Troy Anthony

Troy is my little man. A strong boy with a sweetness that I am sure will make him a good husband and daddy someday. He is stubborn to a fault. He has brown eyes that remind me of fall. His curly hair has streaks of red, which I swear is from his temper. He is left handed but tries to use his right hand because his sister is right handed. He looks up to the men in his life although he thinks he is 10 feet tall. He loves to snuggle but hates to be held down. He doesn't let much bother him. He is curious but content. He loves dirt and mud. He loves dogs and hates bugs. He cries more when his sister gets hurt than when he gets hurt. He runs fast and speaks slow. Cute little guy. He is quick to anger but quick to forgive, and quick to say sorry. He reminds me to not worry about things.

Having a fun day today. Sophi went to school this morning. Troy and I had the morning together. I enjoy the alone time with just him. He asks me numerous times when we will pick up 'sissy' so I don't think he enjoys it near as much as I do. But we have fun anyway. We went to the pharmacy. He loves going out just the two of us. He holds my hand when we walk. He likes me to talk to him. He smiles and be-bops around. He says 'How you?' (How are you?) to everyone we walk pass. It doesn't seem to bother him if they respond or not just as long as he says it, he is happy. So cute with this curly hair.



We came home and ate a snack, played with his trains and read books. He likes books about fish but gets scared when there are sharks. He says 'no rah rahs' then closes the book and gets another one. Usually another one about fish and somewhere in it is a shark, which he quickly closes the book and gets another one, with another shark.

He calls monsters 'rah rahs', something I never want to forget. When he is scared he comes and tells me 'there's rah rahs momma rah rahs' I love that at this age and this innocence my simple touch and telling him that it is ok and 'there are no rah rahs' is good enough for him. I know it won't always be that way though. I'm enjoying the time it is.



I heard a quote the other day and it reminded me of Troy.



"Let him sleep, for when he wakes he will move mountains"
I loved this! Then I realized it was from Napoleon Bonaparte. HAHA I still like it, and in some ways the quote is now even more fitting.



God Bless Him! <3

Not my kind of day...

Snow in Florida!?
NO Thank You!!
It is so cold here, I don't know about the whole global warming thing, if the polar ice caps were melting I think they are frozen solid again... until August and September that is, which I'm sure we will have some record breaking heat!

Anyway, I worked the last two nights. So, there I go MIA during that time. I try and sleep whenever I get the free time so there is no blogging on those days. ;) Not much of anything gets done. I try and wash and dry laundry then it piles up to be folded and put away once I am done with my two nights. I have folded three loads of laundry this morning. I took a nap while the kids watched Disney's Robin Hood. Got up made lunch, checking up on emails and blogging, then going back to sleep since they are napping.

My mom is fine. She ended up with a severe UTI and now has antibiotics. She is just fine now. Thank you for emails of concern. Hate when a family memeber isn't well.

So, this morning I was on my way home. I was driving and preparing myself that today was going to be a day that I couldn't go home and get right in bed. Tony had to work today and I was going to have the kids to take care of. Yes, when you are up for a 12 hour shift you have to prepare to stay awake... the sight of the bed and knowing I can't get in it makes me very grumpy when I am tired. So, I was praying for patience with the kids, praying that I would have energy to do everything that I knew would need to be done, and asking God for a miracle that maybe they would sit and watch a movie. Lucky for me they did.

I was also less that thrilled about this Central Florida "snow" more like ice rain... my gas light was on, lovely! So I stopped to get gas. Pulling out of the gas station back onto a three lane highway. There was one car in the middle lane, so I pulled onto the right lane. The car that was in the middle lane was now directly behind me honking his horn and waving his arms in the air. Darn it! So, I went to move into the middle lane so that he could just keep going. I guess he was going to go around me and I got in his way again, which only made him more mad. So he honks his horn and speeds away.. ok. Continue driving don't get rattled. I was so tired. I see blue lights coming up behind me. I was thinking in me head, "haha, that's what you get having road rage, you're gonna get a ticket." I pull into the other lane to let the officer pass me. He pulls behind me. WHAT IN THE WORLD!? I think briefly, maybe he wants to see if I'm ok. HAHA This is the sleep deprivation that set in. After a very long conversation, in the ice rain, he tells me that I could have caused and accident moving from one lane to another and he gives me a $166 ticket for careless driving. This is all before 7:30am. Not my kind of day.
So, I cried the rest of the way home... tired and now fighting mad.
Tony was late for work because he counts on me to get there at a certain time and now a ticket.

This is my first driving ticket other than when I got in a car accident with a telephone pole when I was 18. We call it the 'bagel flip of 2002' I reached down for a bagel to eat and ran into a telephone pole and flipped my SUV. Now that is careless driving, an accident, but yes, careless.
I don't think trying to avoid a road rage incident is careless driving.
Anyway, I'm home, safe, and now that the kids are quiet, going back to bed.

Happy Saturday to you all, stay warm!

work tonight...

Busy day today. Just wanted to wish you all in Florida who are NOT used to this cold weather a very stay warm wish. ;)



My mom is in the ER today. She has had problems with kidney stones in the past and it seems that is what is causing her problems today. God Bless her, she seems to be in lots of pain. I pray that it passes quickly and without much complication.

I'll update more tomorrow as today is a full day and I am going to take advantage of nap time and take a nap myself before heading off to work tonight.

Stopping in to see Sophi's doctor this afternoon as well, seems she may have an ear infection along with this cold virus that has been plaguing our house for the last few weeks. Busy house, busy mommy.

Stay warm Floridians... and yes the rest of the country as well. ;)

Peace in Disruption

I recently read a blog from my friend Lauren, she was commenting about a blog from MckMomma, it was about blogging boldly or just living boldly and not getting caught up in the appearance of perfect.

While I like to remind myself how blessed we are, I have to be careful not to mask the crosses that we as a family carry. I think we all have many crosses... different sizes, some are heavy and some are light. No matter the size, it is our cross, and important just the same. If it is a sick child, problems with a spouse or parent, a health complication, a financial situation, the loss of a family member or a pet, or just a bad day, whatever it be. Sometimes we carry it for a season sometimes for a lifetime. It can make us angry, sad, lonely, happy, thankful...

2009 has been a really long year for us. The good and the bad of the year play a balancing act on the scales of life. I am proud to say that the good that has come this year has surely out weighed the bad. It's all in how you look at it I guess. A friend of ours would tell us "PMA"(positive mental attitude). She would say this in a joking manner but it always reminded us to have a positive outlook.

Tony losing his job in April 09 was a hard pill to swallow but we managed and got through it. The financial hurt and the loss of the job, the loss of our house, our cars, some days it felt like we lost everything, and I do mean thing. God granted a peace that I always remembered family, health and happiness were not things. But that didn't make it an easier to accept. Someone told me this last year, "even though most of America is going through the same thing, when you are alone and lay your head on your pillow at night it doesn't make it any easier." It is true. You have to stay positive and keep your faith in hard times, but those dark moments do creep in and you have to just be real sometimes and it wouldn't be real to say that it didn't hurt.

In the midst of it all we really gained our family back. Tony who was gone nearly 75 hours a week was home, unemployed but home. He got to experience our kids growing in a way he never would have. I began to depend on him as a way a wife should. We were able to work together for a common goal for the first time in our marriage. Raising our kids and paying the bills was our goal not my goal and his goal. We worked together like never before. I entered back into the work force and while that is still sometimes not my greatest pleasure I have come to find pride in providing an income and health insurance for my family. But when it comes to being 'bold' and not pretending it's all perfect and ok. I still have my moments when I miss the carefree lifestyle that I used to live. I have moments that the devil gets a foothold and I envy the mom's who still get to stay home. I pray for the oppurtunity to do it again but I'm thankful for the blessing of a job.

I never imagined I'd find myself in marriage counselling, which we did, and THANK GOD for it. I really don't know if I could have made it during this time without the encouragement of a wonderful Christ centered couple who call themselves 'marriage mentors' not counsellors. That was not my proudest moment but sometimes God humbles us to teach us that we should stop doing it our way and do it his way.

God places us right were we need to be and if we sit and listen we will hear his plan.

I heard a lesson around Christmas time about Mary and the chaos and disruption that Jesus' birth was to bring Mary. In the midst of the chaos and disruption Mary humbly accepted God's will for her. Saying, "I am God's servant, May it be to me as you have said." Luke 1:38
How brave of Mary, God knew who he was picking ;) He gave her strength. In verse 37 the angel Gabriel said "for nothing is impossible with God."

Despite the chaos and disruption that 2009 has caused in the lives of many people around the USA we must remember that in our battles if we humbly accept God's will and lean on Him "nothing is impossible."

Cooking Tuesday...

Everyone has there own twist on Chili, I love hearing how people make Chili, my dad won't tell me his wonderful recipe but someday I'll get it out of him... he makes the best Chili I've ever had!
I make a turkey chili, you can use beef though. I just figured we eat enough beef in this house; hamburgers, spaghetti...
So here is how we make "Southwest Turkey Chili" -those of you from the 'Southwest' don't laugh at my 'southwest chili' I'm sure I'd laugh at your "BBQ" recipes. ;)

Here's what you need... ground turkey, can of corn, can of kidney beans or chili beans, can of diced tomatoes, chili powder, and 1 cup of shredded cheese Mexican blend





Combine all ingredients in the crock pot while you brown the meat in the skillet.




Add the meat. Set the crock pot to low/medium and leave it until you are ready to eat. I like to let it sit at least 4 hours. Check and add water if necessary, I never do though.



I make the original Jiffy corn muffins but I add one can of drained corn to the mix. The kids love that the muffins have 'real' corn inside. ;)

So, it is simple. Not a fancy recipe but it tastes soo good. When the kids are not eating the Chili, I like to make it spicy by using a can of diced tomatoes with green peppers instead of the plain diced tomatoes.

Easy on the pocket book too. I had enough Chili for my family, my mom and dad, still with a bowl left over for today's lunch. The whole pot costs about $8 but if you look for sale prices you can save much more.

I'm going to attempt to share a recipe every Tuesday so check in for new ideas.

What a slacker I am!?

No blog since December 8th.. wow! What a slacker huh!?
The holiday was perfect, filled with family and lots of love, but I must say I am glad it is over. Right after Christmas the kids and I got sick, I could feel it coming but we fought it right through the holidays but the day after Christmas Troy fell victim, I followed, then Sophia, now Tony.. Troy is beginning to recover and I can tell Sophia feels better today. She goes back to school on Wednesday which she is thrilled about.

I hope everyone is having an amazing start to the year 2010!

My daughter is loving the Disney movies these days. My mom gave us all the old ones that belonged to my sister and I. Cinderella, Aladin, Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan.. the list goes on. We have been watching movies every day. Sophi loves it. She calles Troy 'Princes Sharmin' haha! I laugh because he walks around in that big diaper and she calls him that.. reminds me of Charmin toilet paper! haha. So funny.

Today she watched Cinderella. The scene where the evil step sisters head to the ball was on... you may remember... they leave Cinderella wearing rags, crying, while they go to the ball.



Sophia walks over to me and asks me, "Mommy why do they walk like this?" She puts her butt to me and sticks it out and waddles back to the couch.

I told her that there was something in the dresses to make it look like that.

"What is it?" she asks.

I told her I really didn't know it was like tissue paper maybe? haha! Don't really know why I said that. I was thinking of the fabric in wedding dresses that make them puffy.. haha!

She then tells me, seriously says, "Well, find out what it is because I really want to wear that in my wedding dress when I marry Troy. OK Mom?"

Goodness! That girl..

test results and an update

What happened to Thankgiving!! It just flew by.
The Christmas tree is up, presents under the tree, 85 and sunny today, perfect Florida Christmas!

Something special to me about were flip flops in December! I know some people don't like it but if I can wear shorts on Christmas day I'll be happy!!
We went to the Christmas parade last weekend. Well, not we, Sophia and I did. The Gator game was on and we couldn't peel Troy and Tony away. To bad they lost, just watching the reruns I cried with Tebow. Can't wait for the Sugar Bowl game though!! :) Gator Chomp! Troy has become quite the football fanatic, God bless him.

Sophi, the bravest girl ever, begged me to let her do the bungee jump at the parade/festival. She was the smallest one having the most fun!


Tony is home and won't be going back to Texas. We are more than happy! He got a job working about 30 minutes away and the kids and I are sooo glad that he won't have to travel out of state for work!! Praise God for that!! So yes, if you noticed on my Facebook that he is still around and nothing going back to Texas that's why!! :)

Seems like this blog is the best spot to update family and I know some of you are patiently waiting for some test results...
Blood work, high liver enzymes, already knew that. She's been on lots of medication so her liver enzymes are always high.
Abdominal Ultrasound, normal. Hurray! Tummy aches are intermitent. The neurologist thinks they could be seizure activity that she isn't explaining correctly or a possible "feeling" that she is describing as a tummy ache. So we went for an EEG today...
EEG today, abnormal, I haven't got the official results, won't until next week, but... She actually had a seizure during the test so a good indicator that the results will be abnormal. The doctor came in and said that she saw "sharp spikes" on the EEG indicating seizure activity. Well, I see the sharp spikes and I saw her jumping like a fish on the table so yes.. I'd say we have seizure activity.
The seizure happened after the strobe test and after the breathing exercises once she feel asleep during the first 2 minutes of sleep. Lots of jerking during the first 5-10 minutes of watching her sleep. The neurologist said they would give us the complete report after reviewing the EEG and she said that as upsetting as the jerking was to watch that it couldn't have happened at a better time since she was hooked the the machine. Some kind of blessing. ;)
Here is the picture I took while she was getting ready for the test. She was asking me what she looked like with all the wires on her head.

She is a sweet one. She is just nervous about having to do another 4 day study... I'm afraid they may request another one. But we shall see. She told the EEG tech that the long test made her have a headache and she didn't want to sleep with that camera watching her. I was suprised she remembered it.
Well, I'm pretty tired.. it was a long day.
Time for bed!
I will write more tomorrow but I know I have family who reads this who are out of state who have been patiently waiting for an update. Thanks for your patience and I don't mean to not answer your emails... LOVE YOU!!

Can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here!!

Lots to write about.
No, my space bar has not been repaired, I have just gotten really good at using it like this. What took me 5 minutes to write now takes me no time at all. Funny how we adapt to things.
Sophi was quite the mouth today. She has gotten pretty quick with that tongue. She reminds me very much of her daddy. I guess me too. She comes by it naturally. Tony is good with his words, which can sometimes get him into trouble. Yes, I've been known to get into trouble with my tongue too. Well, looks like Sophi got her daddy's gift. She told some adult at the park last week, "what are you doing on that toy, that is a kid thing, and my brother is a kid, and he wants to use it! And you are smoking here, do you know that will make you die!? Kill us all with that smoke." I was mortified. I tried to tell her that we can't talk to adults like that, speaking to her very loud in front of the man so that he would know I was dealing with this mouthy child. Even though I totally think that jerk deserved it! Troy was standing there while this big man smoked his cigarette in the park leaning on a rocking toy that Troy was looking at saying "share, share". Poor Troy. I'm glad Sophi stood up for him, but I can't tell her that.
Well, Sophia is always keeping me on my toes.
We are getting the medication all worked out she is almost back to her regular strength of medication. We are one pill away from her being back where she was before we got all screwed up. But that one pill is going to have to wait because now she is having abdominal pain which the pediatrician thinks is not related to the change in medicine but a side effect from this or other medicine in the past. This has been going on for a little over two weeks. It is intermittent when she complains about it. She will be playing and fold up grab her tummy and say it hurts. When she is quiet she complains more so I don't know if it is a constant or what. At first I thought it was that stomach flu she had afew weeks back that was lingering causing some gas pains or something. Then I thought maybe she was faking it, I often wonder because when she was younger she was on Trileptal which did upset her stomach but she learned that she could use that excuse to not have to do things she didn't want to... so I just blew it off. Then we had the few episodes last week where she had some pretty long nights. She spent the night with my mom Thursday and Friday and my mom said she complained about it there too. Now, my mom babies that girl to no end so I am sure she played up the dramatics while she was with my mom but no doubt that her stomach is bothering her. Saturday and Sunday were the same, she would randomly complain that her tummy hurt. So, Monday morning she woke up and was really fired up saying her tummy hurt and she was very frustrated that it wouldn't stop hurting. I told her I was going to make her an appointment to see the doctor. She went to school and I picked her up early and took her to her pediatrician. He examined her and said that everything sounded good, pushed on her tummy, she had no pain, but he wants her to have an abdominal ultrasound and blood work, possibly following up with a pediatric GI doctor. There are lots of side effects to the medication she takes one of them being ulcers, he suspects that may be the case but said not to worry just yet. Sophi has been on lots of different medication in her short life and this is just one of the side effects of taking medicine. He also wants to check her liver enzymes which always come back high but the ultrasound will be able to see it. So.. we are going Friday for an ultrasound and blood work. He told me to tell her about the blood work because if she was doing it for attention that she would stop. She hasn't. She did for a day and now she just complains about her tummy then whines that she doesn't want to get a shot. Terrible to see them so upset. I am looking forward to knowing what is wrong though. I am getting frustrated with her constantly complaining about her stomach too. I feel bad for her and at the same time all the whining is unnerving.
Tony comes home on Sunday and will be here through Thanksgiving. So glad for that. It will be nice to have him home. I have realized that it is really true, "men you can't live with them and can't live without them." My house is so easy to keep clean! The electric bill is less. The food bill is less. The kitchen is rarely dirty. No dishes in the sink. Way less laundry... but something is missing. It's a lonely feeling that no matter what you are doing or who is around you still feel like part is missing. It's not like when your kids are gone from you. That's almost like you are missing part of yourself, like a body part. This is different. It's a shallow feeling. That's the only way to describe it. Tony really is my soul mate. God picked him just perfect for me. I am so lucky that I found him so soon in my life. I was thinking about it a few weeks ago. At my age, 25, Tony and I have never been a part longer than 6 days in the last 10 years. He has been gone for just about 4 weeks now. It has been good in some ways but I wish we never had to be apart. We are all looking forward to having him home, even if just for a week. I can't wait to pick him up from the airport on Sunday! It is going to be the best moment in a long time.
Then Thanksgiving!! We will be celebrating with our families! It will be a fun, busy day! I can't wait! I am excited now that the kids are a bit older it will be easier with them to travel to and from our families homes. Not like we are going far, just about 30 minutes from our house to his parents then a 45 minute drive to my grandparents house from there. It will be nice. Lunch with his family, dessert with mine. Then I am working that night... which is just fine. I am ever so grateful for my job and my great insurance, especially with Sophia Ann for a daughter!

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Sophia has a birthday party today. Her good buddy Maicee Morgan is going to be five!! We will be heading out to the park this afternoon to celebrate! Looking forward to that.
We went to church this morning. We went with my mom and Grandparents to the church that Tony and I were married in. A great sermon by preacher Mike. I love going to church on Sundays... This Sunday was very special to me, walking through the doors, it felt like coming home.
Thank you Mike for a great sermon!! Funny how if we ask God gives us just what we need.
Well, I was going to write more but my darling son has damaged my computer...

I have no space bar, this short blog has taken me about 20 minutes to write. I have a tiny dot that I am using when I need to space it takesabout10hitsbeforeitworks,sounlessyouwantoreadthisthewholetimeIbettergetthisfixedtoday!!!

Busy Day...

Today was a busy but incredibly fun day.
I am worn out now though. This cold is lingering and I am hoping to get a good nights sleep tonight so that it will stay away.
Notice the new pictures on the blog? I took those today at my parent's house. The kids and I went out there this morning to take some family photos for a friend of mine and her beautiful family. I love taking photos. I had forgot how much I enjoyed it. To be honest I really didn't feel like going and taking pictures today, I haven't felt like doing much of anything that I don't 'have' to do lately. It was nice though, I am glad I did it and it reminded me how much I love taking pictures.
I got in a few shots of the kids while I was taking their family pictures. I just thought they were irrestible. I am going to use them for my holiday cards I think :) If you see them more than once that is why.

With permission of course, here are some pictures of the Newsome Family.












I started this blog, last night. Then Sophi woke up saying she was sick to her stomach. Not again!! Luckily she didn't ever throw up. One of the side effects of her medicine is that it can upset her stomach. It is possble that is fighting a virus or that her medicine was causing problems. We have been adjusting the dosing since she was sick last time so I think it is possible that the medicine caused last nights issues. She did miss school today which she was very disappointed about. She was up half the night and I let her sleep this morning as long as she could. Today was show and tell and painting day, her very favorite day.
I have to work tonight so I am hoping the kids will take a good nap for me so I can nap since I was up with Sophi last night. We shall see I guess.. well, off to give Troy a banana then naptime!