Forfieting the baby making machine??

Yesterday afternoon I went again to the OBGYN, starting to feel like I should get a frequent vistor card where my 5th visit is free or something. Before I even got in the car I took myself a long shower. And ladies, you totally know what I'm talking about. The shower you take before your "exam". The type of shower, you're not even so sure you took the night you met your husband or got engaged, maybe not even on your wedding day. A very thorough shower.

A quick knock on the door and there was the Dr., ready to find out what was going on. As with any exam of this type a nurse has to be present. After a few minutes the nurse did appear, and then another nurse, I kept my eyes on the door to see exactly how many people were going to be walking in. I was starting to wonder if we would be trying to fit as many nurses into the room as possible to see my privates or what. Thankfully the door closed and there were only 4 people in the room, still about a few too many. One quick ultrasound and, 'Hey what do ya know there were things showing up on the screen...then it was time for the saline sonogram. This would be were I started to crack jokes and laugh. I mean 3 visits to the OBGYN in about 5 weeks, what the hell else are you supposed to do?

And there they were, polyps swishing in the saline solution clear as day on the screen. Yup, I saw it for myself. Ohh hope it's not to late to say that if you're not in to reading about some random lady's uterus and random things that might be festuring in it, then you don't want to read this! In addition to the polyps there is a good chance I also have endrometriosis. The pain I have been feeling and describing are not associated with the polyps. Endometriosis is hard to diagnos without actually having laproscopy. And ya the sonogram did hurt, but nothing compared to what I have been feeling.

This would be where the Dr. asked if I was done using my uterus in the terms of reproduction. Pretty much, "are you done with that?"

Hmmmm, ususally when I hear, "are you done with that?" it's often refering to my vodka tonic I have been able to order while enjoying the presence of my husband on a coveted "date night". This is where you look at the melted ice and try to distinguish between the melted ice and the actual vodka and of course just for good measure you take that last slurp and relinquish your glass. But my uterus? Gosh, I think so. I mean. I do have 2 kids and well, 2 around here is good enough.....but I've been sorta attached to the uterus and have had it for a good 31 years. But then again, you start talking about not getting periods and well I start to search for where I sign on the dotted line. And of course when the Dr. explains that hysterectomies these days are 'not like your mothers ' and that there are only 3 small incisions on your tummy and recovery time is only a few days...the whole thing is starting to sound a little better. And no, he didn't use my mother as a frame of reference.

Actually, I said I would wait 2 months and then decide. I have started to feel a little better. I wonder if it's because I have purposely not gotten my period since May. I'm a little hesitant to quit taking the "pill" and start getting my periods again. I have decided to wait till after Jessica's party. Knowing how completely awful I felt the last time (the first time in my life I ever bought Midol) , I can't imagine having a 3 year old's party going on while wondering if I would be feeling better at the bottom of the pool with a weight around my neck.

I still have the GI appointment in 2 weeks. I mean, why not? Let's find out everything. And to keep the appointments steady, I also have an appt. with the dentist next week to finally put a crown on my tooth.........ya know the crown that fell off while in China. Ur... uh....ya that really was 6 months ago....I'm a slacker.

Oh ya...nothing like home cookin'

Remember my solicitation for recipes, as I need help in the kitchen? Well, thank you to all that helped me out. I'll admit that I haven't used all of the recipes submitted. Between feeling like a walking dog log and it being 1000 degrees outside, I haven't real felt like standing over a hot stove or heating up the oven. But I have tried to throw in a few good recipes here and there and here is the response.

Here's what the husband of the house had to say; "WOW, awesome! Seriously, when you said you had new recipes, I just figured Stouffers had a new line of cuisine"





Here's what Hogette #1 had to say; "What!?.....my last name really isn't Boyardee ? I have a lot of explaining to do at school."


Here's what Little "E" had to say; "Not now mom, I'm stuffing my face"

So there you have it folks....the family is impressed! And to be honest I have had a little help. If you haven't already found your nearest Dream Dinners, do yourself a favor and go. You can make 12 dinners in the span of 2 hours. The recipes are good and for people like myself, it's a life saver!

I'm hot, you're hot, they're hot.......Global Warming?

This Saturday was the hottest day in my existence. I know, I said that about last Saturday, honestly though I never thought I would live to see a day past 114 degrees. So exactly how hot was it yesterday, check it out for yourself. Be sure to scroll down to the 'Daily Statistics' and look at the awesome daily high! I can think back to about 6 summers ago and every single one seems to get hotter. Of course this summer takes the cake. And it's not just here, it's across the country and well.......everywhere. So what's going on? The Discovery Channel couldn't have planned it better.. last night they featured, Global Warming: What You Need to Know. Not sure they could have picked a hotter day (lets hope so) to really grab peoples attention. We also watched Too Hot To Handle (which we Tevo'd off of HBO). After watching 3 hours of programs relating to Global Warming, what was almost as interesting as the science proving what is happening to our planet is the idea that there are people who think Global Warming is a farce. Besides the people heavily invested in gas and oil, I don't see the benefit of pretending like it's not happening. How does the average Joe benefit from sitting in his house with the air conditioning cranked on, with his entire family (including Fido) sitting inside because it's too blasted hot outside....all while saying 'Nope, No Global Warming here'. Huh? And yes, a few hot summers doesn't add up to Global Warming, I know. It's the combination of many things.
Even as a child, I remember seeing a smoke stack (maybe even on TV) and thinking; 'that can't be good', 'where is that all going?' 'that's so dirty.' If smoking a cigarette isn't good for you, why would smoke stacks be okay? To me, it's just common sense. One alternative people have come up with, is that the Earth is in an interglacial period. Hmmmm, okay...let's say for a minute that it is. The temperature wouldn't be rising as quick as it is. Something must be helping push temperatures highter at such a quick rate. I use temperature as one example as temperature is something we can all feel. It's not like we have a window into the Amazon to see it being depleted. We all don't live in Alaska to see the glaciers melting.


We can see vast changes that have taken place within the lifetime of our grandparents. How can you deny something major is happening, and that we have nothing to do with it? Enlighten me, what else is it that we aren't looking at?

Baby's first haircut

We decided a few nights ago to get "baby's first haircut". We opted for the fancy haircut place, that gives you a "first haircut" certificate, lock of hair and cute picture. After the cut, they "style" whatever hair is left. We're pretty happy with the cut and thinks it looks cute. The whole ordeal took over 40 minutes which we felt was a little long for a "first haircut".

What do you think?

"before" picture.

Hold still what? How do I do that?

All done.

Say what? Oh you thought Baby's first haircut was referring to the actual "baby" living in the house. Oh no, see Jessica is almost 3 and has never so much as had a trim......it was time!

Yesterday I thought, "hmmm I could really use a pedicure and just relax". I had plans on maybe doing this after dinner. That was till I smashed my foot into a free weight. And one of my toes ended up looking like a purple grape.

Yes, I know my feet are ugly. But hey, I could still hoble around today.

Then I was leaving the mall today with the Hogettes (Daddy's loving word referring to his beautiful girls) While trying to stay calm as the 2 year old was about to melt down.....Oh Crap...that was my heal (of course on my other foot......no fair only having one foot in pain....gotta have both!). The door leading to the outside about took off my foot.

Great, now how long do I have to wait till I get a pedicure?

I do have great news. Jessica will be attending the advanced class this Fall. And I have an appt. for a Saline Infusion Sonogram. For real this time. Persistance!!! Not leaving till I get my Sonogram.......period!

GLOBAL GIVING

Make a difference click here.

Half the Sky foundation is a participant and you are looking to vote for

"Foster families for 50 disabled orphans in China"

You'll see what I mean after you click the link.

Good news, Bad news, So-so news.......actually I'm not so sure there even is news

I went to the OBGYN for a Saline Infusion Sonogram to further explore whatever it is in my uterus. Today's appt. was with a different Dr. than who originally did the ultrasound and then ordered the sonogram. After a few minutes of explaining my symptoms she decided to first do another ultrasound as the sonogram is quite painfull and she wasn't too sure I needed it. Long story short. I did not receive the painful sonogram. There's the good news.

According to today's ultrasound the mass that was in my uterus is no longer there. Hmmmmmm, okay ? Today's Dr. was a bit stumped by the lack of info the first Dr. gave...as he didn't write down hardly anything. I explained that because of this lack of information was why I have been so nervous. He never gave me any idea as to what could be going on. All he ever said was, "Your uterine walls look a little too thick and there seems to be a dark mass over here." There's the so-so news.
So with no polyps or fibroids visable by ultrasound, I now have an appt with a Gastrointestinal Dr. Today's Dr. said she thought that there could be something in my GI making me feel sick. So as it stands, I see another Dr. in 3 weeks and then go back to the OBGYN in about 5 weeks.

The bad news, I still am in pain and feel sick. Every time I try to find things on the internet myself, it says "you're pregnant". I have blood test results that say "no way". Needless to say, I'm frustrated.

So I will continue to sit here with my

nausea
cramping pain in the lower right area of my pelvic
pain in my back directly opposite of my pelvic
the feeling like something is pushing on my bladder
and the feeling like my pelvic area is "heavy"

hey, other than that I fee like a Million Pesos!

Big time stuff going on over here....

Click HERE to see what the fuss is all about.

The Mother of all birthday parties

Remember this? Just by looking at it you knew the party was going to be a blast. To give you a true feeling of what it was like to attend this birthday party extravaganza, let me tell you how hot it was for starters. Try 114 degrees! Yesterday was truely the hottest day in my existance.

Here is what we saw when pulling up to the birthday party for a 3 year old friend of Jessica

do yourself a favor and blow up these pictures, just click on them

A full carnival!

Exactly what does the Mother of all birthday parties include.......

Carnival booths with prizes

A live DJ. If I ever have to hear the Wiggles blared at 800 decibels again, I will throw up....just thought I would warn you

A blow up jumper with water slide and small pool a the bottom.

This is truely what saved the party. Without this they would have had to call 911

A homecooked, full BBQ for the parents.


A woman administering tattoos to all the children

Pony rides. I was certain PETA was going to show up. 114 degrees and ponies ??

A snow cone machine that was everyone's best friend

Two pinata's, as one is just never enough

Each child was given a sack lunch with 'carnival' type food. And of course, not just a brown sack, the birthday girls picture was on it!

Not one, Not 2, Not three, Not even four, But FIVE (yes 5) full bouncy houses. This one pictured, might have been larger than the first house I bought. No, actually I'm sure of it ...........

Fireworks to top it all off. Last time I checked, these were illegal

Did we have fun? Sure, in between feeling like we were going to pass out or sweat straight through our clothes. I actually was ready to set fire to my outfit once we got home. Why the hell did we stay? The mother just found out last week that she will be leaving with the Navy to serve for one full year. We were there to show our support....plus give me a break. Once you show up to something like this and figure how many thousands (not hundreds.....thousands) of dollars were spent...can you really just leave?


Jessica tearing it up on the climbing bounce house

Sliding down!



Here's what I find to be the most amazing thing of the day. While running 2 air conditioning units, 5 huge bounce houses, a DJ, a snow cone machine plus Gawd only knows what else...they never blew a fuse! Now that's impressive.
With Jessica's Princess party next, some of the parents were joking about wether or not we would be topping Sienna's party. The only I can think of to top off this party would be to have Walt Disney himself rise from the dead and attend. Do you have any great ideas?

This was at the family's home. And for anyone who lives in So Cal and has driven on I-15 near Temecula, you have probably wondered ...who would pay 1,000,000 to live on the freeway? Now we know.

Muy Caliente

IT IS SO HOT !!!! What is gong on? Why is it soooo stinkin' hot?

yes, I know it's summer but give me a break, it shouldn't be this bad.

And if you live in Phoenix, aren't you all considering calling it something different? Maybe like Hell or Mars....I'm not even sure the face of Mars gets up to 116.

The worst part of the heat is the fires! Out here in California it's fire season. I hate fires. Fires scare me. I can handle earth quakes. Earthquakes are quick and unpredictable. I prefer the "hit me" method. I really don't want time to evacuate or time to panic or even worse, standing in your house while trying to remain calm deciding what out of your entire house is worth "saving." I've actually been in some crazy earthquakes. The worst was the during the summer at our beach house. What made it so bad was the house was on top of sand not hard ground. I remember standing in the door way of my room (as you're supposed to do) and staring at my parents across the hall as they stood in their doorway. Between us a was a wall of glass and the house was literally swaying from side to side. One of my first earthquakes that I remember was when I was about 5 or so. I stood there and watched the cookie jar ( a big one too) take about 5 or 6 "jumps" straight off the counter and then hit the floor. I also remember Phil's first earthquake experience. That man shot out of bed and ran straight for Jessica's crib, grabbed her and stood under the doorway. what the hell was that?????

While he was ready to pee his pants, I was laughing. "Welcome to California, honey" I also commented on how quick he had moved, I had never seen Phil move that quick...ever. Yup, I like to be blindsided. Don't care for hurricanes, fires or tornados. Just get it over with. The best part about earthquakes, as long as everyone is fine and dandy is you can blast

Carole King's, I feel the Earth Move, through out the rest of the day.

if the girls aren't good, I'll threaten them with moving to Death Valley, even worse...a boarding school in Death Valley...that way I don't have to live there too. Geez no wonder it's called Death Valley who can live where it's 124 degrees?

Headed in two different directions

For a few months now Jessica's teacher has told me that we need to work with her on her "sounds". Wasn't sure if this meant animal sounds or what. Her teacher was referring to the alphabet and phonics....you know, the sounds that letters make. In September all the kids at school will be moved up to appropriate classes according to their ages and ability. I just found out that there is a "smart" class for those kids turning 3. This "smart" class will be for those children who can recognize numbers out of order, know all their colors, shapes and all the sounds. So my thoughts are, "hmmmmm so there's a "smart" class? And I've got till September to help with her sounds. Better get cracken!
Flashcards are Jessica's new best friends. Quick Jess, what does this letter say? She's not doing too bad and we still have plenty of time.
Jessica has a few boyfriends who will be starting Kindergarten this year. Kindergarten is not like when we went to school. No more sitting in the corner eatting glue while wiggling your loose tooth in hopes of having something for the Tooth Fairy at night. Oh no. These kids are expect to know how to write their names and addresses, count, speak well and be close to reading. Three new schools in my area are trying something new this fall. If your child is behind you can now send them to Kindergarten till 2 instead of noon. They're finding out that kids with no preschool and those that English is their second language are holding back the whole class. It seems like across the nation school districts are expecting more out of the children.
Here's what I find odd. While the schools expect more the parents require less. Kids these days can't even make it to the grocery store without mommy throwing in some mindless DVD or video game while driving down the street. Are you shitting me? Johnny can't go 4 minutes without some type of stimulation? Kids TV shows on cable claim that "It's like preschool on TV". No it's not. It's still the blasted "idiot box"! Preschool requires leaving your home and interacting with other children and if you're lucky obtaining some knowledge. Kids don't have ADD ( I realize that yes some actually do)...just because the teacher isn't bursting into flames and shooting guns into the classroom. It means you failed as a parent. It ticks me off that so many kids are being labeled with ADD and then given drugs because they can't operate unless they're playing video games or zoning out on hours of TV. How lazy are we as parents? And childhood obesity? Huh? Those two words shouldn't even be in the same sentence. I guess while you're kid is watching TV in the car why not drive through McDonalds? And as long as the kid is enjoying "preschool" while zoning out on the couch, heck throw them a bag of cheetos.
I don't quite know how the schools expect children to be ready when they're not receiving much support from home. I guess we'll wait and see. For us, we'll continue with the flashcards. My goal is that by the time my two young ladies walk out the door ready for college they'll know (and it will have been proven to them) that you'll get farther in life with what's above your shoulders.

Not sure we could have squeezed more 'crazy' into this week if we tried.

As if I have fans out there clinging to my every post....sorry for lack of posts, but this week was a doozy. Jessica's great friend Cameron had his 4th birthday party and as usual Jessica was the only girl at the party. EVERYONE in this town has little boys...oh well, she'll get her pick at prom!

Jessica hitting the pinata at Cameron's Party

About Monday we found out one of our friends had a bad accident. Long story ...short. Phil'g great friend Jonathan is in South America travelling. I have a great friend who went down to meet him and travel through the month of July. The first day my girlfriend showed up in Peru, John had a paragliding accident that has left him with the possibility to never walk again. Thankfully my girlfriend is fluent in Spanish and has been able to translate medical forms and speak with doctors. Jonathas girlfriend is also down in Peru and knows some diplimate that's been able to help. The whole thing is crazy. As I was reading the first email, I was in disbelief. He's had a surgery where they placed titanium rods and screws in his back. You can read more at his blog that his girlfriend is upkeeping for him. Then there's my girlfriend who is still wanting to travel but not quit sure what to do. You can read more at her blog. We've been receiving emails and a phone call from Peru and it does look like things are getting better!

Then it was Wednesday and I had an ultra sound that showed some mass in my uterus. They have no idea what it is or anything. I am to go back in 2 weeks for some fancy sonogram to pin point where and what it is. Problem is that I am sick and have been for over 5 weeks. Sick, like I can't eat I'm so nauseous and I have awful pain. I asked that my appt. be moved up considering they have an ultra sound picture to prove there's something "in there" and I'm sick. I was told to go to the ER. What the hell happened to service in the medical field? So we'll see how long I last.


Then there was last night. A bunch of girls went out for drinks and to see The Devil Wears Prada. Included in this group was my 9 month pregnant girlfriend. About 20 minutes into the movie after hearing huffing and puffing ...another friend and I looked at each other and that was it, time to go wait for her husband to meet her and head to the hospital. After spending some time at the hopsital they sent her home to labor. She was home long enough to take a shower and end up on all fours and then race back to the hospital. Baby Wilken was born before mommy could even put a foot in a stirrup. A poor frantic nurse delivered the baby as the doctor didn't make it in time.
Everyone is doing fine. Please welcome baby Landon.

This morning we went to another birthday party.

This time it was Jessica's best friend Chloe's birthday. This is a picture of Jessica and 2 of her 3 best friends from school. The party was at a place where they have huge jump houses that the parents can jump in too.
Tomorrow we're off to the beach. Grandma and Grandpa are condo sitting right on the beach. Ought to be a great time and this time we have the video camera charged up.
Hard to see....but this is yet another birthday party invite for next weekend. I swear it looks like some sort of diorama that I made in school. It's a 3D invite featuring Dora the Explorer hitting a pinata. According to this invite there will be ponies, slip and slide water things and a boat load of fun. So what am I to do with Jessica party right around the corner? One up.....of course! Just kidding....I'm really not the "one up" or "keeping up with the Jones's" type of parent. Hell that could just keep going on forever. Jessica has asked for a Princess Party and a Princess Party she will have. So far we have Snow White coming to sing and face paint. I'll be sure to post pictures of the Princess Ball.

So that's it folks, a crazy week full of friends with terrible accidents, masses in the uterus, babies born faster than lighting and the endless kids birthday parties to attend. Gawd only knows what next week will bring!

Happy 4th of July

Click HERE to see The Pledge of Allegence

by Jessica

age 2

Jessica 2 years ago

Emma today

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! As usual we were busy, with birthday parties, fireworks, friends in town and hopping in the pool.

popsicle princesses

With a week filled of days reaching at least 100 degrees, I thought Emma ought to cool off with her first ever popsicle. Jessica herself ought to be entered into a popsicle eating contest. I have never seen another kid eat a popsicle without one little drop hitting the floor...she has serious talent.

Gee, thanks mom this tastes good!

See Emma, I told you these were awesome

ha ha I have a popsicle and YOU don't

say what? I'm to eat this in a quick like fashion or it will melt

blasted! where did my popsicle go?

no worries, I still have this cool stick to chew on!