then again maybe he'll be the kid that hits the ball and runs to third. We'll see.

A Valentine's Day Surprise...

Caden and Brityn knew they had a surprise coming but they didn't know what it was, well until my mother in law blabbed it. yeah. So after Caden's basketball game we took the kids to their very first Build-A-Bear visit. We drove far away to the mall at La Cantera which is near Valero where Daddy works a few days out of the week. It's such a long drive, I feel bad for him. The kids were excited to get their new cuddly friends. Brityn picked out a Bunny which she named Rosie and she dressed her in a Cinderella dress with glass slippers. I picked out a teddy for Rylen and Daddy dressed him in short and a shirt and named him Howard. Caden picked a Coyote and named him Bullet, fitting since we keep getting one as a visitor in the backyard and Dad is dying to shot it. He dressed him in a cool skateboard outift complete with checkerboard shoes. They loved it and had a blast creating their new friends that they are sleeping with as I type.

Picking out thier new buddies.


Brit's picking out an outfit for her Rosie


It's stuffing time



Now, time to give them a heart



Ry has to give the heart a kissy


Time to bathe Howard the bear


Now I really wish I had a picture of them with their new friends but I didn't get one. :-(

Dear Husband...

When purchasing a gift for me, remember that I keep up with the finances. This means that I do online banking everyday. Which also means that I see what goes in and out of our account. Which in turn results in me spoiling my Valentines surprises. (oops so sorry, and I like surprises too)
PS- Don't mean to be a brat but I hope that I am not just getting $30 in undies from Victoria's Secret. Please tell me there's a little bit more to it...just a little.

Chef Brityn...

I have a weird love of the Food Network. Not that I can actually make anything they feature because Mr. Picky (B) would never ever eat any of that stuff, but I can dream can't I? So the kids have always watched as well. I remember when I was newly preggo with Brityn (and feeling sick) Caden was just one, so to buy me some extra time in bed I would turn on Rachel Ray and he would watch. He later on said that she was his girlfriend, lol. He couldn't care less about that anymore. Neither can I, Rachel Ray gets on my nerves.
Well Miss Brit has too taken a liking to the Food Network. She can sit there for an hour just watching them cook. Her fav, and mine, is Everyday Italian and Barefoot Contessa. She will sit and just watch, then she goes to her kitchen to recreate what she just saw. It's so cute to watch. She even narriates while she's doing it. Too funny. I have never actually let her cook, except for baking cookies or something like that, but I'm hoping that she is still interested in cooking when she's older so I can turn over the kitchen duties to her...dishwashing included.

We're Officially Done...

With breastfeeding. It's a very sad time. I knew it was coming but still it's sad. He hadn't really been showing much of an interest, and I tried to nurse him a couple of days ago (after he hadn't nursed for 2 days) and he just giggled and pulled away.
I'm a little ok with it being his choice and not me trying to wean him. That makes me feel a little better. I'm just upset to know that I won't ever get to nurse a wittle baby again. He's perfectly content with his bottle now. Which I guess I have to wean him off of as well per doctor's orders. I'm just going to miss that time we had to ourselves. Him and his "tasties" yes that's what we called it. LOL

The Busniness of Losing Teeth...

Caden's had loose teeth for about a month now. We noticed his were loose on Christmas day. I've been trying to get him to keep wiggling them around so they can just fall out all by themselves. Well, after a month of wiggling they are out!! First I told him earlier today that they had to come out today, cause I already noticed the new tooth already starting to grow, and it was just hanging there- so gross. I told him that I was not going to be the one to pull it out because I have this weird phobia with loosing teeth, scares the crap out of me. While he was in the tub, Daddy convinced him to let him pull it out. So he did. It bled and he was suprisingly calm. So Mommy went shopping with Grandma and Aunt Stephie and I come back to a boy missing 2 teeth. Apparently Daddy and Caden got creative and tied some string to it and pulled it out that way, totally uncalled for since it was so loose it would have just popped out like the other one did. Leave it to Dad and his wacky ways to get things done. The Tooth Fairy is about to creep into his room right now and take his itty bity baby teeth and put them away and leave him some $$. My big boy, I can't believe he's getting so big.

Caden's First Basketball Game...

This Saturday we headed out for Caden's very first basketball game, well it was more like a scrimge. We were very very excited for him. I was a little worried too cause well, the league isn't the greatest, and don't get me started on some of the people. We'll just say that I hadn't lived in Seguin for a long while and forgot what some of the people were like...just some!! Good news though, we ended up with a real coach. He was actually a coach at the junior high I attended. He's doing a good job at teaching them the fundimentals and getting them to listen...big deal when you have a group of 5 yr olds. Anywho-he's never played before other than just shooting around with Dad. Bry took him out a few days before the game to teach him about offense/defense stuff and the very basics. He sunk in one basket, and was so proud of himself. He is on the same team as 2 of his other cousins, so it's really fun to watch them!
Here is the warm up...


The Team Talk...

This is what baby brother did...

This is what Brityn did...

Brityn and Breyana...